The PT-6-42A can run up to 100 hours on Avgas and it won’t damage it at all. The Mirage accident is very sad – it was completely refuelled with Jet-A and the outcome was inevitable.
The last US AOPA magazine says:
NASA conducted research in the early 1980s which showed that > 2% avtur in avgas would result in detonation
That is quite a lot! It isn’t just a quick squirt.
A small amount of Jet Fuel can/will stop a piston engine. I read several accident reports about scenarios like that in the past, many times EFATO … If I had a Merdian or a I’d never leave the plane alone at refuelling, and Cirrus with the word “turbo” … I’d remove that if I lived in the USA and let line boys do the refueling. Also a BIG RED DECAL “AVGAS” can help, but I wouldn’t trust it completely …
That is not what the article suggests. It suggests that avtur will dissolve in avgas, and just lower the octane rating.
One could test this easily enough. I might do that. Stick both in a glass bottle and see how they mix. And see if they separate.
If the two didn’t mix, you could fuel up with avtur right up to the unusable-fuel amount i.e. the fuel tank outlet level (about 1.5 USG per tank in my TB20).
A friend filled DA40 TDI with gasoline. He was able to fly for an hour or so before it quit. Luckily he landed safely. Engine had to be sent to Thielert for inspection afterwards.
The mixing question has already been answered in this very thread.
A Diesel engine is yet another case than a piston gasoline engine. I guess a Diesel will run if the amount of Avgas is not too big.
From an article on AvWeb:
On March 2, 2008, a turbonormalized Cirrus SR22 was destroyed when it crashed shortly after takeoff in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing all four people aboard. Shortly after the aircraft departed from Runway 20, the airplane’s engine lost power, and the aircraft hit a building and exploded. Further investigation revealed that the aircraft had been refueled with Jet A instead of 100LL.
Flyer59 wrote:
If I had a Merdian or a I’d never leave the plane alone at refuelling
Anyone flying a DA40 should be very careful about what is poured into their tanks. I have had the fuel bowser with Jet-A1 pull up to me after having asked tower for fuel, although the aircraft I was flying was powered by a Lyco IO360. In Europe people are used to DA40s being powered by diesel engines. I do not know about any DA42 with IO360s flying around in Europe, so chances are that the Jet-A1 truck will turn up, but had I been flying a DA42TDI in the US I would have been equally careful.
, and Cirrus with the word “turbo” … I’d remove that if I lived in the USA and let line boys do the refueling. Also a BIG RED DECAL “AVGAS” can help
In the US the Avgas decal is not red. And I was more or less forced to replace a US Avgas decal by one of those red ones with white letters in order to get served in France once. Others have reported similar experiences.
Those decals (red for avgas and black for Jet-A1) are a very good idea, especially for aircraft using “unusual” fuels.
If I had a Merdian or a I’d never leave the plane alone at refuelling, and Cirrus with the word “turbo”
A Meridian can run on avgas perfectly fine. It is the piston versions that stop if filled with Jet-A1. Witness the recent Mirage accident at the home of Jetprop.
Turbine engines burn almost anything.
f I had a Merdian …
sorry, my mistake. I meant MALIBU …
