Sumping Fuel Tanks

[TGatch]

GATS jars aren't that bad, we have them our aircraft at my flight school.

As far as sump buckets, I have seen it twice. Once at Sporty's and at the PMP location for American Flyers.

That's the only place I've seen em is sporty's.

 

[RynoB]

There used to be a disposal tank at Atlantic at PWA. That was back in the good ol days when they were still Million Air. They got rid of it after Trajen bought the FBO, and I don't know if they ever replaced it.

 

[Barty]

The EPA will make the FBO tear up their asphalt, reclaim the contaminated soil, then repave the ramp. This will bankrupt just about any school out there.

They won't do the same to the USAF.

Has this actually happened somewhere, or is it just another scare story that has been floating around? I don't see how you're supposed to avoid getting fuel on the ramp if you fly older aircraft that have the old style fuel strainers without putting a bucket underneath them first.

My club provides a GATS jar with all of the aircraft I rent, so it is a moot point, except for the strainers on the older aircraft. If its clean, I just dump it back in the tank. No airport I have flown in/out of has had containers to reclaim contaminated fuel.

 

[USMCmech]

Has this actually happened somewhere, or is it just another scare story that has been floating around? I don't see how you're supposed to avoid getting fuel on the ramp if you fly older aircraft that have the old style fuel strainers without putting a bucket underneath them first.

I've seen it done at Vero Beach when I was at FSA. I think the city paid for it. But If they had gone after the flight school, it could have been very costly.

 

[azaviator08]

Some of our planes have gats jars and some don't. Some just have those cheap jeppesen sumps. Even if you don't have a gats jar is it still okay to put the fuel back into the tank as long as it clear of any contaminents????

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Some of our planes have gats jars and some don't. Some just have those cheap jeppesen sumps. Even if you don't have a gats jar is it still okay to put the fuel back into the tank as long as it clear of any contaminents????

Yes. If it's clean, it's clean.

 

[Douglas]

Do what you want, unless you are at an airport that expects you to dump them in their buckets. Then follow the rules, but I have never been to one of those airports.

Many FBOs over fill tanks and as the heat of the day expands the fuel, it tends to over flow and run on the ramp. Go to an old cessner parking spot and draw a line from the fuel vent straight down and you will find cracked asphalt. That is the bigger problem.

The way I figure it is that I can either throw in on the asphalt and let it evaporate in the atmosphere or put it back in my engine and release it into the atmosphere via combustion emissions. either way....

 

[BrewMaster]

Put it in a gas can and put it in a motorcycle. Me and my buddy save our gas for his bike, he says it works great.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Put it in a gas can and put it in a motorcycle. Me and my buddy save our gas for his bike, he says it works great.

Have a friend who puts it in his little motorized towbar. At lease it's being used to move the airplane ;D

 

[roundout]

Have a friend who puts it in his little motorized towbar. At lease it's being used to move the airplane ;D

We did this and the one of the valves stuck and we had to pull the head off and fix it. The motor never gets hot enough to burn off the lead in the gas.

 

[Hacker15e]

We did this and the one of the valves stuck and we had to pull the head off and fix it. The motor never gets hot enough to burn off the lead in the gas.

I ran sumped 100LL for about 2 years straight in a 1973 Monte Carlo with a small block 350 V-8...no problems noted.

 

[roundout]

I'm sure a 350 (or any motor in any car, for that matter) gets hot enough to burn out the lead. The guys run it in the fuel trucks here with no problems because they get up to operating temp. The tug doesn't, so it got gummed up.