Issue 6
September 4, 2001
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NATA Safety 1st e-Line Service News
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Welcome to the NATA Safety 1st e-Line Service newsletter,
a quarterly summary of the latest NATA Safety 1st news
and education, dedicated to line service staff. Please
make copies available to all line service technicians,
both full and part-time.
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In this Issue of NATA Safety 1st e-Line Service ...
****NATA Safety 1st Program and Other NATA News
****Featured Safety Article...THE GAMGRAMS #26:
A New Look at Pressure Drop
****FAQ --- NATA Safety 1st and other Fueling Issues
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****NATA Safety 1st Program and Other NATA News
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PROGRAM UPDATES
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Many of you are preparing for NBAA in New Orleans September 18-20, 2001.
As a NATA Safety 1st participant, you will want to be on the look out
for promotion of the program during the convention. The NATA Safety 1st
Program will be promoted during NBAA on the shuttles at the static display
area. After considerable thought, it was felt that we will impact more
pilots and attendees with signs and program information at the airport.
For those of you that have completed the testing for NATA Safety 1st ,
we will be sending a counter card indicating your participation. If you
will have a booth at NBAA, we would appreciate it if you would display
it so your customers can see that you take their safety seriously. Not
going to NBAA? Please display the counter card at your front desk. Again,
it will show your customers that their safety is a priority.
Speaking of advertising, did you place your individual ad in the Ac-U-Kwik
2002 with the NATA Safety 1st logo? Those that completed the program in
early summer were notified that we supplied Ac-U-Kwik with the logo along
with a list of eligible participants. It may not be too late yet to get
the logo in your individual advertisement. You can email Kim Sawalitch
and ask.
Many of you have requested the logo for use in your company brochures.
Thank you to those of you who use it! It's great to include in any of
your company advertisements. What? You haven't done so and would like
to? Please email Amy Koranda or Jennifer Sword and we will send a disk
or CD-ROM with various size logos for print.
Have you seen the testimonial advertisement in July's Professional Pilot magazine? It will be included in subsequent months as well. The July issue featured the top rated FBOs for the year. We thought this popular event was an appropriate spot for promoting NATA Safety 1st.
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SEMINAR NEWS
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As you know by now, the Line Service Supervisor Training Seminar (LSST)
is a required part of the NATA Safety 1st Program. If you have already
sent someone from your business, please feel free to skip to the next
paragraph. If not, it is required that one person from your line service,
usually the supervisor, attend an LSST. And remember, as long as that
person remains with your company, the LSST requirement has been met for
Safety 1st. The next LSST will be September 20/21, 2001 in Mobile, Alabama.
Additional seminars are posted on our website too. We encourage you to
look at our website for seminar location, hotel recommendation and registration
details.
NATA will be offering a new one-day seminar called Train the Trainer.
This course is quite valuable to those of you who train other personnel.
The tips and techniques learned at this seminar will help you present
and create dynamic training materials. The interaction and networking
with other similar attendees will add to your experience.
The seminar will be held in conjunction with the Salt Lake City, UT LSST
in November. For those attending Train the Trainer, it will be held on
November 28, 2001 and priced accordingly for the one day. If you would
like to attend both the LSST (November 29 and 30) and Train the Trainer
(November 28), there is a price break. Check out the website for location
and further details on what will be covered at the seminar.
NATA will also be offering another exciting two-day seminar. The seminar
will include tools and techniques for financial management of an aviation
service business. As we write this, the manual is being finalized.
We will offer the financial seminar in the Dallas, TX area in early December.
Information will be available online (click on Convention and Seminars)
in the next several weeks. A brochure announcing specific dates will be
mailed late September and a write-up will be included in NATA News.
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NATA CONVENTION NEWS
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The 2002 NATA Convention and AS3 Aviation Services and Suppliers Supershow is well underway. Mark your calendars for March 26-28, 2002, Indianapolis, Indiana at the Indianapolis Convention Center.
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MEMBER NEWS
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The NATA Safety 1st Program is very proud to announce all of the Valley Oil Company, Inc. LLC sales team members took the Safety 1st written and practical tests this summer. They passed with flying colors!
We believe this is quite an accomplishment and statement that Valley has
made to the program. Congratulations go out to Mike Mooney, Steve Highet,
Greg Miller, Dev Sharma, Michael Allen, Tim Lewis, Van Bishop, Kevin Scott,
Doug Dietz, Justin Carver and Kenneth Moline as new NATA Safety 1st participants.
Here's a peek at some of the aircraft they tested on.
Great job Valley Sales Team! We'd like to extend a special thank you to
Mike Mooney and Molly Delk-Wood for assisting and coordinating this large
undertaking.
Other Valley personnel took the NATA Safety 1st written exams to test
their knowledge. Congratulations go out to Mike Delk, James Green, David
Strickland and Jim Thompson for taking on this portion of the program.
If you’d like to share something with other NATA Safety 1st participants, send an email to Amy Koranda with information and/or pictures for the NATA e-Line and website.
In the last e-Line, we asked you to share safety information or statistics about how the NATA Safety 1st Program has impacted your business. Please keep information coming our way! We really think you are doing a great job of keeping those lines safe.
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****Featured Safety Article...THE GAMGRAMS # 26:
A NEW LOOK AT PRESSURE DROP
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As part of this e-Line, we will include an educational
article.
Most of the articles will provide continuing education on issues
of importance to line service. In addition, if you are currently
taking the NATA Safety 1st written and practical exams, these
articles will make great study material. Feel free to copy them
and maintain a book for future reference.
