Fuel glitch grounds 15 planes at Sangster
WESTERN BUREAU — Fifteen planes were grounded at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay up to 8:30 last night because of a problem with the quality of the aircraft fuel being used.
According to Eric Stephenson, aviation manager at a fuel facility which serves the affected aircraft, the fuel had a low conductivity level which, if not corrected, could have led to a fire onboard the planes. The fuel facility which supplies the aircraft is owned by Esso, Texaco and the Jamaica Aircraft Refuelling Service (JARS) but according to Stephenson the problem originated with their suppliers, the Jamaica Petroleum Company’s terminal at the Freeport in Montego Bay.
“Conductivity was really in the low. Conductivity is the ability of the fuel to dissipate electrical charges to protect the airline,” he told the Observer last night.
Added Stephenson: “If conductivity is too low, it means that it will hold electrical charges for too long and could cause a build-up of static and it could cause a fire on the aircraft. If it is too high then it’s the same problem in the reverse. So we have a range we keep it, and it was lower than the range.”
To correct the problem, which was discovered at about noon yesterday, Stephenson said an additive — Stadis 450 — had been injected into the fuel supply to restore the conductivity within the requisite range.
“The terminal injected additive into the compartment of the truck and that solved the problem,” he said.
He also explained why the problem had taken over six hours to remedy.
“Because we were empty, we had to receive products into the tank and do the requisite quality control checks before we can release that to the customers. So that is going to take a little bit of time. We expect to be up and running at about 8:20/8:30 pm,” he said shortly before 8:00 pm.
“We are putting the fuel in our tanks now. But when it goes into our tanks there are additional tests that need to be done and we have to let those tests run their course. But we are confident we have the problem solved,” he added.
While Stephenson and his crew were busy remedying the problem, the affected aircraft — which included Air Jamaica, Air Tours and Miami Air — were busy updating passengers on the progress being made. It was not immediately clear, last night, how many passengers were affected.
“We have been updating them all along. Persons aboard the airplanes were advised we were having the problem and that they would be here for a while. We’ve been keeping the crews up to date and (updating) the passengers by the public announcement system,” one Air Jamaica official told the Observer.