Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: "Sterling"
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: flotation devices In a message dated 3/3/2005 9:26:36 AM Central Standard Time, Michael.D.Cuy(at)grc.nasa.gov writes:With my new drop tank and tip tanks I can carry 40 gallons which give me about a 12hour endurance time. About 800 air miles. I was thinking Houston to Tampa direct,non-stop, un-refueled.Mike,If you pull that one off, you will certainly win the 'Iron Butt' award !!Chuck G.I've done one 4hr leg, and three times I've done 3 1/2hr legs. After landing, I had to sit there a few moments to allow all my bones to hook back up!!________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Rcaprd(at)aol.com
----- Original Message -----

Original Posted By: Hopperdhh(at)aol.com
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Safety? Fiberglass gas tanks & Static ElectricityThe reason I posted this is from witnessing the aftermath of an actual fire. When I was a news reporter for a TV station in El Paso, I saw a guy burned anddisfigured on one of the thousands of hard-news stories I covered in my career. El Paso is a dry desert climate, great place for making static electricityon a cool day. The fellow was a go-carter and he hauled gas in a plastic can in the back of his pickup. To compound matters, his truck bed was lined in Astro Turf. The fire investigator theorized that when the victim slid his plasticgas can into and out of the pickup bed, it helped induce a static buildup in the plastic gas can. (Kind of like when you rub a small rubber balloon on yourshirt, the resultant static makes it stick to you.) The go-cart was hauled on a small trailer. He unloaded it, slid the plastic gas can on the Astro Turf and during the fueling stage, KABOOM. Luckily, nobody else was hurt and he wasfueling in a sandy area where nothing else caught on fire, but the gocarter gota new physical identity! No hair and 3rd degree burns to his hands, arms and face.I'm buying 15 feet of 1/8th inch copper grounding wire to install in both of my fiberglass tanks, then running down to the bottom of the fuselage to the juncture of the landing gear. Maybe this way, I can ground the airplane in a waysimilar to how FBOs fuel spam cans. One other lesson from my days as a news reporter. I saw a man who was killed when shrapnel tore him to shreds. He was blown to bits from the explosion of an air compressor tank. I suspect the tank had built up rust and was compromised because someone was failing not to do a daily water drain of the tankas mandated by OSHA in work setting. I religiously drain the air tank on my air compressors after using them, after seeing a dead man who looked like hamburger--killed by an exploding air tank.Sterling Brooks________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: "walt evans"
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Safety? Fiberglass gas tanks & Static ElectricityHi listers,This doesn't apply to just fiberglass tanks, but to any use of plastic around gasoline.I'm one of those guys who uses plastic gas cans. I use them to fill my lawn mowers in the summertime. I used them to refuel my C-150 with a plastic funnel. I still would, except that I have sold it.Now I happen to be an electrical engineer, also. I have worked a lot with MOS devices which are very static sensitive. We had to work at a grounded workbench with a wrist strap, etc. Working in a static sensitive environmenthas instilled in me some ways to reduce the risks associated with static electricity. Static electricity takes some time to drain away because plastic is a very poor conductor of electricity. So move slowly. Set your can of fuel on a ladder, etc., near where you are going to pour it from, and wait a while. Whileyou are waiting, blow your breath across the can, funnel, and tank to drain away the static electricity. The moist air makes the surface of the plastic more conductive. When you are ready to refuel, use your body to bring the fuel can to the same voltage as the plane before opening either fuel cap. Thatis, touch both at the same time. If you have a metal ground system (like the engine or landing gear), touch it too. If there is a spark, it should jumpduring this time. After the spark jumps (or doesn't jump) the likelihood of igniting a fire is very low. Now, without making any unnecessary movements, open the caps and pour the gas.For what its worth: gasoline is a non-conductor, and as far as I know doesn't build up a static charge itself. The charge will be on the surface ofthe plastic pieces. I don't think its the gas you're trying to discharge, its the tank, can and funnel. But, I'm not positive about this, so do what the glass plane people have found that works -- which I've read in earlier posts.The post about fabric anti-static spray was especially good. (Sorry, I don'tremember who that was.)Dry climates are of course the worst. There have been numerous refueling fires at gas stations. These are usually due to people sliding across the seatof their car in cold dry weather which builds up a static charge on their clothing. Its a good idea to touch the car body when you get out, and again when you have the metal of the fuel nozzle in the other hand. This dischargeseverything to ground potential. If the person stays statically charged, thendischarges at just the wrong time, the gas fumes can ignite. A Google search will find some of these cases.OK, now you know some ways to reduce the risk. Its pretty hard to be perfectly safe around something with as much energy content as gasoline. Allin all, its a pretty safe way to store energy. Look at the millions of cars on the road, and every one of them has a bomb on board!Regards,Dan HopperWalton, IN________________________________________________________________________________Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 15:54:54 -0500

Original Posted By: "walt evans"