JET AVIATION HAS completed modification of the first Boeing 767 to be fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks. The 15,000litre auxiliary fuel-system, produced by PATS, was installed in a corporate-configured 767-200ER completed at Jet Aviation's Basle, Switzerland, modification centre.
The aircraft's owner has not been identified, but is believed to be the Saudi corporate-jet operator Mid East Jet. The additional fuel enables it to be flown non-stop from Saudi Arabia to California.
Columbia, Maryland-based PATS says that the 767 auxiliary fuel-system was delivered as a complete kit, including five tanks, installation hardware, wiring harnesses, gauging and control hardware, and cockpit instrumentation and controls. The company says that the system, which is scheduled to be certificated in January, is also suitable for 767s configured as aerial-refuelling tankers and airborne warning and control systems.
The auxiliary tanks are of double-walled honeycomb construction, eliminating the need for internal bladders. When the aircraft is pressurised, cabin air continuously purges the honeycomb, as well as pressurising the tanks to feed fuel to the centre tank. This eliminates the need for transfer or scavenge pumps in the auxiliary tanks, PATS says.
Source: Flight International
