PA31 RETURN LAND AT GSO AFTER BEING FUELED WITH WRONG TYPE FUEL.

1998-11 · NASA ASRS report 420696

Date: 1998-11 · Aircraft: PA-31 Navajo/Chieftan/Mojave/T1040 · Phase: ground

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|other-unspecified

Synopsis

PA31 RETURN LAND AT GSO AFTER BEING FUELED WITH WRONG TYPE FUEL.

Narrative

I WAS RETURNING ON A SCHEDULED COURSE FLT FROM ATLANTA. DUE TO FOG AND LOW CEILINGS; I HAD PLANNED ON LNDG AT RDU; BUT WAS REQUIRED TO DEV TO GSO DUE TO LOW VISIBILITY THERE AS WELL. AFTER LNDG AT GSO; I HAD MADE THE DECISION TO FLY TO RALEIGH DUE TO IMPROVING CONDITIONS. BEFORE MY DEP; I ORDERED 30 GALLONS OF FUEL. DURING THE FUELING; I FILED AN IFR FLT PLAN; PAID FOR THE FUEL AND THEN MADE A DEP OFF RWY 23. WHILE CLBING OUT ON A HDG OF 090 DEGS TO 5000 FT; I DISCOVERED THAT THE CYLINDER HEAD TEMPS WERE PASSED AT 500 DEGS F; REDLINE; AND THE ENGS WERE RUNNING A LITTLE ROUGH. I THEN PROCEEDED TO CHK THE COWL FLAPS WHICH I FOUND TO BE OPEN. NEXT; I ADJUSTED THE MIXTURE CTLS BUT FOUND THAT THE EGT WOULD NOT RISE ABOVE MIDPOINT. AT THIS POINT I WAS PASSING 3000 FT; AND DECIDED TO INFORM THE CTLR OF MY SIT AND THE NEED TO RETURN TO THE ARPT. FROM THIS POINT; I WAS VECTORED FOR AN ILS APCH TO RWY 23. WHEN I REDUCED PWR UPON LEVELING OFF AT 3000 FT; THE CYLINDER HEAD TEMPS DROPPED TO 400 DEGS. I LANDED SAFELY AFTER AN APCH TO MINIMUMS AND TAXIED TO THE RAMP WHERE I HAD PURCHASED THE FUEL. THE THOUGHT OF FUEL CONTAMINATION DID COME TO MIND AND WAS CONFIRMED BY THE LINE PERSON WHO HAD MISFUELED MY AIRPLANE. THIS WHOLE EVENT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THE LINE PERSON FUELING THE AIRPLANE (WHO HAD ONLY 2 MONTHS EXPERIENCE) WAS SUPERVISED BY MYSELF AND/OR THE MORE EXPERIENCED PERSON WHO WAS WORKING AT THE TIME. ALSO; THE FUEL TRUCK COULD HAVE BEEN EQUIPPED WITH LARGER NOZZLES LIKE MOST OTHER JET FUEL TRUCKS. ALSO; I SHOULD HAVE CHKED THE ODOR OF THE FUEL AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE TO MAKE SURE IT WAS THAT OF 100LL. AFTER THE INCIDENT; I FOUND OUT THAT THE LINE PERSON MISTAKENLY IDENTED MY AIRPLANE AS A CHEYENNE; SO IF I HAD BEEN MORE SPECIFIC IN MY VERBAL ORDER OF FUEL AS TO THE MAKE AND MODEL OF THE ACFT AS WELL AS THE FUEL TYPE; THIS INCIDENT WOULD HAVE NEVER OCCURRED. IF ALL FBO'S REQUIRED THEIR CUSTOMERS TO FILL OUT A FUEL ORDER FORM THIS TYPE OF INCIDENT COULD BE AVOIDED ALTOGETHER.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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