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'Ice in fuel' caused BA 777 crash

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Martyn View Drop Down
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    Posted: 04 Sep 2008 at 4:47pm

The key phrase in this article is 'may have', this is only an interim report from the AAIB:


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The BA plane that crashed at Heathrow in January was probably brought down by ice in its fuel system, an accident report says.

The pilots of the Boeing 777 managed to land safely, and 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped without serious injury.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch believes the flow of fuel dropped causing the engines to lose power less than a minute before touchdown.

But investigators say they still do not know how the ice could have formed.

Water is naturally present in aviation fuel and the investigators believe there may have been as much as 5 litres within this aircraft's fuel load.

But the report says levels of water found in fuel recovered after the 17 January crash were very low for a Boeing 777

Siberian temperatures

They dismissed the suggestion that the fuel itself froze or became "waxy" as icing occurred.

The report says the plane flew through unusually cold air over Siberia while en route from Bejing to Heathrow.

The fuel temperature fell to -34C (-29F). But jet fuel should not freeze until it is at less than -57C (-70F), and the report says the temperatures involved were not "unique".

The investigation into the crash of flight BA38 continues with testing at Rolls Royce in Derby, and Seattle in the US, the home of Boeing.

Water in aviation fuel can be dissolved at the molecular level, or simply float as free water, suspended in the fuel. As the fuel gets colder tiny droplets can form and freeze.

The mystery facing investigators is why this might have happened on an apparently fully-functioning aircraft.

Water in the fuel is controlled by draining it regularly out of the fuel tanks - and on the Boeing 777 a so-called "scavange system" pumps it out.

Ice can form when the fuel temperature drops to around -1C (30.2F) to -3C (26.6F) Generally the ice crystals simply float and drift in the fuel without causing harm.

Only when the temperature falls further does the ice stick together.

Within the fuel system a heat exchanger is used to increase the fuel temperature, but it is possible the blockage might have occurred before this point.

The investigation team have built a test rig and introduced pre-prepared ice into the fuel system to see if it would clog up.

But the amounts they had to put in to make this happen were far greater than is normal.

Despite that, the scenarios being considered by the AAIB are based on the idea that the ice formed gradually in the system and was released as the plane prepared for landing.

But the report makes three safety recommendations:

  • that the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency introduce interim measures to reduce the risk of ice forming on the Boeing 777 powered by Trent 800 engines
  • the agencies should consider the implications for other aircraft types
  • review the requirements for new engines

This accident remains an enormous challenge for the investigation team. But their report stresses the rarity of this crash.

'Unique' situation

It said: "The accident flight was unique in that this has been the only recorded case of a restricted fuel flow affecting the engine performance to the extent of causing HP pump cavitation" - the damage found within the pumps that alerted the investigators to the loss of fuel pressure.

The report goes on: "This is the first such event in 6.5 million flight hours and places the probability of the failure as being 'remote'."

Flight BA 38 from Beijing was extensively damaged when it touched down on 17 January, landing short of the runway but staying largely intact.

One person suffered a broken leg and others received minor injuries during the emergency evacuation.




Martyn
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MartinW View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2008 at 6:11pm
Guess they'll be flying at a lower and warmer altitude in those siberian conditions next time.
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jupp94 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jupp94 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Sep 2008 at 7:29pm

I alos read in a Swedis flight magazine that it was the fuel pumps that was wrong, would be very expensive for Boeing if they are forced to take back all the T7s for reparation...

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VulcanB2 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VulcanB2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Sep 2008 at 12:09am
Uhhmmm... I'm sure I posted a topic on this? Confused

Here's the link I posted to the BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7598267.stm

My personal opinion is that there was a lot of water in that fuel. The temperatures got cold, but nothing that hasn't been encountered before.

-34°C is cold enough to start causing water to reduce in volume, thus its density increases, and will cause it to sink in the fuel.

Best regards,
Vulcan.
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MartinW View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Sep 2008 at 9:35am
From what I saw on the BBC, they calculated that the water quantity would have been quite small. As Pointy said, this has been encountered many times before with never an incident like this. Either a freak occurrence, or other factors involved that we're not aware of.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VulcanB2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Sep 2008 at 3:45pm
One thing that is often overlooked about ice accumulation is that once accumulation starts, the rate of accumulation accelerates.

Best regards,
Vulcan.
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