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Fuel Leak Incident
September 2, 2009
Recently, there was an incident where there was an in-flight fuel leak. There were no abnormalities during the flight. The flight was the last flight of the day. It departed with about 2:30hrs of fuel & the tanks were switched (from the right to the left tank) about 45 minutes into the 1 hour flight.
The next day, a large fuel stain was spotted underneath the right wing. Furthermore, there was a fuel stain along the flaps directly behind the fuel sump drain. The fuel sump drain mechanism was found in the open position. Tire tracks & secondary fuel stains were found in the position that the aircraft was started & shutdown in. Maintenance inspected the fuel sump drain and found that there was dirt in the mechanism that held the fuel sump drain in the open position.
Given the information above, there are several conclusions that can be made about what happened:
- Fuel was leaking (probably at a high drip rate) at the time of departure;
- Fuel was leaking during the flight;
- Fuel continued to leak once the flight was terminated until the fuel tank was dry.
There were also several contributing factors as to why this fuel leak occurred:
- The fuel sump drain had dirt in the mechanism that held the fuel sump drain in the open position;
- The preflight inspection includes a check of the fuel sumps. This was likely done, but the mechanism did not fully return to the closed position. This started the fuel leak. This leak should have been noticed during the preflight inspection;
- The aircraft was not tied down after the flight & therefore the leak was missed after the flight as well.
A fuel leak in flight poses a significant safety concern for any flight operation! This could have resulted in fuel starvation on short final which could have put the safety of the entire flight in jeopardy at low altitudes.
This situation posed a potentially hazardous situation. As with any incident there are normally several factors that contribute. This case is no different. Ensure that you follow the standard operating procedures & be vigilant on your walkarounds knowing that missing something could result in an accident or incident. Procedures are put in place as safeguards for safety in flight operations.
Philip Craig
Safety Management Officer
