Fuel properties
I have been following this thread from day 1. One might think that my daily involvement in the aviation safety business would mean that I would rather do other things after work than read pprune forums. Sadly perhaps -- in terms of my lack of more productive things to do on many an evening -- I find these sorts of discussions interesting and energising, sometimes even motivating me to wander off into some obscure corner of the web for hours at a time researching topics that arise from these pages.
So, here’s my comment: Over the past few years I've been directly involved in the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents, both civil and military, in diverse parts of this globe. I am certainly no subject matter expert when it comes to fuels and fuel properties but several previous incidents (and a couple of accidents) keep worming their way into my thoughts when I think of this occurrence. The cases I’m talking about have this in common: Unpredicted or unexpected changes to the behaviour, consistency, lubricity, viscosity or dispersal characteristics of fuel – caused by FSII. (Contrary to what some have written FSII is not one specific chemical formulation but can be one of several compositions, including dipropylene glycol, glycerol formal, and DiEGME.) As many of you know, the amount (if any) of FSII in the fuel loaded in China could fall into a fairly wide spectrum and still be within specs.
In serving this ball into the pprune court, I expect (and would appreciate) comments and critique on the possibility of FSII being a factor.
Grizz