Most crews will conduct regular fuel consumption checks throughout the flight to actively monitor this. It is no secret that fuel is extremely flammable, and with many electrical and heat-producing components onboard, placing fuel in the wings has the added benefit of keeping these fire risks further away from passengers in the event of ignition or explosion.
When it comes to handling aircraft fires, time is money and pilots are urged to get the aircraft on the ground ASAP to increase the chance of survival. As many firefighters will iterate, flames are only part of the threats associated with fuel-fed fires. Fire safety legislation is built around survival time. This is measured in post-crash survivability, ie the time available for passenger evacuation.
Fuel tank materials must be able to withstand flames for 5 minutes without burning through. This is approximate the same time it takes to boil an egg. This may seem like a scarily small window to escape, but crews are trained to evacuate all passengers within 90 seconds. A full A even managed to do this in 78 seconds. So 5 minutes would be sufficient to evacuate 3 times over. Fires and fumes in the wings are easier to isolate and with the source outside of the fuselage, there is less chance of smoke entering the cockpit or the cabin.
Most wings are made of extremely fire-resistant aluminium. The material can withstand fire for 5 minutes and it dissipates heat, preventing hotspots from occurring and minimising the risk of explosions. Additionally it allows the wing to maintain its load-bearing ability, delaying burn-through or wing collapse until after evacuation is complete. Fires starting in the wings are also easier to spot when you have over people looking out of the windows trying to get that perfect instagram shot.
In case of a fire detection fault this gives a huge safety advantage and provides the crew with valuable extra seconds to save your life. Tosaka Layout of Jet liners main fuel tanks. Editorial Team Air Canada B tipped back. Related Article:. Left, Right and Both allow for fuel to be fed to the engine from either the Left tank or the Right tank individually or from Both at the same time.
This facility allows the pilot to balance the fuel tanks or to "trim" the aircraft laterally. The Off selection provides for a fuel shut off valve in the event of an engine fire or to prevent unwanted fuel migration when the aircraft is not in operation. In some installations, the shut-off function is provided by a separate valve located downstream from the fuel control valve.
Adding a second engine to an aircraft, by necessity, increases the complexity of the fuel system and its management. Additional features normally found in small multi-engine aircraft include in-tank fuel pumps, a more robust fuel quantity indicating system and the provision for fuel "crossfeed". Aircraft integral fuel tanks are created from a structural perspective of view first and as a fuel tank following.
The skin of the wing is connected to the internal structure of the wing and the joints joining the internal structure and the skin has to be sealed to evade leakage of fuel. When an airplane maneuvers, the long horizontal nature of an integral wing tank needs baffling to keep the fuel from sloshing. When entering and conducting maintenance on an integral fuel tank, all fuel must be drained from the tank and severe safety procedures must be obeyed.
Fuel vapors must be excreted from the tank and respiratory tools must be used by the technician. The operational life of an aircraft can be more than 30 years with no considerable operational leaks, but after a certain period, it starts to emerge several problems that increase the cost of maintenance and the current aircraft is no longer viable to operate.
A rigid removable fuel tank is a tank that is installed in a compartment designed to hold the tank. The tank is ordinarily created of aluminum alloy or stainless-steel components welded together. They must be carried by the airframe and held in place with some sort of quilted strap arrangement to obtain shifting in flight. Some tanks are designed to be components of the leading edge of the wing. The tank must be smaller than the tank compartment to fit into the compartment.
Wing ribs can serve as baffles for the fuel leak. It is mainly crucial to follow all safety procedures when welding repairs are performed. A bladder tank includes most of the features and elements of a rigid tank but does not require as large an opening in the aircraft skin to install. Many tip tanks on GA aircraft are a fiberglass shell within the wingtip that has fuel fittings laid into the structure. These designs are however prone to leaking if the composite structure develops hairline cracks, and repairs are often more involved than changing a bladder or resealing a metal tank.
The wings generate lift, but most of the weight is in the fuselage. That means there's a large bending force on the wings. Moving some of the weight out reduces that bending force. And obviously the space in wings is too small for passengers or luggage so fuel is the only thing you can realistically store in there.
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