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THE GAMGRAM # 26: A NEW LOOK AT PRESSURE DROP
By Jim Gammon, President of Gammon Technical Products
Website: http://www.gammontech.com
<a href="http://www.gammontech.com">AOL users, click here</a>
Tele: (732) 223-4600
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Your GamGrams are a great resource and educational tool. The following issue is worth rereading and discussing with all your line service.
NO. 26 A New Look at Pressure Drop Revised July 1997
If we can all agree that eating, drinking and the opposite sex are essential
to life, I would propose that pressure drop is the one great essential
in filtering jet fuel. Pressure drop was the title of the first GamGram
but the message we had at that time was simply the measurement of it.
The problem we see now is that few people are able to interpret a reading
from a differential pressure gauge.
Suppose that you walked up to a filter separator and took a reading of
8 psi differential pressure. If you really believe that you have learned
anything, you need pity! In the first place, you can understand a reading
only in comparison with previous readings which should be kept in a log
book. In the second place, you must know the flow rate. It would make
no sense to compare a pressure drop reading at 150 gpm with one that was
obtained at 300 gpm.
The filter separator manufacturers publish conversion charts so that you
can make use of a reading that is taken at a flow rate less than rated
flow. Using the following Velcon chart, suppose that 300 gpm is "rated
flow". Consider this to be the 100% condition. If you read 8 psi
differential at 150 gpm, you would go to this chart where 50% (one half
of 100%) connects with 8 psi. That point is above the curve so you know
that it you operated the filter separator at 300 gpm, you would exceed
the recommended limit. In fact, in this example you would have a pressure
drop of 16 psi (found by drawing a line through 0 and out to the 100%
line).
NOTE: This curve or similar curves that are published by various filter manufacturers have no relationship to coalescing ability. Pressure differential is only one of the factors that govern when coalescers should be changed. If there is evidence that the water coalescing ability of the elements has been degraded by surfactant contamination, the elements should be changed regardless of differential pressure.
As another example, suppose you had read only 4.5 psi. Find the intersection
of 4.5 psi and 50% and draw a line out to 100%. You know you would be
safe at 100% of rated flow because you are below the solid line. The pressure
drop will be about 9 psi at 100% of rated flow. (NOTE: We added the dotted
lines to the Velcon curve for these examples.)
Frequently, filter separators are installed that have more flow rate capacity
than is needed. Suppose that the maximum flow capability of the pump in
the above example was 200 gpm. This is the 100% condition, not the 300
gpm rating of the filter. Therefore, 150 gpm is 75% of 200 gpm.
150 gpm x 100%
_________________ =75%
200gpm
The intersection of 8 psi at 75% is now below the curve. The 100% condition would result in only about 11 psi.
Differential pressure data are of little value to anyone if the numbers
are not recorded somewhere in a form that is understandable to everyone
who is involved in the operation of the filter equipment. Too many managers
think that all they have to do is to sit with their feet on their desks,
waiting until someone reports that the differential pressure has reached
15 psi. Then they will do something about it! The fallacy in this kind
of thinking is that the elements may have burst when the differential
pressure suddenly went far beyond 15 psi when no one was watching thegauges.
The differential pressure would then drop down to a low level and the
person who has the responsibility of reading the gauge would report that
the differential pressure was well within the acceptable range - under
15 psi. THERE IS SIMPLY NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PLOTTING DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE
DATA ON A CHART.
If you operate a system that has a flow meter, you are really very fortunate.
A refueler truck has a meter that you can "time" with a wrist
watch and easily calculate the rate of flow. The most expensive and best
equipped aircraft refuelers may even have rate of flow indicators.
The real problem occurs at the airport fuel farm where there usually are
no meters of any kind. How does the operator of a fuel farm determine
flow rate? The answer is that he simply cannot do it. This is where the
Filter Life Sensor becomes useful. Developed originally by our distributor
in the UK, this instrument is a variation of the reliable Gammon Gauge
that you use to measure the differential pressure across a filter separator.
Refer to our Bulletin 91. When you have this instrument, you read your
Gammon Gauge to get the differential pressure and you also read the Filter
Life Sensor which we formerly called the percentage flowmeter. For example,
suppose that the differential gauge indicates 7 psi and the Filter Life
Sensor indicates 60%. Referring to the chart on the front page,find where
7 psi and 60% cross - you can see that you are below the line but you
will soon have to change elements.
IN SUMMARY:
Never try to understand one reading of differential pressure. You must
know the flow rate when the reading was made. You must have records so
that you can compare a reading with previously recorded data.
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****FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) --- NATA Safety 1st
and Fueling Issues
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This section will help you with the paperwork and study
process.
In addition, we will include other questions about fueling issues
that are frequently asked. If you have any tips to share, please
submit them to us and we will include them in upcoming e-Lines.
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We'd like to share the following email question that was sent out
to all NATA Safety 1st participants within the last week...
"One of our NATA Safety 1st participants has posed a question. We'd
like to ask what you do to address this particular issue. Please email
<mailto:akoranda@nata-online.org> with your comments. All information
will be reviewed and results will be distributed without any identitie
being revealed. Thank you ahead of time for your assistance and participation
on the question below.
As part of our fuel management program, we require our QC inspectors when receiving fuel by transport truck, to physically stick each load prior to receipt, which means he/she must climb on top of the trailer. In addition, they must also climb back up once the transport has been off-loaded to verify it is empty."
Do other NATA members require their people be on top of fuel trucks while
topping them off, and if not, why? We require them to be up there in the
event the high level shut-off fails and thereby preventing a fuel spill."
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Check out the comments/responses to this question by
going to e-Line Questions and Comment link.
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The NATA Safety 1st e-Line Service newsletter is distributed quarterly.
We welcome your feedback on this newsletter and any topics you would like
to see discussed. Send articles/email to Amy Koranda.
Thank you for your commitment to line service safety...
keep those ramps safe.