I hate to revive this discussion once again, but I am still trying to
figure out the static discharge mechanisms in the Europa fuel system.
I recall at least two Europas that were consumed by static induced
fuel fire. Was there any final report regarding these incidents, so
that we can learn from these?
Europa's fuel tank and the cobra inlet are nonconductive plastic. Even
the filler neck is non conductive (at first I thought this was
aluminum, but I verified that it was actually an insulator). I suppose
a brush-like discharge is possible from highly charged nonconductive
surfaces, but I doubt we can pour fuel into this aircraft at rates
that will induces such high charge densities.
The other possibility is a discharge between the person and the
fuselage due to charge generated during flight due to air flow. But
again, this would be more like a brush discharge than a spark, and
would have to occur immediately after landing.
Most of the static discharge accidents I have read about have occurred
when the person touches the metal fuel nozzle.
I guess my question is, since there are no metal parts in the Europa
fueling system upstream of the tank, where does this spark occur to
cause ignition?
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