Ground Support Worldwide - 28

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aircraft, ultimately cutting fuel off from the
engine while in flight.
"We also know diesel exhaust fluid is
corrosive to a number of substances. Aluminum, for example, is among the things
it's corrosive to," Larsen adds. "When you
put fuel and DEF together, extensive damage
through the aircraft's fuel system occurs."
The three confirmed DEF contamination
cases in the United States happened under
differing circumstances.
One event in Omaha, Neb., took place
because DEF and FSII were both purchased
in 55-gallon drums and stored in the same
room. When a line service technician went
to retrieve additional FSII for a fueling
truck, that person filled a bucket with DEF
instead. Because both liquids are clear, the
mistake was initially undetected. DEF was
added to the FSII tank and metered into
the aircraft.

"They had aircraft that had engine issues
at Omaha, fairly quickly. The FBO started
with standard fuel quality testing, but all the
initial tests were coming back appropriate,"
Larsen says.
"It wasn't until they took samples of what
was coming out of the fuel nozzle during
the uplift and sending it off to a specialized lab, that they realized there was urea in
that test sample. Urea is one of the primary
substances in diesel exhaust fluid," he continues. "That's how they put it together that
DEF was the contaminant."
Another event in Opa-locka, Fla.,
involved a Falcon 900 that ended up in
flight. In this case, a fueling truck's FSII
tank had a leak. It was removed and
repaired. When the tank came back to the
FBO, a leak check was performed.
However, during this test, DEF was used
inadvertently.

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28 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

FEBRUARY 2020

This FBO had taken steps to avoid
DEF contamination, but because the tank
was not installed on the truck during the
leak test, those measures were accidently
circumvented.
The third event also involved a line service technician working to refill the FSII
reservoir on a fuel truck. A partially filled
bucket with a clear liquid initially thought
by the technician to be FSII was further
filled with FSII and the bucket's contents
were poured into the truck's FSII reservoir.
It turns out that the initial quantity of liquid in the bucket was DEF. This time two
Citations were affected.
"They had a quick repositioning flight
from Punta Gorda, Fla. where they took on
the contaminated fuel to Naples, Fla. They
had added more fuel at Naples while they
waited for passengers there. Both of those
aircraft on their flights from Naples had
issues in flight," Larsen says, noting one
flight experienced a dead-stick landing.
"Lucky we got airplanes on the ground
in all of these events," he adds. "The reality
of this hazard, though, is the potential of a
much more catastrophic outcome."

Solutions to Address the
Problem
After these situations were reported, the
general aviation industry put together a
working group to understand what happened at each location.
The Aircraft Diesel Exhaust Fluid Contamination Working Group, as a result,
published a report on the hazard of DEF
contamination in aircraft fuel, which was
published in June of 2019.
The creation of the report has raised
awareness of this hazard and has opened
dialogue. It also encourages the operators
of the aircraft to be engaged in the fueling
process with the FBO.
"One of the things we've suggested is
buying different size containers for the
DEF. You can find it a lot of other places.
It's really not any more expensive to buy it
in, say, 2.5-gallon containers than it is when
you consider what a 55-gallon drum costs,"
Larsen says. "A lot of FBOs are also storing the DEF under lock and key that only a
certain set of individuals actually have the
key for that lock and are very well trained."
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