tom911

Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_t...#storylink=cpy

john398

Wow I did not realize fuel could freeze, I know my Absolute does not freeze

emma dog

There was a documentary TV show years ago when UA began flying polar where they went through all of the steps involved in the flight. One of the steps was to sample the fuel right before departure and determine the freezing point of the fuel to make sure that it would remain liquid in the extreme cold along the polar route.

From Boeing:
3. COLD FUEL MANAGEMENT

Because of the extended flight duration and the prevalence of very cold air masses on the polar routes, the potential exists for fuel temperatures to approach the freezing point. However, current airplane systems and operating procedures provide confidence that fuel will continue to flow unobstructed to the engines in all plausible cold-weather conditions likely to be experienced on polar routes.
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Properties of fuel at very low temperatures.
The fuel freezing point is the temperature at which wax crystals, which form in the fuel as it cools, completely disappear when the fuel is rewarmed. (This should not be confused with the fuel becoming cloudy upon cooling, which results when water dissolved in the fuel freezes, forming a suspension of very fine ice crystals. Airplane fuel and engine systems are designed to handle water ice crystals safely.)

Upgraded!

I wonder if that was a reference to the diesel fuel used to power ground vehicles? It has to be 40 below for Jet A to freeze and even colder for Jet B (doubt the wind chill is a factor there but correct me if I'm wrong). Diesel, by contrast, begins to congeal at around the same temperature water freezes and continues to solidify below that. I'm not sure at what point it becomes temporarily unusable.

CMK10

My parents were on the 12:10 PM LGA-RDU Sunday with three of my sisters - flight canceled.

They tried again today, same flight, flight canceled.

Now they're driving home. 497 mile drive with three kids, 9, 11 and 13. I wouldn't trade places with them for all the whiskey in Ireland

austin_modern

... gosh, why can't American Airlines prepare for the cold!?111oneone

jordyn

Sure it does, it just doesn't freeze in your freezer. A typical freezer will be set to something like 0F, while 80 proof vodka won't freeze until about -15F (higher proofs freeze at lower temperatures).

On the other hand, I'm surprised jet fuel is freezing in Chicago; as Upgraded points out, you wouldn't expect that unless the ambient temperature (not wind chill, which makes things cool off faster but doesn't actually change the end temperature that they'll settle at) were approaching -40 (fun fact: Celsius and Fahrenheit "cross" at -40, so it's the one temperature that is the same on both scales). I think that may be a misreading by the Star Telegram folks--American says "fuel" is frozen, which is likely (diesel) fuel they use for trucks and stuff on the ground as opposed to the jet fuel itself.

Also amusing: their antifreeze froze. (Ethylene glycol + water has a lower freezing point than either ethylene glycol or water, oddly.)

craz

thast understandable how about this: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro...z/-/index.html

Seems JetBlue is so messed up due to WX,Holiday demand and new pilot rest rules, they are stopping their OPs from BOS,EWR,LGA & JFK till Tues .At least AA has a decent excuse! B6 is the gang that couldnt shoot straight once again

dtremit

Perhaps not frozen -- but is it possible it's too viscous at -15F for it to be pumped?

HNL

Flash and Freezing points for Jet Fuel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fue..._A_and_Jet_A-1

Antarius

There could also be an issue with water in the fuel. Wasn't extremely cold temperatures and ice crystals in the FOHE responsible for the crash of BA38?

medichill

This thread is the perfect example of why I love FT. Where else could you get these Cliff Clavin-esque factoids?

I will surely be using one or all of them at a social event in the near future.

dingalpha

My friend was stuck at NRT due to the cancellation of NRT-ORD on Jan 6.

ty97

This is anecdotal information, but: one time flying ORD-DEL, we sat at the gate a bit longer than planned (slow loading of bags? late passenger? not sure, but we were a little slow in getting going). It was -1F outsid that evening. The captain came on and said that before we could leave, they need to 'stir the fuel' to make sure ice crystals hadn't formed. (NB: I don't like captains who overshare about maintenance/tech stuff )

Of course, we were about to fly 15 hours at a very high cold altitude, but nonetheless it is 14 degrees colder then that -1F in Chicago today.

Upgraded!

Doing a little search on fuel freezing temps, it would seem that this is more of an issue on the ground, since planes fly through temps much, much colder than that all the time. From the little bit I saw, it seems that modern airliners are able to prevent the ice crystals from becoming a danger inflight, but perhaps when starting up the aircraft initially it's a bigger issue.