Barely a week after the ill-fated
Dana Air Flight 992 crashed into a residential community in the Iju-Ishaga area
of Lagos, rumours started to circulate about contaminated aviation fuel being
considered as a possible scenario. Within days there were all sorts of
conflicting reports about the issue. One leading newspaper carried the
headline, “Operators disagree over contaminated fuel theory”, whilst another
stated, “Dana fuel may have been contaminated”.
Whilst both articles appear to be
speculative, one does tend to wonder if, given the state of our petroleum sector
which is ripe with corruption and poor oversight by regulators, this scenario
has any credence. Over the years, the average Nigerian has become all too aware
of the possibility of purchasing ‘bad fuel’. Granted there are no proven, or
perhaps known cases of fuel contamination within the Nigerian aviation sector,
but there have been incidents that have affected retail customers, notably
motorists.
In 2008, an unprecedented ruling
by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the government agency charged
with regulating the Nigerian petroleum industry, sought to levy financial
sanctions on a leading petroleum company based in Lagos, Nigeria. The DPR
insisted that the marketer was liable for damages suffered by several motorists
who had fueled their cars with the contaminated premium motor spirit (PMS),
popularly known as petrol. The Nigerian marketer however refuted any liability
and stated that it was going to begin legal proceedings against the Dutch firm
who had fulfilled the supply order. The Dutch firm in turn refused to accept
any responsibility stating that the fuel supplied was not contaminated and that
the same specification had been supplied to other countries with no issues. The
Dutch firm went on to state that any attempt to commence legal proceedings
against it would be met with an appropriate response. To add a further twist to
this bizarre story, the Nigerian marketer who imported the product stated that
DPR had, as laid down by the laws of our nation, tested the fuel and approved
it for discharge since its specifications upon delivery matched the
specifications articulated in the certificate of quality issued at the loading
port.
Further investigations into the
matter revealed that the fuel was indeed not contaminated in the strict sense
of the word. Upon retesting, it was determined that the imported fuel had a
higher content of ethanol then usually prevails in Nigeria. Though the fuel may
have been an acceptable import for countries such as Brazil, Sweden and
Columbia, it was obviously not acceptable for engines that were not calibrated
to run on fuel with such high levels of ethanol. This case raises serious
concerns about the reliable testing of fuels imported into and marketed in
Nigeria.
And thus, one must wonder - if
this could have happened with PMS, then is it not possible that this could have
happened, or indeed be happening with aviation fuel?
We know that this case of ‘bad
fuel’ had adverse effects on motor vehicles, but is it possible that ‘bad jet
fuel’ could have the same effect on an airplane? Information available in the
public domain seems to suggest that though fuel contamination is a rare cause
of aviation incidents it is nonetheless a possibility that expert aviation
accident agencies do not rule out. In fact, it is standard procedure for
investigators from organisations such as Nigeria’s Accident Investigation
Bureau (AIB) and America’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to
inspect fuel samples when an aviation incident occurs. This is part of the
general data collected when investigating almost any aviation incident,
especially when engine failure is deemed to have occurred.
Let’s start by reviewing the basic
definition of ‘fuel contamination’. Simply put, fuel contamination covers any
substance that is found in a sample of fuel that should not be there. Aviation
Online Magazine, a leading industry periodical states that there three primary
types of contaminates commonly associated with fuel contamination - water,
solids and microbial growths. Now let’s juxtapose this definition with the case
mentioned earlier, i.e. a situation where the fuel is technically not
contaminated but rather is of the wrong grade in that it has a higher
percentage of a compound which is suitable for other purposes. This allows us
to quickly draw a clear distinction between contaminated fuel and a
non-compliant grade of fuel.
A brief search on the internet
reveals that both situations i.e. contaminated fuel or non-compliant grade of
fuel is capable of damaging any type of engine or engine management system -
motor vehicle, generator or jet-engine. In 2011, Air traffic control at Ben
Gurion International Airport, Israel’s largest airport, halted all flights due
to contamination discovered in the airport’s jet fuel supply. Possible air
disasters were thus averted as a result of Israeli airport’s strict monitoring
processes and technical expertise.
A deeper search also reveals that
there have indeed been cases of aircraft engines suffering mild to catastrophic
damage as a result of contaminated or non-compliant fuel loads. Months before
the incident at Ben Gurion, a Tiger Airways Airbus A320 was grounded for fuel
tank contamination. In 2010, flight 780, an Airbus A330 operated by Cathay
Pacific suffered a near catastrophic disaster when it was forced to land at
twice the normal speed due to engine system failure. Investigations conducted
by a team of accident investigators from Japan, France, United Kingdom,
Indonesia, and America indicated that the aircraft had suffered engine failure
due to contaminated fuel loaded at Juanda International Airport, Indonesia.
Considering the facts out there,
it is essential that speculation or otherwise, the AIB must not rule out the
possibility of fuel contamination or non-compliant fuel as possible scenarios
that led to the tragedy of Dana Air flight 992. Moreover, the NCAA and DPR
should cooperate to ensure that Jet fuel supplied to Nigeria meets the
standards required for the various models of aircraft operating in the country
and that the loading, storage and discharge systems used in delivering fuel to
end-users are well maintained so as to reduce the possibility of fuel
contamination. Stiff penalties should be levied on marketers, local or foreign
and agents of the regulatory body who do not take the necessary precautions as
negligence in this regard is tantamount to sabotage.
Segun Adeniyi
Lagos
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