Plane devices may not always work

To the editor:

In response to the article "Plane crash blamed on contaminated fuel system" and the statement made by Bruce Loy, manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, that a plane's fuel system should be drained before the first flight of each day and after refueling to avoid accumulating water or sediment:

I fully agree. But what if the sump drains do not work as certified? The National Transportation Safety Board does not believe the sump drains always work as certified.

This being the case, what good would checking the sump drain do if, in fact, they do not offer the pilot positive detection of fuel contaminants? The NTSB debated this lack of positive detection of fuel contamination with the FAA from 1983 to 1986. An NTSB letter to the FAA dated Jan. 13, 1986, stated, "The Safety Board concludes that an impasse has been reached in our efforts to convince the FAA that further attention is needed to assure the elimination of water form the fuel tanks of the affected airplanes."

Instead of debating whether drain sumps work, perform a simple test. Pour an amount of red-dyed water into the fuel tank of the aircraft, go to the drain and see if you can detect and eliminate the same amount you poured in. It may just be possible that the fuel sump drains do not work as certified in many aircraft.

ROBERT E. SCOVILL JR.

Smyrna, Tenn.