Aircraft Fuel System

PanAm International Flight Academy, Inc. 2001

Overview
Wet Wing
Front spar to rear spar, no bladders
Tank 1 -left wing, Tank 2 - right wing

Overview
Each tank divided into 5 cells and a vent tank
Cell 1 at fuselage, cell 5 at wingtip
Vent tank outboard

Overview
Wing 7 dihedral for gravity feed
Fill at outboard, boost pump at
inboard

Overview
Tanks are divided by ribs to prevent
sloshing
Ribs contain flap valves to keep fuel
from flowing to wingtips when banking

 One way flapper valves allow fuel to flow through ribs

Heres another

Overwing fueling
Filler caps

Before Start Checklist: clear, lock, secure

secure is to ensure the fuel filler cap is correctly closed.

Vent Tank
Outboard in each wing
Vent of fuel fumes on ground
Provides ram air pressure to fuel in flight

Vent Tank
Siphon pipe runs from top of fuel tank to bottom of vent tank
high enough so that overfuel will run out filler cap before into siphon
hot, summer day, fuel may expand into siphon pipe with filler cap closed

Vent Tank
Vent pipeline runs from top of vent tank to underwing NACA
vent
Vents fuel fumes
uses ram air to provide pressure into fuel tank in flight

Vent Tank
Vent tank has one of three water drains in wing
other two are under cell 1 and cell 2 at base of wing

Not a great picture, but pointing

to a water drain plug at wing
root area

Just aft of the wheel well

Dihedral allows fuel to flow from tip to cell 1

Electric boost pump in cell 1
Boost pump puts out 15 psi
Controlled by cockpit switch on overhead panel

Fuel Boost Pumps

One for each wing
ON / OFF

Fuel Boost Pumps

Start
Take off (landing ?)
Flight over 20,000
Low fuel quantity

Check valve and pressure relief

Prevents backflow of fuel
Relieves excess pressure in line
What happens if it fails??

LP Cock (low pressure shutoff valve)

Normally open
Closed one of two ways

Feather Lever
Uses Essential DC power to
electrically close the fuel LP
cock

LP Cock Indication
White: OPEN
Red:

SHUT

OPEN
CLOSED

Similar in
Construction as
the Crossfeed
Cock

Engine Fuel Control

First Stage Pump - increases psi by 30 psi
Second Stage Pump - increases by 1000 psi

Fuel Shut-Off Valve

In the engine
Normal way to shut down engine in
everyday operation

Fuel Shut Off Valve

CLOSED two ways

Fuel Shut Off Valve CLOSED

Feather Lever
Mechanically

Fuel Shut Off Valve CLOSED

STOP buttons
DC Essential

FSOV - OPEN
Engine turns at 10% RPM
Automatically by the Auto
Start Computer or
manually by the Manual
Start Switches

From FSOV, fuel goes to engine to be atomizied.

(more detail later)

Crossfeed Line
Line connects fuel feed lines
Downstream of check valve, so no tank to
tank transfer, only tank to engine

Crossfeed Valve
Allows fuel
to transfer

Crossfeed Valve Control

between the boost pumps
OPEN
SHUT

Crossfeed Valve Indication

bottom of engine instrument
panel
NORMAL (white)
CROSSFEED (green)

Crossfeed SWITCH is labeled

OPEN

Crossfeed INDICATOR is labeled X-FEED

SHUT

NORMAL

Therefore:
Crossfeed is normally SHUT, so SHUT=NORMAL
When crossfeeding, valve is OPEN, so OPEN = X-FEED

Drain and De-Fueling Valves

Lowest point in tanks
Not available to pilots

Three ways to measure Fuel Quantity

Capacitance indicators
Fibre Optic low level warning
Magnetic Indicators

Capacitance Indicators
Measures level of liquid
Signal to Bridge Amplifier
Signal to cockpit fuel gauges
Essential DC power

Fuel Quantity Gauges

Lbs times 100
Yellow arc from 200 lbs to zero

Total Fuel Quantity

3100 = 1514 lbs per tank,
3028 lbs total
3200 = 1624 lbs per tank
3248 lbs total
Imbalance : 200 lbs

Fibre Optic Low Level Warning

Cell #1
Senses level of liquid
Set to detect 200 Lbs.
Signal to light in cockpit

Low Fuel Level Warning

Amber LOW annunciator
Looks at Fuel Level, not at gauge yellow
arc indication

Press to Test light

Magnetic Fuel Level Indicators

(the old drip sticks, but better)

Four in each wing

Accessible from under wing

Fuel Tank Access Panels

panels with center buttons
are magnetic indicators

Each magnetic indicator panel numbered on panel and on wing

Magnetic Indicator
plastic indicator
metal latch
indexed by number
Number on tape is converted to
fuel quantity in pounds by use of
a chart

Chart is located on wheel well

door
usually BLUE in color

A closer look

This is the Chart

Example:
magnetic indicator shows 3
it came from position 6
How much gas is in the tank ?

