And if you look at some transport/corporate size aircraft you will see a static wick near the landing gear axle that just grazes the tarmac. Always there doing it job. I think I'd attach one to my axle if I was on the North Slope in a Cessna for sure.

We fueled lots of Cessnas from lots of sources on the Slope, and elsewhere else where it was very cold and bone dry. Not a lot of airplanes blowing up during fueling.

We did shock the shit out of ourselves every time we opened a door or petted the dog, until we learned to slap the door with open palm to ground out prior to grabbing the door knob.

My poor old dog Hoser didn't fare too well though. Every time you'd reach down to pet him, there'd be about a 1" blue arc, and a loud "Zap" as he got blasted. He developed a permanent flinch when people went to pat him on the head. I got accused of beating him one time by someone who saw it, even though the mutt had never been hit in his life.

Gump

I am also working on a fueling rig and goingt the way of mogas. Here are some pics of my setup so far. I have the static reel on the back for bonding to the tank and the plane. I also plan to buy a 12volt pump and a hose that has the braided anti static wire in it.

Here is a couple questions I have: Is something else necessary to discharge static from the trailer? I remember in my old days of being a line boy, there was some sort of static wick that drug the ground under the fuel truck. Is this necessary? If so, does anyone have a source for such a thing?

My other question is would a battery setup on the trailer be better than wiring in a 12volt source from my truck? Woukd there be bonding/grounding issues from a running truck?

These are just some thoughts Ive had. I believe the jist is everything should be bonded and grounded, period.

Some of this is kinda out of my league but I've thought about it for my own fueling rig. Are you sure you want to hook the truck to the rig in order to pump? I suppose if you will always fuel on the ramp maybe...... We're talking about adding a big tank at N86 and filling it with E-0. We have a source. It will be a profit center for the association and the only on airport source of E-0 within a huge radius. I'm not sure how much I'll be involved until I buy a hangar but if it goes in I won't be needing a fuel rig. The whole thing brings up an off topic discussion anyway but we're a private airport association on leased BLM land. The airport is public, on the chart, and in the County Planning Commission's master plan. Pretty safe but I'd hate to own a hangar and then get kicked off the BLM land you know?

Anyway, here's my plan. One of those 4' x4' Harbor Freight trailers. Get two 30 gallon Dot approved gas caddies on wheels and mount them on the trailer. Static reel like Jared shows. I think I'll have a length of chain bolted or welded to the trailer frame and about long enough for a foot of it to lay on the ground. Get where I'm getting and drop the chain on the ground. When I move the trailer I pick the chain up and stow it somehow. I'm really not sure that is necessary? As has been pointed out tires seem to discharge static somehow. Carbon. Anyway, I think I'll have a battery pack on the fueler rig OR rig it so I can operate the mechanical pumps on the fuel caddies with a long stick. Like the power arms on a steam locomotive sorta. I don't know. I tend to be a fiddler rather than a planner when it comes to these sorts of things. Maybe a long look at a pro made, DOT approved fuel trailer is in order.

Just a quick addition....I'll make it short.
A few months ago in Central Oregon at a back country private strip/ranch. Cabin has a generator. Fuel spill/leak, or something like that, on gas generator. Guy walks in to cabin to get cleaned up and bursts in to flame. Serious burns, drives in to town to get help. Sad to hear that. Hope his recovery is quick. Guy is over 70 years old.

Static !

Mister701 wrote:....The whole thing brings up an off topic discussion anyway but we're a private airport association on leased BLM land. The airport is public, on the chart, and in the County Planning Commission's master plan. Pretty safe but I'd hate to own a hangar and then get kicked off the BLM land you know? .......

Should be easy to do your "due diligence" and find out the details on the lease before you buy the hangar. Term, rate, and renewals if what I'd be concentrating on. Some leases (like my hangar assn's) have an inflation clause which adjusts (read "raises") the monthly rate each year. Some leases are long-term, some are shorter-term with renewal either guaranteed or optional. The Cedar River Condo hangars at the Renton WA airport had this type of 10-year lease with the city of Renton. They' renewed thr lease several times, then about 10 years ago, Renton decided they didn't want to. The hangar residents went from being hangar owners paying about $50 a month, to being hangar renters at about $250 or 300 a month. Ouch!

Hmmm. Thought this was about fueling mishaps and how we can all learn to prevent them. My mistake.
Z, we need a "Thread Hijack Alert" emoticon on the far right side of the screen.

Years ago at the Aurora Ore airport....a new fuel nozzle had just been installed on the hose reel at the fuel island. No one noticed that the small piece of Styrofoam used as shipping material had not been removed from the end of the nozzle. A low wing piper was fueled, and sure enough that piece of Styrofoam went in to the tank. The guys tried in vain to remove it, but just couldn't quite grab it as it bobbed around the tank.

"I know! " said one of the guys. "Lets drain the Avgas, and put in Auto gas from the gas station down the road. The Auto gas will dissolve the Styrofoam, and then we will drain out the Auto gas, and replace it with fresh Avgas. Problem solved, right?".

Well, it was all sugar plums and candy canes at this point until...

One of the guys took a really long wand probe light with a halogen bulb and made one last attempt to get the piece of foam out of the tank.
The shaft is the size of a pencil lead and about 24" long. Great for lighting up dark confined places or for space aliens to probe humans with. Harbor Freight sells them for cheap and they do come in handy.

When he dipped that super hot halogen bulb in to the Avgas by mistake, ( totally submerged it in the fuel ) the tiny little bulb went "POP !"
Everybody could hear it that was standing there. They all looked at each other and said "that was close"

End of story. Yes, they went back to plan A, not sure what they did about the tiny amount of broken glass in the tank.


Edit: Thanks to all that that helped this post. Your input about static, containers, methods of safety, grounding, and even your own technique on fueling helps the community be safe. Have a happy and safe 2016 flying season.