It cant happen to me ?

April 1st, a good friend and fellow cubber was draining a wing tank to replace a fitting. He was holding a funnel above a pan collecting the fuel. All of a sudden a flame shot up between the funnel and wing tank drain, he tried to stop the flow with his hands thus stopping the flame but it spread down his arms so he dove into snow to put out hands and clothing, grabbed a shovel and threw snow on fire as fast as he could but in couple minutes it was just too late. With the little wind and wing engulfed it spread so fast there was nothing to be done. He is OK just minor burns but the cub he has flown for thousands of hours is a total lose, gone in just a few minutes. He made his living with that cub and it was truly a part of him and flown it for several decades. Very Sad Day………
When I was first told I thought it was another April Fools Gotcha ! I wish that were True.
We all have heard about static charges related to fueling and such, like a strange beast which lurks around the corner waiting to strike. Many of us have done as he did many times and never having a bit of trouble perhaps never giving it a second thought. We have read about it, stories in flying mags. and faa flyers. Yes it can happen to you, in one split second this happen fast. I don’t have words to express the sadness I feel for him. BE CAREFUL out there……

Man that sucks, at least he didn't burn up with it.

Glad he is ok! Sorry 4 his loss.

That is awful! I sure hope he has good insurance. I don't have hull coverage, just liability. It might be worth $100.00 bucks a month more for full coverage.
Steve

That is sad. What is the correct way to drain the tanks?

Tim

Wow! Sorry for the loss and glad he is OK. Any other details would be interesting to hear.

Thanks for posting this.

Do you think the plastic funnel caused the initial spark?

I've been looking for a metal funnel since reading some of the fueling from a jerry can threads , but all the ones in hardware stores these days are plastic. I saw a classified ad in the local newspaper for a metal cutoff saw and went to check it out. I bought the saw and also an old metal funnel that the guy had on his shelf that looked unused. I'll use it instead of the plastic one for fueling.

I've never tried draining my wing tanks before, but I would probably rig up some kind of siphon or drain hose from the sump valve.

On a 182 you drain the tanks by romoving the cowl, disconect fuel line from carb the position fuel selector valve for the tank you want to drain.

Funnels---- http://www.mcmaster.com/#steel-funnels/=6jbrit

Tim

qmdv wrote:That is sad. What is the correct way to drain the tanks?

Tim

Ground your arms.

Tim,

You have to BOND the fuel source to the fuel vessel, just like fueling. In the case of de-fueling, one way to do so is to run a piece of safety wire between the airframe at the gascolator or tank drain, and the metal container you're draining it into.

A friend of mine in FAI did almost the exact same thing to his recently acquired C 170 a few years ago, except he was pretty badly burned in the process. He was draining fuel from the gascolator drain.

MTV

If draining into a plastic container, how do you ground plastic or do you just throw out the plastic and replace with metal.

How about a metal funnel into the plastic container then ground the funnel.

Tim

Our crew members wear a grounding strap on their shoe when pumping fuel or putting fuel into the race bikes.

Here's a similar product: http://www.labsafety.com/3M-Shoe-Grounding-Straps_24534327/

Here's some more excellent products from McMaster-Carr: http://www.mcmaster.com/#static-control-shoe-straps/=6jiskp

MTA has it right, another thing is to have positive contact between each component in you system be in metal or plastic....

and no he did not have hull insurance.........

Tim,

As noted in several threads on use of plastic cans on this forum, there is no way to bond a plastic can to a fueling source.

If I were draining fuel from a gascolator into a can, I'd for sure use a metal receiving can. The fuel dropping into the can from some height (even though its not far) creates a LOT of fumes and a LOT of static buildup. Precisely the two things required for a fire.

My friend in FAI who did this was draining from gascolator into a plastic bucket.

MTV

Could we run a ground wire from inside the fuel can through a vent hole to an external ground post and then a ground wire to the plane frame?

While doing some research during the plastic gas can thread I came across this suggestion. I cannot say if it will work, but here it goes.

If you insist on plastic run a wire from INSIDE the discharge tank into the liquid of the tank being filled.

Some safety suggestions on dealing with gas. Have a safety person acting as a firefighter. They need to be dressed in fire resistant clothes, with a head condom. Have a BIG extinguisher.

Use metal, we have beat this to death but it is true.

All filling stations have an emergency shutoff to stop the flow of fuel, this will keep a small fire small. If you can't stop the flow, will.

I fill everything I own out of plastic except my plane. I have the steel tank in my truck and use bonded gas pump hose.

Do I follow these suggestions, No. Why. Because I am just like the rest of you who have not burned something up. Complacency. Lazy.

Be safe out there.

Apparently when fuel falls through the air it actually causes friction. The friction causes static, static causes a spark. When I drained the tanks on the 175 the first time I bought a clear plastic tube so I could see the fuel as it came out. I put it on the wing drain and put the other side inside the gas can in the fuel. At the time I didn't know how dangerous draining fuel is and I was lucky. I think the one thing that helped me out is that the fuel was all connected from the inside the tank to the inside of the can. I am a lot more careful now because of the discussion on this site. Thanks

Jaerl wrote:Apparently when fuel falls through the air it actually causes friction. The friction causes static, static causes a spark.

Same thought here. I was told a long time ago to always minimize the amount that the fuel falls through the air. Even if fueling from a conventional pump- it's supposed to be better to insert the nozzle as far as you can into the tank neck, than to hold it near the rim and let the fuel fall that extra 4-5 inches into the tank. Not certain of the physics, but it's a simple enough precaution to take that I always just do it.

Darn shame about the cub. Sorry for your friend's setback.

Dirtstrip,

The issue here is NOT GROUNDING, it is BONDING. You have to BOND the fuel source to the fuel receptacle. When you fuel a plane at a fueling facility, they have you BOND the plane to the fueling facility FIRST. Then, you put the fueling nozzle into the fuel filler. The BONDING ensures that the airplane and the fuel facility share the same charge. Otherwise, when we moved the fuel nozzle to the fuel filler, we COULD arc a spark to the fuel filler from the nozzle as the charge on the airplane equalizes to the charge on the fuel facility. Aircraft fueling hose contains a bonding wire, internal, and attached to the nozzle, by the way.

The airplane itself is never GROUNDED, because it's sitting on rubber insulators, right?

Bonding is the task, rather than grounding.

MTV