gbigs Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Water In Fuel Blamed For Just Aircraft SuperSTOL Crash http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Water-In-Fuel-Blamed-For-Just-Aircraft-SuperSTOL-Crash-224673-1.html "Woodland had pre-flighted and flown the aircraft earlier in the day and added fuel just before takeoff," the company said in a news release. "It was learned later that the fuel he added had water in it. Right after takeoff he experienced a serious reduction in power, then a brief surge, after which the engine died." The big question arises...should no fuel be added BEFORE a takeoff? Should fueling ALWAYS be done after a flight so the water has a chance to settle down and be detected at the gascolator in a preflight check? On a trip, should the half hour wait be mandatory after refueling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 If you have enough for your return trip plus reserve it may be a good idea. On long XC's you don't have much of a choice except to add fuel as soon as you arrive, take a short break and recheck at main tank drain and gascolator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 I would think you'd have have an insane amount of water in the fuel for it to cause a crash immediately after fueling. It takes some time for the water to separate out and settle in the fuel system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runtoeat Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 If the fuel being used is 100LL, the water would probably be separated out and would find the bottom of the tank pretty quick after filling up. This would then be available for pickup by the engine. Would Just Aircraft have Lycoming or Continental that uses 100LL or would it be using Mogas with alcohol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 The LSA Just Aircraft has a Rotax. I have two in my area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anticept Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 I'm curious as to how much water was in that fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbigs Posted August 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 I'm curious as to how much water was in that fuel. It was enough to kill the engine and crash the plane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 "enough to kill the engine" could be one ounce or ten gallons. And the water did not crash the plane. The pilot did that part. I have friends in the Highlander community. The scuttlebutt is that Troy (the accident pilot) was doing low level maneuvering at the tree tops. When the engine quit he did not leave himself many options. Considering the possible outcomes, this ended pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdarza Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 A few years back as i was doing the preflight, the fuel check came up with 90% water and just a tad of fuel. I drained more and more and more - roughly 2 gallons of water came spewing out.! Possible cause was bad storage of fuel which was near an area that the roof leaked when it rained. Can only imagine horrible outcome had i not checked the fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Downs Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 When using fuel with 10% alcohol would a small amount of water even be detectable? The water would mix with the alcohol and might make detection impossible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Hi Al, A small amount of water with ethanol fuel will just be adsorbed and won't show. It will just burn through the system. If you have at least 15 gals. of fuel in each wing it would take a fair amount of water to fall out. If this scenario ever happened with ethanol fuel then that means the fuel is fully saturated and it would need to be drained out. Worrying about water in the 91 oct with ethanol is nothing like working with 100LL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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