Wrong fuel caused air crash in Bangalore?
Rasheed Kappan
Avgas is the gasoline meant for reciprocating piston engine aircraft
While Avgas is blue, ATF is colourless
BANGALORE: The six-seat Vulcanair Partenavia (P-68C) that crashed shortly after take-off here on Saturday appears to have had the wrong fuel in its tank. This discovery has led the investigating team from Chennai to shift its focus to the city’s HAL Airport, where the aircraft was last refuelled before its disastrous journey to Kochi.
The team found traces of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) from the wreckage, instead of the blue-dyed low-lead 100LL Avgas that should have gone into the P-68C tank. While ATF is used by turbine-powered aircraft, Avgas is the gasoline meant for reciprocating piston engine aircraft such as the one that crashed into the Gowdanapalya lake, said Civil Aviation Ministry sources. It was not immediately clear how the colourless ATF was mistaken for blue-dyed Avgas. The investigating team inspected the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) records at the HAL Airport on Monday, the sources said. IOC supplies aviation fuel to the airport.
Volatile
As Avgas is very volatile and extremely flammable at normal operating temperatures, procedures and equipment for safe handling of this product are supposed to be of the highest order. Avgas fuelling nozzles for over-wing dispensing are painted red. To help prevent the possibility of jet fuel being supplied to a piston engine aircraft, the nozzle of an Avgas fueller is limited to a maximum diameter of 40 mm and the aperture on an aircraft Avgas tank to a maximum of 60 mm diameter.
No black box
The inquiry confirmed that the engines of the ill-fated aircraft ceased. The team had to manually extricate critical aircraft components from the wreckage stuck in the lakebed. As the aircraft was not equipped with a Flight Data Recorder, the team could rely only on the evidence from the ground.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/11/stor...1152770600.htm