Saving Money by Not Using Enough Prist?

[Groundpounder]

Line guys suck

 

[MNR]

I have encountered some fantastic people working the line on different ramps. They do not all suck.

Also, no matter what its the PICs responsibility to monitor refueling operations. It dosen't happen often but I have caught both, the valve on when I asked for no prist and the valve off when I wanted it.

 

[erj-145mech]

I've also seen where the pre-mix valve was on, but the 5 gallon can was empty. I've also seen flight departments specify that a crewmember check the sumps on the refuel trucks for water and sediment prior to servicing.

I don't trust line men without working with them to see what their work habits are like. I've seen good, and I've seen bad.

If the pilot wishes to delgate the responsibility to someone else, thats all well and good, but its still the pilots responsibility to ensure that the aircraft was serviced in accordance with the AFM/company proceedures, whichever has precedence for his operation.

 

[CutEmUp]

Pilots are not the only professionals in this industry. Sure it is the pilots ultimate responsibility to determine the safety of the flight, but how far can you go?

Line techs should be trained professionals and you should only have your aircraft serviced at FBOs that provide adequate training. (NATA safety 1st certification is a start.) Unless you take a tent and camp with your airplane, there is no way to observe everything that ever goes on around it.

 

[IFLYHI]

Is the prist flowing?

When receiving fuel from a truck that injects prist, there should always be a way to visually determine if the prist is actually flowing. The most common is a small round glass jar, which sometimes sits right on top of the 5 gallon bucket of prist, and sometimes mounts somewhere else on the truck. If you look at this glass jar WHILE THE FUEL IS BEING PUMPED, you should see the prist bubbling (or percolating) inside the glass jar. If the jar is empty, you probably aren't getting any prist. On older trucks, I've also seen an inline "pinwheel" type indicator which spins every 10 seconds or so, when the prist pump injects a squirt of prist into the line.

While it is certainly not the pilots responsibility to know the inner workings of every type of fuel truck, the more informed you are, the better.

Personally, I have experienced lack of prist in a BeechJet. I was flying from LWM to FAR. About 20 minutes out of FAR, we got a fuel filter bypass light on one engine. There are 2 airframe fuel filters in the belly(one per engine), which cause the light. I reduced the power on that engine, the light went out, and then it came back on when I put the power lever back forward. This confirmed in my mind that it was really a filter bypass issue. By the time we got on the ground, the bypass light was on at idle. It probably wouldn't have run much longer.

Anyway, when I went back to the FBO where I got the fuel, they said that I definately was getting prist, and that they had just filled up their prist can the day before. So then I watched the little glass jar as they were fueling me, and it was empty! No percolating! After going back to their maintenance building, they determined that the prist pump had lost its prime when they had refilled it the day before. Maybe it lost its prime because they ran it out of prist before they refilled it.

So if I'm standing there while they are fueling, I try to always look at the back of the truck for the "little glass jar". If you can't find it, just ask the line boy, and he should be able to point it out to you.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[Dep676]

Well to that jagoff that started the thread. There is no way that the crew did not use prist to save money. The way things are going at Options right now. The crew would be more likely to spend more money on getting something they did not need.