wanttaja@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ronald J Wanttaja) (11/05/85)
Since I went on a business trip the day after my engine failure, I wasn't able to immediately follow up on my fuel contamination incident. But I'm back, and now have the full scoop on the problem. The source of the contamination was ground-water runoff into the FBO's fuel tanks, which I had suspected due to the scummy appearance of the water. We had heavy rains the week before (and when Seattle has heavy rain, it's HEAVY RAIN), and the fill points for the tanks were recessed flush with the concrete. The water collected at the low point, and when it rose high enough it entered the tank through leaky cap seals. The failure of the water-detect shutoff was the final thread. I flew the 150 for the first time since the incident yesterday, and flew back to the FBO to get my free refill (I may be a coward, but I'm a *greedy* coward). The fill points are no longer recessed, there is now a 4 inch high concrete cone all around the fill point to keep the ground water out. Oh, and the instructor who looked at my fuel before takeoff didn't seem to want to talk to me... I guess he's probably feeling a bit embarrassed. Interestingly enough, there was a second airplane that filled up from that tank before I did. If you recall my last posting, a Bonanza that filled up just before me ended up with about four to five gallons of water in his tanks. Well, a C-170 filled up before the Bonanza. He flew to Auburn (the place I was going when my engine quit), then to yet another airport ten miles away. They finally got hold of him, and when he checked, there was only a few ounces of water in his system. Flying the 150 for the first time since the incident was a bit hair raising... I kept expecting the engine to start sputtering. During the initial preflight, more water showed up in the fuel. I flushed it out, and flew to the other airport. On arrival, the gascolator sample was 1/3 water, after just a 10 minute flight. I filled up, and went away to talk to my A&P. After my return, I checked the fuel throughly, and flew back to Auburn. A slight amount of water turned up in the gascolator, as well as a little from the wing sumps. After another short flight, a small amount was found again. Looks like it's going to take a while to flush all that out, and you can bet I'm not going to fly over Puget Sound for a while...:-). Ron Wanttaja The C-150 Glider Pilot (ssc-vax!wanttaja)