UK CAA Publication
 

Hi all:
Does anyone no where to find "CAA CAP 74, Aircraft Fueling: Fire prevention and Safety strategies" ?

Hi Pete O'Tewbe:

Thanks that's what I was looking for. I went to the CAA web site but couldn't find any downloads.

R U looking into cell phones being used during refuelling by any chance?

No TC, just fuelling guides lines in general.

But you've sparked my interest( pardon the pun), what about cell phones?

What is the evidence to suggest that Cell Phones produce a spark to ignite combustable fumes?

In petrol forecourts the use of Cell Phones is discouraged. Whether this is because of the danger of explosion or that they will upset the data going from the pump to the paydesk monitor is not clear.
Several aircraft refuelling bowser operators restrict the use of Cell Phones whilst refuelling is in progress.

I know that Cell phones are powerful enough to upset GPS data.
And standby compasses.

Comparisons between petrol (gas) and jet A1 need to be made with care - their properties are radically different. The stuff for spark ignition pistons engines is MUCH more volatile than Jet A1. During refuelling, petrol or Avgas will generate a significant area around the nozzle that is within the flammable range. For Jet A1 it will be much more limited. In addition, the ignition energy required for petrol/Avgas is much less than for Jet A1.

These are the main reasons why it is reasonable to refuel Jet A1 engines running, but not Avgas.

I recently saw an excellent programme on TV that 'debunckled' the whole theory of mobile phones and petrol stations.

They did state that once upon a time an explosion happened at a 'gas' station and someone nearby was on a mobile.

Being American 1+1 = 3 so that was the cause, why else should this happen? And as usual we all followed that line of thought.

On the TV experiment a caravan was soaked with petrol, trays of fuel were layed within and then a mobile phone was placed in the caravan.
The phone was activated and guess what? Nothing.

So then 7 mobile phones that the crew had on them were put in the caravan. These were all then rung/texted etc, again with no result.

It was then mentioned that there are no signs on the forecourts of petrol stations to warn of man made clothing, So.....

....they ran a wire from the caravan to a guy dressed in man made clothing, got him to move around a bit, touch the end of the wire leading to the caravan and,

BOOM !!!!

nuff said

Helinut That's for sure.

Avgas has a flash point of -46C while Jet A has a flash point of+38C.