Fueling aircraft inside hanagar: safety problem? Regulatory?

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PilotJim

Filing Flight Plan
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New Hampshire
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Jim

Hi.

At my base airport in southeastern PA, I keep my airplane in a hangar, not unlike many pilots and owners everywhere. At times, our airport FBO has fueled hangar-based airplanes by driving the fuel truck to the hangar, opening the hangar door (if not already open) and fueling the aircraft inside the hangar. Saves wear and tear on the airplane, and saves labor for the FBO crew.

Recently. closer inspection of our town's fire code (a standard code adopted locally, as so many towns and cities do) by the airport's legal counsel reveals language that suggests the practice I described is not permitted.

When hangar owners were informed that to be in compliance with the fire code, aircraft would have to be pulled out of hangars to be fueled there was, not surprisingly, some grumbling, some unhappiness, etc.

Question. At your airport, are aircraft fueled inside their hangars, or must they be taken outdoors for fuel? If the latter, is it driven by fire code, insurance requirements, or just a concern for safety? (I'm assuming an airport with a fuel truck. For those with drive-up pumps, not much choice, of course.)

Thanks for your input.
Jim



 
We pull our planes out. At least so the fuel caps are not under roof, anyway. The tail might still be under cover.
 
Fire code and airport rules require that fueling be done outside at ONZ

I would argue that common sense would suggest the same. 50 gallons of fuel = 50 gallons of fuel vapor.
 
Gasoline vapors are heavier than air. They'll flow out of the filler during fill and flow off the aircraft and onto the floor. In a hangar, they can build to explosive levels quickly.

Best done outside.

The company I work for had a huge hangar fire 11 years ago, caused by defuelling in the hangar. Many large and small aircraft lost at a cost of many millions. One mechanic died and other were injured. They won't even consider such foolishness anymore.

Dan
 
at KBED, fueled (and defueled) outside of the hangars.
 
I did a search including such terms as refueling/defuelling/hangar/fire etc without success so presumably such an event is rare.
However it makes good sense to minimize the losses (especially to others) by taking the airplane away from other assets when on or offloading fuel, rules or no.
 
Generally it's a frowned-upon practice.

When doing maintenance on airplanes, we refuel in the hangar all the time. Fuel is drained into Bowsers. Any primary defueling operations are conducted outside the hangar, however.

Many locations have fire ordinances which discourage or prohibit fueling in hangars. If you do end up with a fire, you're going to have a much harder time extinguishing the fire, and will almost certainly lose not only the aircraft being fueled, but also the building, and whatever else it houses.
 
KMSL won't fuel in a hangar either. I can see some downside with avgas but, with kerosene I don't realy see a problem. JMO
 
Most of the time when I do use the fuel truck at my home airport my plane is outside, last week I called them to top off the tanks and it was done with the plane inside the hanger and truck outside. I prefer to use self service at other fields.
 
Jim where are you based? At my field in SE PA they always take the plane out of the hangar.
 
My hangar lease, which is mandated by the FBO, stipulates no fueling inside the hangar.

When the FBO truck comes to fuel the aircraft, they don't care.

Interesting contrast.
 
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I have two different friends whose planes were destroyed in hangar fires caused by defueling operations. Fuel does not belong in hangars outside of aircraft fuel tanks. If you're going to fuel or refuel, pull it outside.
 
The actual risk from doing so is probably different depending whether you are handling avgas in an open system or jet-A in a single point system.

Any place I am aware of prohibits the practice.
 
NFPA 409, which is incorporated by reference in the international building/fire code, which is generally incorporated, with minor variations, as each state's building code, contemplates that refueling will be done in some hangars, but where it is done, there are specific sprinkler/fire supression requirements. A foam fire suppresion system is required.

There could be other provisions in your code that specifically prohibit refueling in the hangar, or refueling in a hanger that does not include the foam fire supression system.
 
Morne said:
We pull our planes out. At least so the fuel caps are not under roof, anyway. The tail might still be under cover.
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Same at my home base - KFNL. They've had at least two fires, one is a T and the other in the maintenance hangar. Mechanics draining fuel into a plastic container.
 
Define your risk tolerance probably not the most efficient way to kill yourself or destroy the plane.

Also not the best way to live long and keep your plane.
 
PilotJim said:
Question. At your airport, are aircraft fueled inside their hangars, or must they be taken outdoors for fuel? If the latter, is it driven by fire code, insurance requirements, or just a concern for safety?
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Outside, always.

Yes, Yes, and Yes.

Fueling in hangar = vapors accumulating in hangar (and/or your neighbor's). All it takes is someone to pull an AC plug from the wall, or heat from a malfunctioning refrigerator compressor, or.... to create one hell of a mess.

Jeff
 
flyingron said:
I have two different friends whose planes were destroyed in hangar fires caused by defueling operations. Fuel does not belong in hangars outside of aircraft fuel tanks. If you're going to fuel or refuel, pull it outside.
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Curious, Ron, as to where this was. I have a feeling that it's a lot higher risk in the dry climate West than the moist climate East...even when the door is wide open.

Not that I'd advocate doing it anywhere but I definitely wouldn't do it in the west.

As an aside, I burn a lot of MoGas toted to the airport in 5 gallon cans. I always wet a towel, wring it out, and lay it on the wing so that the gas can is on it and during fueling the towel also remains in contact with the tank filler neck and funnel. I also keep the can nozzle in contact with the funnel at all times. Basically try to do everything possible to reduce the chances of a static discharge while fueling.
 
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timwinters said:
As an aside, I burn a lot of MoGas toted to the airport in 5 gallon cans. I always wet a towel, wring it out, and lay it on the wing so that the gas can is on it and during fueling the towel also remains in contact with the tank filler neck and funnel. I also keep the can nozzle in contact with the funnel at all times. Basically try to do everything possible to reduce the chances of a static discharge while fueling.
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Metal or plastic?

From what I've read, an ungrounded metal can has the highest risk for a static induced fire, a grounded metal can has the least. Plastic is in between.

Trying to keep the plastic nozzle "grounded" is, I suspect, not very effective. The plastic is a real good insulator.

I use a metal can grounded to the aircraft.
 
PilotJim said:
Hi.

At my base airport in southeastern PA, I keep my airplane in a hangar, not unlike many pilots and owners everywhere. At times, our airport FBO has fueled hangar-based airplanes by driving the fuel truck to the hangar, opening the hangar door (if not already open) and fueling the aircraft inside the hangar. Saves wear and tear on the airplane, and saves labor for the FBO crew.

Recently. closer inspection of our town's fire code (a standard code adopted locally, as so many towns and cities do) by the airport's legal counsel reveals language that suggests the practice I described is not permitted.

When hangar owners were informed that to be in compliance with the fire code, aircraft would have to be pulled out of hangars to be fueled there was, not surprisingly, some grumbling, some unhappiness, etc.

Question. At your airport, are aircraft fueled inside their hangars, or must they be taken outdoors for fuel? If the latter, is it driven by fire code, insurance requirements, or just a concern for safety? (I'm assuming an airport with a fuel truck. For those with drive-up pumps, not much choice, of course.)

Thanks for your input.
Jim
Click to expand...

First off...... Welcome to POA..:yesnod::)

Here in Jackson Hole Wy it is illegal to fuel a plane in a hangar. Since we are based in a National Park I am not sure if it's a Federal or State or Local statue.... My guess is one spark from an ignition source and the entire T hangar complex goes up... And when one unit catches fire the electric goes out for the whole row, preventing the ability to rescue the rest of the planes trapped in their hangars.. IMHO..
 
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