Mike S
Senior Curmudgeon
I am starting this thread in response to the fire/explosion of Todd Sweezy's rv 10.
Here is a good place to discuss ideas to prevent a re-occurrence of Todd's accident.
Lets try to keep the speculation/discussion out of the original thread, please.
To start, remember fire/explosion needs 3 things,
1. oxygen, 2. fuel, ( in this case, vapors from a leak, not the liquid stuff safely contained in the fuel lines) 3. ignition.
Most discussion has been keeping fuel out of the cockpit, but in reality, unless we want fuel lines on the exterior of the fuse, this is not too practical of an idea.
My thoughts were to eliminate ignition sources as the most practical way to address this issue.
The tunnel design of the 10 is a definite factor in the issue, with fuel lines, fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel valve, all in there, flap motor and fuel boost pump, and usually fuel flow meter also inside. This coupled with the fact that the tunnel is a pretty much closed container is sorta like a design for disaster. Luckily, the way the tunnel covers are designed, the weak link seems to be in the baggage area.
One possible corrective mod I can see is positive ventilation of some kind to the tunnel, and keeping the fuel/air mixture too lean to ignite, should a leak occur.
And some kind of monitoring/sampling of the tunnel for fumes.
On the positive side, 10 have been flying now for a few years, and this is a first to the best of my knowledge. In addition, I believe Todd had a non standard system due to the needs of his powerplant, so this bodes well for the factory design.
O.K., folks, lets hear from you. Please feel free to jump in with any constructive info/ideas for any of the RV line, this is not meant to be just a RV 10 issue.
Thanks in advance.
Here is a good place to discuss ideas to prevent a re-occurrence of Todd's accident.
Lets try to keep the speculation/discussion out of the original thread, please.
To start, remember fire/explosion needs 3 things,
1. oxygen, 2. fuel, ( in this case, vapors from a leak, not the liquid stuff safely contained in the fuel lines) 3. ignition.
Most discussion has been keeping fuel out of the cockpit, but in reality, unless we want fuel lines on the exterior of the fuse, this is not too practical of an idea.
My thoughts were to eliminate ignition sources as the most practical way to address this issue.
The tunnel design of the 10 is a definite factor in the issue, with fuel lines, fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel valve, all in there, flap motor and fuel boost pump, and usually fuel flow meter also inside. This coupled with the fact that the tunnel is a pretty much closed container is sorta like a design for disaster. Luckily, the way the tunnel covers are designed, the weak link seems to be in the baggage area.
One possible corrective mod I can see is positive ventilation of some kind to the tunnel, and keeping the fuel/air mixture too lean to ignite, should a leak occur.
And some kind of monitoring/sampling of the tunnel for fumes.
On the positive side, 10 have been flying now for a few years, and this is a first to the best of my knowledge. In addition, I believe Todd had a non standard system due to the needs of his powerplant, so this bodes well for the factory design.
O.K., folks, lets hear from you. Please feel free to jump in with any constructive info/ideas for any of the RV line, this is not meant to be just a RV 10 issue.
Thanks in advance.
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