The SEAL Aviation Fuel Repair Team was called out to diagnose a fuel leak that another company spent three weeks trying to repair. This is how the experts located the leak for this job.
When an airplane begins leaking fuel, many things may be going through the mind of the operator or owner. Many aviation maintenance professionals know that where you see the leak occurring is most likely not the origin of the leak. The leak needs to be traced back to the point from the outside of the tank to the inside of the tank to correctly fix the problem and prevent it from leaking in the future. For this job, we started at the point where the leak was identified and worked our way backwards. The first step is to accurately identify the location where the fuel leak is leaking on the exterior part of the fuel tank. Defuel the tank to allow positive pressure in the fuel system. Then next step is to pinpoint the fuel leak on the exterior by using soapy water and controlled air pressure to the fuel system to pinpoint the exit point of the fuel leak.
This picture was taken from the inside of the tank before the test. This area looked suspect due to the degraded sealant so particular attention was paid to this area.
The next step is to open the fuel tank in the suspect area and blow compressed air on the exterior exit point and while applying soapy water on the inner area of suspect area of the fuel tank while looking for bubbles, which indicate the interior location of the fuel leak. Next, we remove the all old sealant without damaging the structure until the aluminum surface is exposed. At this point we can reseal with proper sealant. Fuel leak fixed!
SEAL Aviation performs Aircraft Fuel Leak Repair, Non-Destructive Testing and Airframe Structural Repairs anywhere in the world. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale Florida adjacent to the FLL international airport, SEAL Aviation is an FAA, EASA and Mexico certified repair station.