What kind of gasoline does a commercial airplane use?

What kind of gasoline does a commercial airplane use?

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¿Whaté type of gasoline used by an avión commercial? If you ever wondered this, hereí the answer.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of a new media noiseático and polécute video circulating on Twitter about an apparent fuel spill in a ATR42 de Tame EP at Guayaquil airport, I make this post where to clarifyé some details about this special jet fuel.

The vídeo in questionón:

Although the tweet is exaggerated with political overtonesíticos, I saw several comments where they saidíeven though it is the same gasoline as a car, that it is highly flammable or that its smell is the same as the fuel that we all know, but the reality is different and it seemed to meó appropriate to create a post to clarify some interesting details.

Grandpa Fuelón JET A1

Commercial airplanes mainly use JET A1 fuel, but little by little the use of vegetable-derived biofuels is increasing.

As long as this is the fuel más used, It is important to know your characterísticas téconical features that make it highly safe for the entire industry toérea.

This fuel is used in jet and turboprop aircraft., being a little más econóthan the AVGAS.

  • Its color is almost transparent or yellow pálido.
  • It is a kerosene derived from petróleo.
  • Its freezing pointsóno ignitionón they are different from traditional fuel.
  • Its freezing pointón is -47° C.
  • At the point of ignitionón is from 38 ° C (point at which fuel is ignited by a heat source such as fire).
  • Autoignition pointón 201° C (point at which fuel ignites without the aid of a heat source).
  • It has anti-est additiveático.

What makes it más safe for the industry are its high freezing point.ón that given the altitude where the aircraft operates, they allow an operationón without the need for additives and its flash pointón, that despite its generated power, in case of accidentéI reo the problems, Its ignition or flame time is más slower than a traditional fuel, giving a longer response time.

Another difference is its smell, What is máIt is notable when it has already gone through the ignition process.óengine no., smell that many people in the industry smellérea enjoys for a characterístic «dulce».

The compositionón of the JET A1 arrives afterñtesting and evolutionón of the engines until having found a mixture that provides greater security in case of contingencies along with performance and reliability.

Fuel spill

Returning to Ecuador and the case mentioned at the beginning of this post, aún the aerolínea has not presented an official statement and we will not know if it will be doneá, but analyzing the vídeo, some doubts are generated.

  • Indeed, down the planeón you can see a puddle of a líunidentified fluid, but that alsoén seen in some sections under the tail, place where gasoline should notíto be since the tanks areán only in the wings.
  • I couldíto exist a smell, but this one caníto be left over from the refueling process or from another vehicleíass they look for, as mentionedó grandfather's fuelón it has a different smell than común of people will not be ableíto necessarily identify as gasoline.
  • Sí, There could have been a fuel spill from either the tanker or the aircraft.ón, but this one shouldó be alerted to the authorities so that the corresponding cleaning can be carried out according toún RDAC 153 with dry elements or líliquids with elements thatímicos that prevent it from adhering.

This fact has been clarified by Tame EP with the following official statement:

And by the way tooén clarify that flying in a avión a hélice does not make it dangerous and less is a plane, as welléNo comments were seen on social networks after this incident, part of the lack of aero cultureáutica.

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