THE aviation fuel contaminant believed to have been responsible for grounding
nearly half the light aircraft in Australia
(快猫短视频, 22 January, p 7)
was not detected because standard aviation fuel tests are not sensitive
enough, according to an independent expert who has been asked to assess fuel
testing procedures.
鈥淭he international regulations are going to have to be tightened up,鈥� says
David Trimm, a chemist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. The level
of ethylene diamine in the fuel, which is thought to be responsible for the
scare, is only 2.5 parts per million鈥攂ut standard internationally agreed
aviation fuel tests cannot detect levels below 30 parts per million, says
Trimm.
This week, Mobil Australia began distributing around a thousand kits to
aircraft engineers for testing the estimated five thousand planes grounded by
the Civil Aviation Safety Authority as a result of fuel contamination. Groups
representing aircraft pilots and owners hit by the grounding have already filed
two collective lawsuits, or class actions, in the Australian courts. They are
seeking to improve on the compensation package that Mobil is offering.
Advertisement