I second the biodiesel. Somebody did a study where as little as 5% biodiesel mixed with #2 increased the lubricity greatly. One might have to add more to a tank of jet A, but $6 per tank is cheap insurance considering you're not paying a dime for the fuel.

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Dale

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...MG_2277sig.jpg

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo -155k
2000 E430 - 103k
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel 4x4 - 11k
2014 VW Passat TDI SE - 7k Bro's Diesel
2006 E320 CDI - 128k Pop's Benz

Pre-glow - A moment of silence in honor of Rudolph Diesel

3500 gallons? Ha ha.. funny. Let me give you some perspective.. The shortest range Boeing 777, the 777-200 has a range of 5000 nautical miles, with a maximum fuel capacity of 31,000 gallons and has a mtow (max takeoff weight) around 545,000 lbs. New York to London is about 3,500 nautical miles. So lets see, that's right around 25,000 gallons for a transatlantic flight, in a very efficient airplane. Of course conditions like actual weight, and temps aloft/flying speeds do vary, so the consumption can go up or down. If you want to jump up to the 777-300ER you're talking a max fuel capacity of almost 48,000 gallons. With a range of over 14,000 nm and max tow of 775,000 lbs. That's three quarters of a million pounds. On a long hauls, it's tens of thousands of gallons of fuel.
All that being said, the airlines do not pay retail for their fuel, the way some of us corporate operators do. No airline in the world would be in business paying $4.50 a gallon. They buy millions of gallons of fuel at a time, under contracts from producers to control the price and avoid volatile market fluctuations.
Back to the topic, my 300SD and my co-pilot's Jetta have been happily burning Jet-A for years.

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'79 300D, Ivory "Gunther" ......going
'81 300SD, Metallic Blue Silver, The Grey Ghost.....going
'87 300D Turbo ...gone
'05 CDI.... gone

Why do that when it's way less expensive to use an additive that is specifically formulated for jet fuel used in diesel engines? One pint of the FPPF additive will treat 200 gallons of jet A, with no guesswork involved. And the cost would be about 75 cents per 20 gallon tankful.

I've used synthetic 2 stroke oil in my diesel for lubricity. A 1/2-to a pint added to the tank works fine. No problems.

You mean that ashless oil that you put in your chain saws and weed wackers? Boy, I've learned a lot here! Now, if I could just find somewhere to get me some of that jet fuel for free.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

3,500 Gallons?. A 747-400 holds about 60,000 Gallons, A380 holds about 80,000 Gallons. 3500 = about 23500 Ibs of fuel is nothing on a large Jet.

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1979 300D.

Tanks are still drained, its called sumping the tank, it removes a few pints at each sump point to remove containments and water and is done as part of regular maintenance .

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1979 300D.

And that's the perfect time for the Jet A fuel insurgents to strike, and load their tanks.

Precisely

I would think $4.50 a gal is cheap right now for Jet-A. I recall years ago Avgas running close to $3 a gal back when auto gas was a little over a buck.

It's not the cost of refining as much as FAA issues and liability. Take fans belts....the exact same belt that Goodyear sales to Cessna or Piper might be also sold to Buick or Autozone. Just at 10X the cost since the batch they sell to the A/C companies must be "FAA certified" as airworthy.

Same with fuel supplies, storage and dispensing equipment, costs of multiple testing for purity all thru the production and delivery process up until the point it is pumped into a plane.

When I flew into Thailand with the Navy, the airfield services ran a sample from the truck thru a new filter, then removed filter for our inspection. I usually don't see this stuff since the flight engineer handles our fueling, but it shows how much more costs are invovled with aviation fuels. No differnet than going to the hospital, all the liability costs.

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1987 300TDT
1981 VW MKI Caddy 1.6 diesel, waiting on engine swap
1983 D-50 Power Ram 4x4 "Mitsubishi" 2.3 turbo diesel
assorted gas powered crap and motorcycles

RIP: 1984 300TDT, 1982 300TDT, 1984 190D 2.2, 1992 300D 2.5, 1987 300TDT, 1982 Maxima LD28, 1983 Maxima LD28, Isuzu C223 P'ups X3, 1983 Holiday Rambler 6.2 Banks turbo diesel, 1984 Winnebago LeSharo 2.1 TD, 1985 Allegro 6.5

Here's my .02 as a pilot...

Check out: http://www.diamond-air.at/da42_twin_star+M52087573ab0.html

This small piston twin aircraft utilizes two Thielert (TAE Centurion) 1.7 liter turbodiesel engines that operate on Jet-A...

The interesting thing about these engines is that they are Mercedes AUTOMOTIVE diesel engines that Thielert purchases directly from DBAG and "converts" for aircraft use. I'm not sure exactly what this conversion process involves other than hanging a prop on them, but I know that they take straight Jet-A without any additives at all for normal use.

They may require the additive "Prist" for winter or high altitude flying as the Jet-A will gel at very low temperatures as does diesel.

J.G.

Do airplanes have locking fuel caps? Probably a bad idea too much airport security these days.

Not to mention it's a Federal offense to tamper with them

As opposed to avoiding federal tax by using off-road fuel in your car?

JJet A already has all the additives in it for commercial aviation, The fuel usually get cold soaked to around -50C or whatever the outside temp is at 40,000ft , so Jet A fly's around in winter all the time. Some Aircraft such as the 747 use hydraulic system heat exchangers to take the edge off it, but most just leave it be, Hence the importances of sumping the tank for moisture, the fuel won't freeze but the moisture will. FYI This is why Commercial Aircraft use Lbs or Kg for fuel on board, because Gallons are a measure of volume and that varies with temp, but a Lb is a Lb

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1979 300D.