MK Surge tank leak - picture

[4HolerPoler]

Check out this picture http://www.airliners.net/open.file/996790/L/ of MK painting the runway in WSSS with A1.

It's been so long since I flew the Classic - can this happen with a normal fuel load or only only if you pull the surge tank C/B's?

4HP

[CR2]

Perhaps a better chance of an answer in TechLog.

[gas path]

Pulling the 'VOL FILL' fuse to get round a tank shutting off early.... and then forgetting to refit it, will end up with a nice puddle on the floor:ooh: Another possibility could be a failed tank vent valve, often seen as a fuel vapour trail from a surge tank after takeoff.
Sometimes the float switches in the surge tanks can't respond quickly enough to shut the refuel valves as the capacity is only about 11 galls.
JFI many moons ago when SAA were not allowed to overfly Africa we used to station one person on each wingtip during refuel (to listen for when the fuel was entering the surge tanks) and fill the aircraft to the gunalls (sp?) including the surge tanks!!! mists of time but if he wasn't airbrne within about 20 mins of departure he had to come back to be refueled:ooh:


edit to add... just seen the picture as airliners.net was down yesterday. that is a good indication of a broken vent valve:ok:

[Coleman Myers]

"if he was'nt airborne within twenty minutes of departure" he was in deep sh*t and I think refuelling was the least of his problems :O

[Ace Man]

I've seen a classic or two get airborne over many years (mostly out of JNB) and to see fuel come "out of the wingtips" was not uncommon. Possibly cold fuel put into the tanks to the max and then a couple of degrees TdegC up on the ground causing fuel to expand expelling out the surge tanks?

[411A]

Certainly nothing new with older Boeing designs, even had this happen a time or two in the 'ole B707.

[CaptainSandL]

Photo of a 737-500 after take-off...
http://www.b737.org.uk/surge_tank_venting.jpg


STOP PRESS 18 Feb 06

Suspected fluid leak aborts Alaska flight
By The Associated Press

An Alaska Airlines jet en route to Chicago returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport about a half hour after takeoff Friday because of a suspected fluid leak, a spokeswoman said.

Concerns about Flight 22, a Boeing 737-700, were raised by personnel on another aircraft who reported seeing a possible leak, airline spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said.

The plane was inspected on its return and "there was no indication of a fuel leak," Tobin said. Returning to Sea-Tac "was the right thing to do as a precautionary measure," she said. "In the end, it was merely precautionary."

What witnesses might have seen was possibly a small amount of fuel coming out of the vent drain at the end of the plane's wing, which is designed to allow small amounts of excess fuel to exit the aircraft, she said.

The flight had departed at 1:44 p.m. and returned to Seattle about 2:15 p.m., she said. The 124 passengers and five crew members were loaded onto another jet.