Air Phuket Plane has fuel leak
Discussion
Balmoral Green said:Yeah, twice if the story I read was accurate...they got off the plane once after seeing fuel 'pouring' off the wing tip (overfilled tanks), panic, flight engineer arrives from cabin to take a look, plane goes back to check, started to taxi again and same thing happened. Surely it wasn't beyond somebody in the flight crew to explain? They had no warning lights and this does happen when the tanks are brimmed. Then again it was just after the tsunami so everyone was a bit twitchy.
There wasnt a fuel leak, it was overfilled (dunno how, perhaps the auto shut off at the Optimax pump had failed) and there was a delay whilst the overspill drained off/evaporated. It was just a bit of an (understandable) over reaction on the part of some passengers.
I've had fuel expanding in the tanks as it heats up in the sun. It leaks out of the fuel vent and looks quite dramatic. Also I've had to dump fuel and that looks like a thick plume of white steam/smoke out of the tip tanks.
The other thing passengers get worried about are vortexes created by the moisture in the air streaming off the wings. Look pretty cool but freaks out the muppets in the back.
The other thing passengers get worried about are vortexes created by the moisture in the air streaming off the wings. Look pretty cool but freaks out the muppets in the back.
it's quite impressive to do a hot refuel on a tonka (tornado gr1), and to see fuel spouting out of the vent......followed by the calm switch off of the fuel panel, and the 100m sprint behind the traverse.
same thing happened here i imagine
>> Edited by anhamgrimmar on Tuesday 5th April 21:34
same thing happened here i imagine
>> Edited by anhamgrimmar on Tuesday 5th April 21:34
groucho said:
The last flight I was on had something leaking, or otherwise on the wing. I showed the missus and she said "Nah, it's just water", I said not at this altitude, it's -60 degrees out there.
So to the crux, I don't know what it was.
i saw something similar on my last flight. never occured to me to be fuel
Depending on ambient temeratures can also be condensate coming off the wings or if after take off, dumping of (excess) distilled water used for water injection of the engines.
Generally speaking, if the guys up front ain't worried then nor am I (most important things have alarms on!) but having said that, there's some airlines I wouldn't fly on.
Generally speaking, if the guys up front ain't worried then nor am I (most important things have alarms on!) but having said that, there's some airlines I wouldn't fly on.
Air Phuket are notorious for this sort of thing.
Many of the travel agents in Bangkok are trying to punt their tickets at the moment. Them and Etihad.
Their so-called 'direct' flights often stop over to refuel. They have been known to do this and miss their slot at Gatwick. The 12 or so hour flight from Thailand then takes more like 20.
For cheap flights to the east the Arab airlines seem to be a lot better. I've flown with Qatar and their planes were spotless, with better seat pitch than BA (in economy coz thats all I can afford)
Many of the travel agents in Bangkok are trying to punt their tickets at the moment. Them and Etihad.
Their so-called 'direct' flights often stop over to refuel. They have been known to do this and miss their slot at Gatwick. The 12 or so hour flight from Thailand then takes more like 20.
For cheap flights to the east the Arab airlines seem to be a lot better. I've flown with Qatar and their planes were spotless, with better seat pitch than BA (in economy coz thats all I can afford)
http://twa800.com/realaudio/fueldemo.ram
This demo shows the ability of aviation fuel to extinguish a lit match. Its only when you get a very fine mist (i.e. the right fuel/air mix) that it ignites.
Don't think the passengers were in any danger of a bit of spilt fuel. However, why let the facts get in the way of a shock horror scaremongering media report
If there really was a problem the pilot (who also wants to survive the flight) would have reacted accordingly..
This demo shows the ability of aviation fuel to extinguish a lit match. Its only when you get a very fine mist (i.e. the right fuel/air mix) that it ignites.
Don't think the passengers were in any danger of a bit of spilt fuel. However, why let the facts get in the way of a shock horror scaremongering media report
If there really was a problem the pilot (who also wants to survive the flight) would have reacted accordingly..
GasBlaster said:
Used to happen all the time with SR-71s.
Does anyone know what type of plane the Air Phuket machine was?
Safe bet that it was not an SR-71
>> Edited by GasBlaster on Wednesday 6th April 08:44
Which flew on JP7, which was so un-inflammable that *allegedly* you could stand in a pool of it with a lighted match, and the fuel wouldn't ignite.
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