Edset100: Many thanks for that very detailed reply. I understand though that the tank had still blown-off on an earlier flight with a reduced tank loading of 15K, and it must be assumed that F.S Davies stuck to 15K on the day of the accident. Would that not indicate that there was a fault with the system? The Board also suggest, in their report, that the Blow-off "phenomena" was an unusal event, requiring several conditions to come into play at the same time. Yet it would seem that XV230 had at least three blow-off events in about two weeks.
You also said that "Unless the blow-off is suspected of operating earlier it is not regarded as a system defect" But in the boards report it states that on an earlier flight "The air engineer subsequently noticed that, during AAR, the No1 tank appeared to reach full at an indicated 15K of fuel............might provoke the blow-off vave to operate" Does that not suggest that there was something wrong? Do we know if the 15K limitation applied to other aicraft in the Gulf at the time, or just XV230?
I fully understand your explaination for blow-off associated with refuel rates and air venting, but that simply blows of air, not fuel.
DV
Last edited by Distant Voice; 8th Jan 2008 at 07:36.