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Issue link: https://groundsupportworldwide.epubxp.com/i/618927
22 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016 AIRCRAFT FUELING T hen along came the frst jets, and, lo, there was jet fuel, which was much like kerosene and would not run in piston engines. Thus began the problems and all hell broke loose. None of this mattered much at frst, sure. Jet engines were mostly used by the airlines and the military. Besides, if the airplane had propellers that was a pretty good indication that it had a piston engine and used avgas. Next came the Beech King Air and other tur- bo-prop aircraft, called propjets by marketers. They had props, but used turbine engines that burned jet fuel. Uh-oh! How could anyone tell which prop planes took avgas and which took jet fuel? I mean, you know, they had props, didn't they? Then, in the 1960s, came the Learjets and other business jets. They were smaller than airliners, but had no props, so they took jet fuel. That was easy. Each of these steps created problems for support personnel. First, they had to learn that turbine engines did not like avgas and vice versa. That sounds simple, but there were always little surprises. Older airliners – the DC-3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, Martins, Convairs and others – were around long after the jets arrived and, indeed, some are still around today. These old planes were big and important looking, but they did have props, so that helped. During and after the Korean War came the helicopters. At frst there were the Whirly Birds, the Bell-47s, they were piston powered and most everybody knew that. In fact, many just fgured that all helicopters were piston powered. Around the same time came turbine-engined heli- copters which, as ground-service providers had to learn, required jet fuel. Changing Times I was in the aviation insurance business during many of these changes and saw the results. One truly fne FBO put a load of jet fuel into one of the old round-engine airliners. The lineperson just never had seen such a big airplane with piston engines, I reckon, and the result was disastrous. At the FBO for which I worked, In the beginning, airplanes used piston engines and aviation gasoline – or avgas – and life was simple. Ground support folks just had to know what octane avgas to put in each particular airplane, and even then they were aided by the dyes used to identify different octane levels. By Ralph Hood One Fuel Fits All: Avgas vs. Jet Fuel Through the Years The R-44 is piston powered. The R-66 is turbine powered. But you wouldn't know that just by looking at them - that knowledge requires experience and training. Robinson and Bell