farri Posted June 12, 2022 Share Posted June 12, 2022 From facebook! "A fuel overflow caused a small grass fire under the plane which quickly spread through the rest of the plane. I was able to open the canopy and exit the cockpit without any burns or injuries. Could have happened on take-off or in the air." Franco. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrendAn Posted June 12, 2022 Share Posted June 12, 2022 1 hour ago, farri said: From facebook! "A fuel overflow caused a small grass fire under the plane which quickly spread through the rest of the plane. I was able to open the canopy and exit the cockpit without any burns or injuries. Could have happened on take-off or in the air." Franco. Sorry to hear that. As long as you are ok is all that matters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farri Posted June 13, 2022 Author Share Posted June 13, 2022 1 hour ago, BrendAn said: Sorry to hear that. As long as you are ok is all that matters. Not me or my aircraft!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrendAn Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 12 minutes ago, farri said: Not me or my aircraft!!! I read it wrong. Not the end of the world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 IF there's a fuel spill on the Tarmac at City airports there's fire trucks everywhere in no time. If it happens with your small plane push it to a safer spot and make sure no one is smoking near you in the meantime. Hi Franco ...Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Where did the fuel overflow come from? Any fuel spill must be treated like dynamite, and all ignition sources removed immediately. Petrol vapour has incredible ability to travel long distances, and get into confined spaces. My father told me how he was with a group of blokes in the Outback in the early 1930's, travelling in an old Dodge tourer. Typical of the time, spare fuel cans strapped to the running boards, to give a longer range. They stopped early evening to fuel up, stretch their legs and relieve themselves. One bloke opened a 4 gallon can to refill the old Dodge tank. Another bloke walked about 15 metres away, and lit up a smoke. It was a windy evening. As the bloke with the can poured the fuel in, the petrol vapour travelled on the wind to the bloke lighting up a smoke. They all watched in amazement as the fire travelled from the smoker, back to the bloke fuelling the Dodge, whereupon the fuel being poured, lit up. The bloke doing the pouring was on the ball, he threw the can away and smothered the flames coming from the filler neck of the tank. Fuel in those days was pretty low octane, and todays fuels are even more dangerous. I've seen more than a few workshops burn down, thanks to fuel spills. A bloke here in Perth burnt his garage, and house, only about 10 days ago, with a fuel spill in the garage. You need to identify all sources of likely ignition at all times, and ensure the fuel vapour can't get to them - or ensure they're sealed. I watched the entire Mobil fuel distribution depot burn to the ground in Norseman, W.A. in 1975. I could see the smoke from 60kms away, and went to investigate. The fire was started by a bloke refuelling his petrol car while he still had his caravan attached - which had an LPG refrigerator still lit in it. He overflowed the petrol from the filler neck, the vapour blew inside the 'van, the whole lot went up, and then the whole depot went up! It was a pretty expensive refuelling exercise. You haven't seen a fire, until you've seen multiple 20,000 litre overhead bulk petrol tanks on fire! 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farri Posted June 13, 2022 Author Share Posted June 13, 2022 51 minutes ago, onetrack said: Where did the fuel overflow come from? Yes! and I`d also like to know how the fire started!!! 1 hour ago, facthunter said: Hi Franco ...Nev Hi Nev, All good at home here and I`m still flying. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 I drove into a servo one day and then noticed a tanker that must have been extracting fuel from the underground tank and it was overflowing everywhere and the operator was walking in a river of fuel on the top of the tanker, I put my foot out of the door released the handbrake and shoved my vehicle back out of the servo with my right leg . Fortunately there was a gentle downwards slope so I got out of there and onto a side road. I've never been more scared of a bad outcome. The bloke on the top of the tanker seemed oblivious of any risk.. Ignorance is bliss they say. Nev 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thruster88 Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Unfortunately the carburetor vent lines are not done correctly on many aircraft with bing carbs. On one occasion a lot of fuel suddenly came for the carb area and hit the windscreen on my thruster during taxi, if it had been a cowl engine I would have been completely unaware. Most likely caused by a suck float valve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 (edited) Hot fuel has bubbles in it which cause the fuel density to decrease and the floats sink and floods the carby.. Also some Bings have issues with floats. (An AD on this) Having the Carby's on top of the motor is far from ideal. Having said that, inverting a Chipmunk with sustained negative "G" causes neat fuel to run out of the cowl and onto the front windscreen... Some people with the DH 82 Oil level check would leave the lid unscrewed and when inverted it falls out together with all the Oil in the tank. Nev Edited June 13, 2022 by facthunter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBob Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Thruster88 said: Unfortunately the carburetor vent lines are not done correctly on many aircraft with bing carbs. On one occasion a lot of fuel suddenly came for the carb area and hit the windscreen on my thruster during taxi, if it had been a cowl engine I would have been completely unaware. Most likely caused by a suck float valve. Thruster88 are they, strictly speaking, vent lines? In my Savannah, which has an air box with filter, they are plumbed into the box downstream of the filter. I had the impression that the object was to have the pressure in the float bowl match the pressure of the incoming air. Though I am not sure what the arrangement is on engines with no airbox, and filters fitted directly to the carbs; maybe someone can clarify that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 I understand it's to balance the static pressure in the Cowl (or say downstream of a filter etc) The placement can affect the mixture therefore. I doubt it would cause fuel to overflow. That's a float problem. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thruster88 Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Not sure if vent line is the correct term however if the carb bowl over fills for any reason fuel will exit via these. My incident was caused by having to idle the 582 low due no brakes on a bitumen taxi way. Carbs get shaken up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueadventures Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Thruster88 said: Not sure if vent line is the correct term however if the carb bowl over fills for any reason fuel will exit via these. My incident was caused by having to idle the 582 low due no brakes on a bitumen taxi way. Carbs get shaken up. On my install I have them routed into a 1/2 i.d. tube that drains to lower edge of the firewall. (can not just extend the vent hose as it is a set length; so important the hose goes into a larger diameter i.d. hose or drain pipe.) So no chance of dripping onto exhaust. However if ever leaking fuel a back fire of exhaust could ignite any vapor from fuel on ground etc. Edited June 13, 2022 by Blueadventures 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 The 582 carbs are slide so the shaking is likely the issue. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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