First day photos of fueling services by the Port

Photos of first day

If it were not so serious it would be funny. The Port of Bellingham assumed responsibility this morning for all fueling at the Bellingham Airport.

One problem - they have no experience and no trained staff for this. So when I went out to the airport this morning to see how they were doing, I ran into fuel training school.

And - check the photo at the botton. A jet fuel truck painted with a sign for aviation gas. This violates basic signage rules for fuel trucks. So - which fuel does the truck contain? Jet fuel or aviation gasoline? A big difference which if put on to the wrong plane could cause a crash or explosion.

The Port is not prepared to take on the dangerous task of airplane fueling.

Monday, October 1, 2001

This morning the Port of Bellingham took over fueling of all aircraft at the airport. This after 60 years of fueling by private companies under contract to the Port. So, we took our camera out to see how they were doing.

And here we have the basic instruction of the new fuelers just hired by the Port. This is a fuel truck, kids. Yes, there is only one of the seven employees with hands on experience fueling airplanes. The students had a one day classroom instruction last week about safety practices. Of course what you are told in a dry warm classroom does not always make sense on a cold, dark, windy, rainy taxiway in winter. It takes experience to become a competent fueler - a job that is of critical safety importance to our airport.

And this is the front of an airplane. School continues. This would be funny if it wasn't so serious. Note none are in any sort of uniform - a normal item for professional fueling services. When a corporate jet taxied up this morning, no one went out to greet it and provide the normal ground services until someone else told them that was their job. Then one of the guys in a sweat shirt shuffled out and asked if he could help. The jet pilot gave him one look and ignored him.

But then they got shy and all stood on the other side of the truck until I left.

What will we do about the photographer? They came back out when I left.

Illegal wording. Here we have a sign saying "AVGAS 100 LL" (low lead) on a truck that is loaded with jet fuel. This is a huge safety violation. Confusing. An inexerienced fueler could load avgas into a jet or jet fuel into a general aviation gasoline engine airplane.