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Fuel icing and precautions

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Excluding weird stuff like fuel system icing which seems pretty rare

Most Jet A1 comes pre mixed, but some suppliers do not include the anti icing additive and for over the wing refuelling the flight crew get to re fuel as in some airports because the refuellers will not handle it.

I spent a fair amount in winter night flights in an MEP in the FL150-160 but fortunately did not suffer fuel icing problems, and I did not add anti icing additive. The Janitrol cabin heater was pretty hopeless at -20 and below.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

RobertL18C wrote:

Most Jet A1 comes pre mixed, but some suppliers do not include the anti icing additive and for over the wing refuelling the flight crew get to re fuel as in some airports because the refuellers will not handle it.

I have never gotten premixed Jet A1, except in Cambridge, arguably my only UK destination up to now. Never gotten premixed Jet A1 in Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Greece, etc. I make a point of asking for it at every new destination :)

ELLX

RobertL18C wrote:

Most Jet A1 comes pre mixed, but some suppliers do not include the anti icing additive and for over the wing refuelling the flight crew get to re fuel as in some airports because the refuellers will not handle it.

Very little does in Europe actually. In Canada and the northern US in winter premix is common.

EGTK Oxford

It’s been a couple of years but Frankfurt, Nice, Barcelona, Linate come to mind as having pre mixed? A colleague is on ATRs will check what is the airline policy. If you do not have over the wing refuelling and you have to add the Prist yourself, how is it accomplished?

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

My colleague on ATRs tells me he doesn’t know, but they worry about fuel waxing when temperatures reach -54oC, despite having fuel heaters. The fuel heaters only work down to that temperature. Scandinavia, Baltic’s, northern Central Europe would be pre mixing as in the USA in winter? The ATR is limited to FL250, but TBM fly all the way up to FL330 so hopefully a TBM operator will come along and advise what their SOP is for fuel icing. In the PC12 cans of Prist were carried and added in the winter.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

I read of a pretty negligent PC12 crash due to not adding anti freeze additive to the fuel. Do smaller turbines/jets have a heat exchanger fuel heating system?

always learning
LO__, Austria

The PA46T did not have fuel heating but both the Mustang and CJ3 do and not use Prist.

JetA1 has about a 7 degree lower freezing point than the Jet-A used in the US. In most colder areas, they sell premixed Jet-A with anti-icing additive already added.

Last Edited by JasonC at 22 Apr 20:58
EGTK Oxford

TBM needs Prist too. It’s in the AFM. Many pilots don’t use it, which is OK for short flights and also longer flights on good quality fuel.
If you refuel in the rain and then fly 6 hours at -60, you’re very likely to see a low fuel pressure warning and boost pump kicking in. This is something I don’t want to see in a single engine airplane, so I add Prist most of the time.

LPFR, Poland

loco wrote:

This is something I don’t want to see in a single engine airplane, so I add Prist most of the time.

AS British Airways found out in 2008, it doesn’t matter how many engines you have if your fuel turns to slush.

Biggin Hill

loco wrote:

so I add Prist most of the time.

If you can find Prist in Europe you are very lucky, you can see that the main advantage of Prist over the alternatives is the positive trigger and secure connection where the nozzle joins the canister ….

One of the alternatives is this one …..

The connection at the can I have found to be very messy and unnecessarily fiddly by comparison to Prist

Another one is this which is almost guaranteed to spray itself all over the place is this one ….

I just dont understand why the manufacturers of these products (Prist excepted) dont spend a few extra cents in making a better connection with the cylinder that would make the product a lot more user friendly and safer to use.

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