/ Good idea, but if a static charge has built up in the aircraft, surely this
/ would now be discharged via the pump standpipe to the fuel container which
/ is presumably in contact with the ground. The plane might survive the
/ explosion but I bet the fuel container would complain !.
In liquid form gasoline is rather difficult to get to burn - the vapour is
another
matter. Any
method of preventing a spark near vapour is practical and all you need to do is
bring the
potential of the aircraft and the filler nozzle to the same level.
The earth wire dumped in to the fuel filler and linked to earth before using a
pump would be by
far the most effective. For those filling from cans all you would really need to
do is ensure
that the can has the wire connected before opening it.
Static bonding is actually very simple to achieve - the electronics industry has
been doing it
for many years and our protection is many times more difficult than preventing
a single spark
before filling a fuel tank.
If this was a major issue then we would use bonding straps at every petrol
station
before
filling our cars!
Tony
---------------End of Original Message-----------------
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Tony Krzyzewski tonyk@kaon.co.nz
Managing Director Ph 64 9 358 9124
Kaon Technologies Fx 64 9 358 9127
Auckland
New Zealand
Networkers visit www.kaon.co.nz
Aviators visit www.kaon.co.nz/europa/272index.html
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