So, I'm watching the tv show Mayday. British airways flight 38 suffered a fuel problem approaching Heathrow. Turns out ice crystals clogged the fuel heater (manifold system with smaller tubes at that point).
There's some moisture in all fuel, you can minimize it but not totally eliminate it. I'm fairly experienced in that but I usually operate in temps above -40c in the winter. I use fuel heaters and fuel additives in the winter to lower my gelling point.
Turns out the fuel temps were high enough for the ice crystals to get sticky during this event (-20c) and cause them to clog the fuel system at the heater.
While it might not be completely analogous, it makes sense to me as somewhere near 0f I find it beneficial to keep my windshield cold to help prevent snow from sticking to it. Anyway, it appears there is a fine line between preventing gelling up and ice clogging the fuel line. If it's cold enough, the crystals will remain separate and pass through.
I'm not an aviation geek, only about 3 hours in the left seat before I decided it's not for me. If you've read this entire post and made sense of it, I'm sure professional help is available and you should seek it out.😁
There's some moisture in all fuel, you can minimize it but not totally eliminate it. I'm fairly experienced in that but I usually operate in temps above -40c in the winter. I use fuel heaters and fuel additives in the winter to lower my gelling point.
Turns out the fuel temps were high enough for the ice crystals to get sticky during this event (-20c) and cause them to clog the fuel system at the heater.
While it might not be completely analogous, it makes sense to me as somewhere near 0f I find it beneficial to keep my windshield cold to help prevent snow from sticking to it. Anyway, it appears there is a fine line between preventing gelling up and ice clogging the fuel line. If it's cold enough, the crystals will remain separate and pass through.
I'm not an aviation geek, only about 3 hours in the left seat before I decided it's not for me. If you've read this entire post and made sense of it, I'm sure professional help is available and you should seek it out.😁
