Just a warning about refuelling, static electricity and fire.
At the end of last year, my Kitfox 7SS was being refuelled by a crew at a local airstrip. The person doing the fuelling was using an aluminium funnel and was filling from a jerrycan using a step ladder. I didn't see the incident as I was not there, but apparently the right tank filled just fine, but as he inserted the funnel into the left tank, a spark was discharged, there was an explosion, and the fuel in the left tank caught fire and poured out over the wing, burning right through the wing to the ground.
Fortunately no-one was hurt in the incident, and the fire was put out. The damage has been inspected and fortunately is limited to fabric alone.
I have had a really busy year and have now finally found the time to work on the repair and want some advice based on the photos, if I should patch this as per the Polyfibre manual with a 2 inch overlap, or take the fabric off all around and start again.
I also want to make others aware of the dangers of static when refuelling and to be sure you discharge all the static before thinking about refuelling.
I am also thinking of a small modification to earth the metal fuel tank lips or gas caps to the main airframe, so that any static that has built up around the wing tanks can be discharged by touching or clipping an earth cable to the exhaust pipe like in all aluminium planes.
Kitfox Static discharge Fire
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