Ground_Support_October_2020 - 13

INDUSTRY EXPERT
COLUMN:

operators and service technicians have made
this their lifetime career. Might we suggest
that these are the very individuals, with
so many years' experience firmly behind
them, who are the real experts in our field
of ground refueling equipment? Over the
years, this has helped to promote an almost
"nurture nature" culture. The very specialist
type of refueling equipment we provide is
regularly serviced and nurtured throughout
the lifetime of the product. As a contrast,
refueling professionals are far more transient in the USA, and while the job is no
less skilled, refueling operating companies
are to be commended for still maintaining
such high levels of competence within their
fueling teams while maybe not seeing the
longevity of personnel in their teams.
This European culture also translates
into the health and safety mindset. This
has produced many user-driven innovations over the years. Drag rings on fueling
nozzles to prevent them from damage and
thus prolonging their life. Hydrant coupler
lifting devices, commonly known as CLADs,
to help relieve fueling operators from continually lifting by hand heavy and fuel laden
couplers on and off hydrant pit valves. The
now mandated use, within EMEA and for
new hydrant systems, of dual air lanyard
pilots on hydrant valves. All these are beneficial to the safety of our industry but are
yet to be fully adopted worldwide.
When flying into Europe, it is commonplace to see a wide variety of "refuelers" and
"hydrant vehicles" driving around the airport aprons, diligently servicing and pumping fuel into every aircraft before it departs.
Some airports can have more than 100
fueling vehicles for this task alone, such are
the fueling demands of the modern-day aviation industry, pre-COVID era.
In the USA, at most major airports, static
hydrant carts are located at every fueling
stand awaiting the arrival of the aircraft
before the fueling process begins.
The two strategies could not be more
different. On one hand, we have an expensive fleet of trucks traveling the airport
roadways, visiting every aircraft before it
departs, with all the running and maintenance expense that this truck fleet brings.
In contrast, the smaller and very much
lower cost, fueling carts found the in USA

will be a permanent fixture at airport parking positions - a clever
concept perhaps? Certainly, when
you consider the reduced running
and maintenance cost this solution offers, not to mention the
environmental advantages and
reduced carbon footprint that this
concept of fueling practice helps to
promote. In the post-COVID era,
could it be that this fueling cart
technology might become more
appealing to the European fueling companies as new equipment
and maintenance budgets are hard
hit in this most ravaged of sectors,
international aviation?
In truth, the refueling of aircraft is done so with what would
be, by today's standards, largely
antiquated technology. In fact,
the modern-day technologies we
know and are so used to in our
everyday lives have only really
been introduced into vehicle
designs in the last decade.
As we move away from pen
and paper technology, to more
touchscreens and cloud-based activities,
why should fueling products be any different? The next evolutions and technologies
in our field are already upon us, such as
Cla-Val's Ground Fueling E-Manual App,
Cla-Val Link2 Asset Management Systems
and our future ground fueling product,
Smart Technologies.
However, a slight word of caution at this
point. Not every region of the world will
be ready to embrace new technologies at
the same time and so the pace of worldwide introduction is to be carefully considered. New technology requires training
and maintenance and in some parts of the
world, tried and tested 20th century type
technology has proven to be reliable and still
works. Financing for upgrades and technical

Photo courtesy of Cla-Val Company

GSE

Fueling Nozzles

education for training may be limited, which
means there will always be a need for a more
manual system is some areas.
While strides have been made in the
harmonization of standards, there is still
quite a few places that the EMEA marketplace and the North American marketplace
can learn from each other regarding equipment, operator ergonomics and technology.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Richard Hooton, Cla-Val ground fueling market manager - EMEA, brings more than 25
years of experience in the aviation industry, working closely with the industry's leading
brands within the ground fueling and fuel filtration market sectors. He has a proficient
knowledge and understanding of aircraft ground refueling equipment and aviation fuel
filtration systems with proven sales experience and success internationally, now helping
to drive the Cla-Val sales and marketing strategy within the EMEA aviation sector.

OCTOBER 2020

AviationPros.com

http://www.AviationPros.com

Ground_Support_October_2020

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