Post crash fires.

JPAnderson

Magpie
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
61
Location
Havre, Montana
Aircraft
VariEze, Bensen, Kasperwing
Total Flight Time
975
How prevalent are post crash fires? What's the safest fuel tank setup?

I always like the Chinook fixed wing with tanks out on the struts away from the occupants but that's would be hard to do on a Gyro.

John
 
Trixy state they use anti explosion fuel tanks - several Trixies have gone down but I can't recall a fire in one, so that's good to know.

Have a look through my Blog

http://gyroaccidents.blogspot.co.uk/


just use CONTROL plus F and search "fire"
 
Explosafe - like stainless steel wool in your tank.

Explosafe - like stainless steel wool in your tank.

There used to be a product called explosafe if I recall correctly, which was a
stainless (I think) steel brillo - like material that you'd put in the tank so that the overall exposed liquid area after a breach of the tank would support only smudge pot behavior vice der geboominschaft.

The acro community gave up on it after some people reported fuel line blockage presumably due the the constant diet of +6 -5 g events breaking off chunks of the stuff.

Seems
an appealing idea in something as G limited as a gyro.

Regards,
j


Trixy state they use anti explosion fuel tanks - several Trixies have gone down but I can't recall a fire in one, so that's good to know.

Have a look through my Blog

http://gyroaccidents.blogspot.co.uk/


just use CONTROL plus F and search "fire"
 
Anything made of plastic will burn thru in about 30 seconds. Metal tank with a roll over vent, automotive fuel hose, and a metal filter are much safer.
 
From what I saw and experienced fuel hoses are more prone to cause fire after a crash. They can easily be damaged by bent and cracked gyro parts then fuel from hose reaches hot parts of exhaust or get some sparks from damaged electrical components.

I've got fire in a gyro when trashed my second gyro on take-off in 2005. When this gyro rolled over one hose from fuel tank to pump got broken and fuel reached exhaust. It took couple minutes to get good BBQ of the rest. No explosion of tanks - fuel simply leaked from tanks for some minutes. That gyro was completely destroyed by fire, even many of its aluminium parts including engine melted like ice.
 
Searching for "fire" in the accident blog does brings up a lot of post crash fires.

I had an acquaintance that had a Long-EZ with explosafe built into in the tanks. He didn't recommend it as it did have the problems you mentioned with flakes coming loose and they found it didn't it do much to prevent post crash fires. The ruptured tanks still leak plenty of fuel.

There's really not many options for putting distance between the pilot and fuel storage on a gyro that I can think of.

I did knock the nose wheel off my Kasperwing once and bungee mounted aft tank came loose and ended up way ahead of me and the airframe but I'm not sure how that could be done reliably.

John

There used to be a product called explosafe if I recall correctly, which was a
stainless (I think) steel brillo - like material that you'd put in the tank so that the overall exposed liquid area after a breach of the tank would support only smudge pot behavior vice der geboominschaft.

The acro community gave up on it after some people reported fuel line blockage presumably due the the constant diet of +6 -5 g events breaking off chunks of the stuff.

Seems
an appealing idea in something as G limited as a gyro.

Regards,
j
 
What is a rollover vent?

What is a rollover vent?

What is a roll over vent?
J

Anything made of plastic will burn thru in about 30 seconds. Metal tank with a roll over vent, automotive fuel hose, and a metal filter are much safer.
 
Top