Falcon: Fuel Contamination Detection Test Task

Dassault has new “A” check requirement: task 28-00-00-280-801, on the detection of microbiological contamination that provides a new and faster method for fuel sampling.

The ATP indication test, using the TO-28-030 Luminometer, is highly sensitive to outside contamination. You should exercise the utmost care when performing this test.

Here’s an example of just how sensitive this electronic test is.

If you put a little saliva in a cup of ordinary tap water, it will produce a RLU (relative light unit) reading of over 1.5 million, which exceeds the pass/fail microbiological test limit!

Duncan Aviation has been using the ATP Watergenie from Charm Sciences for a couple of months and has found it to be very useful, especially during the shorter “1A” calendar down schedules.

Remember, a positive contamination finding of your fuel sample is cause for a borescope inspection of your fuel tanks. With this said, I cannot stress enough the importance of sumping your fuel tanks on a regular basis.