Mobil fuel depots closed down for second cleanout From AAP 19jan00 7.20pm (AEDT) MOBIL today closed down aviation fuel depots at 15 aerodromes along Australia's east coast after it realised a clean-out of fuel tanks had not included fuel lines. Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said Mobil's contractors had been progressively emptying and cleaning fuel tanks and filling them with clean Shell fuel throughout January. "They cleaned the tanks but they didn't clean the fuel lines from the tanks to the bowsers," Mr Gibson told AAP. "There could still be some contaminant so they are shutting them back down." He said the risk of uncontaminated aircraft now becoming affected was low as little fuel would be present in the fuel lines. Mobil had been monitoring the fuel by regular sampling. "None of the samples have shown any sign of contaminant so we are not grounding any aircraft (filled with the Shell fuel)," Mr Gibson said. "The risk is low but we would prefer there was not risk. "We're not happy about it but on the other hand we're satisfied there is no contamination happening as a result." He said the shutdown of the 15 fuel tanks for a second clean-out was merely a precaution and CASA has directed Mobil to keep it fully informed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fuel test ready within days From AAP 19jan00 4.08pm (AEDT) A TEST to detect contamination in light aircraft fuel systems may be given the go-ahead within days, petrochemical expert Professor David Trimm said today. Prof Trimm said he was 99.5 per cent certain the test would detect the original black contaminant and another white substance which had grounded 5,000 light planes in Australia. But Prof Trimm said he would not give the test the green light until he knew whether the presence of a second white substance showed up in the test or was unrelated to the problem. He has already received his first sample of the new mystery white gunk, which has been found in some planes, and will begin analytical tests this afternoon. He said the testing was expected to take a couple of days. However, Professor Trimm said he believed the goo was unrelated to the contamination. "My gut feeling is that it's not connected with the problem," he told reporters. "I think it is something else. I do not dare take the risk of validating the test until I know. If it is nothing to do with the problem I will validate the test." The Civil Aviation Safety Authority was examining planes in Western Australia which had been unaffected by the contamination to see if they had the new gunk, he said. Prof Trimm also said aircraft owners may need to retest planes after a period of flying as some of the contaminants may have been absorbed on the surfaces of the fuel tanks. "I'm a little concerned that there may be some absorbed on the surfaces which may come off over a longer period," he said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CASA hunts for avgas gunk From AAP 19jan00 12.10pm (AEDT) THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority today will today round up samples of aircraft fuel contaminated with a mystery white gunk, while the cost of grounded planes grows daily. A test developed to detect contamination in light aircraft fuel systems proved inadequate for finding the white substance, which means up to 5000 of the piston-engined aircraft must remain grounded. CASA aviation safety director Mick Toller said the test would show if an engine was clean but he said petrochemical expert Professor David Trimm had found the test did not show what substances might remain in dirty engines. He said one white substance was a carbonate formed by a reaction of carbon dioxide with the original black contaminant, ethylene di-amine (EDA) but a second white "goo" was unknown. "Basically we've got a test and we've got a mystery," Mr Toller said. "We've made significant progress through Professor Trimm's independent analysis of the test for the EDA in the fuel. "It's safe to say that basically that's an excellent test for checking aircraft which have been contaminated after they've been cleaned and it gives us all the necessary indicators to say which aircraft should be cleaned. "Obviously today we're on a big hunt for as much white stuff as we can find." The task would be assigned to three laboratories - Mobil's, Professor Trimm at the University of New South Wales, and an independent one used by the AustralianTransport Safety Bureau - for further testing to identify the mystery gunk. Mr Toller said the new white substance, discovered yesterday by Professor Trimm, may be harmless but it needed to be identified to establish potential effects and to ensure it could be removed. "We don't know whether it's significant ... we don't know whether it's party of the process. Until we have isolated it and checked it then we cannot ... say we're safe to go," he said. Mr Toller said the test could not have been released today even if it did identify all contaminants as a training video needed improving and CASA had ensured a blue dye in avgas did not upset the test. The test to show which aircraft were safe to fly was unlikely to be ready for another week. Mr Toller warned frustrated aircraft operators against home remedies. "It is a great temptation to get the garden hose out and to wash the system out and I think that's a dangerous process to go through," he said. "That could lead to significant problems later on and it would not be approved by the authority." An additional problem for operators carrying fare-paying passengers was that they had to meet a higher safety standard and the cleaning process must be approved by the aircraft manufacturer. "We have not yet got the approval from any aircraft manufacturers for any process that washes tanks with water. Until we do so, not aircraft that carries fare-payingpassengers will have a valid allowable decontamination certificate," Mr Toller said. "That makes the no-home-cures side even more important." He said the cost of staying on the ground was growing daily but declined to comment on Mobil's $15 million compensation package announced yesterday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thousands of planes grounded From AAP 19jan00 9.00am (AEDT) THOUSANDS of light aircraft in eastern Australia will remain grounded for at least another week after the latest efforts to find field tests for a fuel system contaminant failed. Work yesterday by petrochemical expert Professor David Trimm found more testing needed to be done to determine the nature of a clear gel contaminant product being found in fuel tanks. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said that as a result of the work still to be carried out, about 5000 planes would remain grounded for at least another week. "It's a very sad blow for the industry," CASA aviation safety director Mick Toller told ABC radio this morning. "It could be up to another week and obviously we don't want that any more than the industry does." New samples of the clear contaminant had to be taken and checked against untainted fuel samples from Shell avgas and West Australian supplies. Mr Toller said the logistics of getting the samples to laboratories were likely to slow the process by several days. "I think the actual testing process won't take us that long," he said. "We're probably talking about, by the time we've found it and got it to laboratories in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, a couple of days, another day for the testing and then let's look at what comes after that. " "We're saying middle of next week." Mr Toller said CASA did not want to raise industry hopes of an all clear too much at this stage. "But obviously that doesn't mean that we're not working flat out on it and as soon as we've got an answer, then we'll be out with it," he said. Many aircraft have been unable to fly since before Christmas due to the batch of dirty fuel from Mobil's Altona refinery. Earlier yesterday, Mobil announced a $15 million package to help out the thousands of light aircraft owners affected by the fuel contamination crisis. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the ABC Thu, 20 Jan 2000 Aircraft owners may turn to specially-made spare parts Aircraft owners could face the prospect of having spare parts specially made to help overcome the contaminated fuel crisis. Tests are still being carried out to indentify a white substance which has been found in fuel tanks. The Civil Aviation Safety Authorty's Mick Toller says while it is not known what the decontamination process will be, it could be costly. "Until we know exactly what the decontamination process needs in terms of spare parts, we hope [the cost will be] as little as possible obviously because we like to take the optimistic view," he said. "But we're also looking at the worse-case senarios and there are some parts that are probably going to be very difficult but probably don't even exist in the world at the moment that are going to have to be made especially. " ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------