THE aviation fuel contaminant believed to have been responsible for grounding
nearly half the light aircraft in Australia
(Â鶹´«Ã½, 22 January, p 7)
was not detected because standard aviation fuel tests are not sensitive
enough, according to an independent expert who has been asked to assess fuel
testing procedures.
“The international regulations are going to have to be tightened up,” says
David Trimm, a chemist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. The level
of ethylene diamine in the fuel, which is thought to be responsible for the
scare, is only 2.5 parts per million—but standard internationally…
