Good afternoon all,
Every once in a while, we´ve been running into trouble when water draining from the fuel tanks is due. With shorter groundtimes it´s becoming more and more difficult to perform these tasks, especially in cold ambient temperatures / winter season. Frozen drain valves, too low tank temperatures for ice in the tank to melt, too little time for the water to settle around the drain valves - these are the major concerns.
How do you deal with this issue? I would be very interested in A330 ETOPS operators´ feedback as the CMP requires the wing tanks to be drained every 7 days.
Do you use hot air blowers? Do you refuel several tons to "heat up" the tank? Or have you escalated this 7d task so that it falls into a hangar downtime with a long groundtime?
Regards,
J.V.