In January 2008 a British Airways Boeing 777 force-landed short of the runway at London Heathrow airport because ice in the fuel feed system meant the engines failed to respond to a demand for power. Ever since the industry has been looking for ways of ensuring that such an event does not recur and Parker Aerospace is demonstrating at Le Bourget a system for separating water from fuel at the refuelling stage.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch interim factual statement about the BA event says that ice in the engine fuel lines restricted the flow, causing engine power loss. The aircraft was written off in the accident, but there were no fatalities an most people on board were uninjured.
Parker has now designed a "fuel filtration and water coalescing system" to remove water from fuel as it is uploaded into aircraft fuel tanks. The system causes water in the fuel to coalesce, then separates and removes it.
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Source: Flight Daily News
