Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

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TwinStarScott
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Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by TwinStarScott »

Per AOPA and why mostly in Florida?

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... s-reported
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Boatguy
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by Boatguy »

I also could make no sense of this. That stuff was used in my Mercedes diesel car. Maybe it's used with the diesel trucks that deliver Jet-A at a lot of airports?

In any case there is no reason to have any additives in our diesel aircraft engines. While freezing is an issue in jets and turbo-props, the recirculation of the fuel in our planes keeps the tanks well above freezing. When given the choice, I always take the fuel without any additives.
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by rdrobson »

What's strange is that the fuel was contaminated with DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid). That stuff is highly corrosive and it doesn't belong in any diesel fuel whether intended for aircraft or cars and trucks. It causes a lot of engine damage. There's tons of stuff on the internet about people getting it in their car and truck engines and having multi-thousand dollar repair bills.

--Ron
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by TimS »

It shows that someone has cut to many corners (sloppy controls/training) or there is an ergonomic issue. e.g. The PRIST and DEF addatives have the same color handles and look the same and are next to each other....

Tim
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by Rich »

I've gotta ask. What the heck is Diesel Exhaust Fluid and what is it used for? I never heard of this compound until today. Lo and behold I go into a local auto parts store to pick up a couple of things and I see dozens of like 2-gallon containers of this stuff for sale :scratch:
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by TimS »

Rich wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 11:37 pm I've gotta ask. What the heck is Diesel Exhaust Fluid and what is it used for? I never heard of this compound until today. Lo and behold I go into a local auto parts store to pick up a couple of things and I see dozens of like 2-gallon containers of this stuff for sale :scratch:
Basically it is a chemical in piss :D
Many diesel cars and trucks manufacturers took a short cut to meet EPA requirements and used Urea to control the exhaust emissions.
Some of the latest generations of vehicles no longer require Urea.

Tim
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by Boatguy »

Rich wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 11:37 pm I've gotta ask. What the heck is Diesel Exhaust Fluid and what is it used for? I never heard of this compound until today. Lo and behold I go into a local auto parts store to pick up a couple of things and I see dozens of like 2-gallon containers of this stuff for sale :scratch:
While it is a chemical in piss, it is technically a chemical used to reduce particulate exhaust from Diesel engines. It is used in exhaust systems, never as a fuel additive. No idea why someone would mix it with Jet-A.
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by chili4way »

If I understand these incidents correctly, DEF was accidentally put into the wrong tank on the fuel truck, I.e. the JET-A additive port for delivery-mixed PRIST instead of the truck's DEF port. The local FBO here sent out a letter that 1) their fuel trucks do not use DEF, and 2) they are reviewing proper additive handling procedures with their line ops team.
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by TwinStarScott »

In other words Paul, since most of us flying with diesel engines almost always request "negative Prist" before refueling, our risk for contamination might be less. Is this correct?

Regardless, here's a quick mention of the situation on the latest AOPA live broadcast, it starts at 4:47:

https://aopalive.aopa.org/?_ga=2.202457 ... 1520465158


link to webpage mentioned in the video:

https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safet ... jet-a-fuel
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Re: Recent reports of JetA Fuel Contamination

Post by Davestation »

I have never paid much attention to how they add the prist to the fuel - I suppose the common uneducated question would be do some trucks already have it mixed in with the tank? Ie. if you want negative they have to send a different truck where it wasn't added already.

Either way, if their story is that their GSE doesn't use DEF, why do they have it on site?? You hear about shops getting dinged by the FAA for keeping yellow tag parts near red tag parts, and then there's the FBO that keeps Prist and DEF side by side. :roll:
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