Answer: 1345 # in that wing

Note wing diagram at bottom

this, plus the numbers on the
wing itself, make it difficult to
use the incorrect numbers on
the chart.

Lets put this diagram into a schematic and trace the

fuel all the way into the engine

This is the diagram in your book.

It is missing a couple of items

Study Guide Diagram

modified from book
to show some
important items.
lets use this one

 Boost Pump
essential DC power
15 psi output

LP Cock
Closed electrically
through feather lever with
Ess DC
Closed electrically through
overhead switch with Batt Bus
Indicators OPEN or SHUT

 Fuel Control
first stage pump
boosts psi by 30 psi

Pressure Pickup
After first stage pump
CAP light - Ess DC power
Gauge - Main DC power
SAME PICKUP POINT !

 Fuel Filter
if clogged, probably ice
not shown is fuel/oil heat
exchanger. Automatic system
also not shown:
second pressure pickup
point downstream of
filter. Compares to
pressure upstream of
filter. CAP annunciator:
FUEL FILTER

If Installed

FUEL
FILTER

 Second Stage Pump

Boosts pressure to above
1000 psi
sends fuel to Metering
Valve

Fuel Metering Valve

Power Lever
RPM Lever

Fuel Enrichment Valve

Opens to add additional fuel
during start
10% to 60% RPM

 TTL Bypass Valve

bypasses fuel when
computer senses over
torque or over temperature

Fuel Shut Off Valve

Feather Lever - mechanical
Stop Button - Ess DC power
Opened during engine start

Fuel Flow Transmitter

Measures amount of
fuel passing through
signal to cockpit
gauge
rule of thumb fuel
flow:
700 pph for first hour
600 pph thereafter

Flow Divider
divides fuel between
primary and secondary
fuel nozzles
Primary only - during
start
need specific burn
pattern

Secondary kicks in
after 60% RPM
promotes continuous
burn

Flow Divider
not pilot required knowledge
if not working correctly, engine indications will be abnormal

Purge Valve
this is important to understand
High pressure (P3) air from engine
Held in storage by control
valve
On shutdown, pushing STOP
Fuel shut off
Control valve opens

Trapped air forces all

residue fuel through flow
divider and out nozzles into
the combustor

Purge Valve cleans lines and

nozzles of fuel
On Shutdown, Captain will look for:
Short rise in EGT as fuel is purged
Short rise in RPM before rollback
Stop button should be held for
minimum of 5 seconds to insure full
purge action
(we teach hold till 50% RPM )

Summary
Fuel in the wings
Fueled Overwing at outboard
Boost Pump control in cockpit
Crossfeed control in cockpit
LP cock
Two stage engine driven pumps
HP FSOV
Engine purge on shutdown

Questions ?

Fuel Boost Pump and Crossfeed Check

first flight of the day
after engine start

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

O
F
F

OPEN

S
H
U
T

RIGHT BOOST
ON

O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

O
F
F

1- OFF

OPEN

S
H
U
T

RIGHT BOOST
ON

O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

OPEN

RIGHT BOOST
ON

2- OPEN
O
F
F

S
H
U
T

O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

O
F
F

OPEN

S
H
U
T

RIGHT BOOST
ON

3 - OFF

O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

OPEN

RIGHT BOOST
ON

1 - ON
O
F
F

S
H
U
T

O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

O
F
F

OPEN

S
H
U
T

2-SHUT

RIGHT BOOST
ON

O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

O
F
F

OPEN

S
H
U
T

RIGHT BOOST
ON

3 - ON
O
F
F

FUEL
LEFT BOOST

CROSSFEED

ON

O
F
F

OPEN

S
H
U
T

RIGHT BOOST
ON

O
F
F

Back to where we started with Boost Pumps ON and Crossfeed Closed

Questions ?