Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: zipper

I thought that the USAF has approved of its use,if I am correct.


7 posted on 03/24/2010 10:17:35 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld ("I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution."-Dr.Wernher Von Braun)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]


To: sonofstrangelove
I was thinking it was 100 percent synthetic, but apparently it was 50 percent.

------

Former Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne spearheaded the agency's investigation into alternative fuels in 2005 by creating an 11-member task force. Just a year and a half later, a B-52 Stratofortress flew out of Edwards Air Force Base on 50 percent standard-issue military JP-8 fuel and 50 percent Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene fuel derived from natural gas. (Unlike petroleum products, the synthetic fuel lacks aromatics, preventing it from being used in ratios greater than 50 percent.) The B-52 was the perfect candidate for testing, since its eight engines offer ultimate mechanical redundancy; the first flight was performed with only one engine using synthetic fuel, so that if the engine failed there would be seven backups.

"We tested the crap out of the B-52 engines before we flew it," explains Jeff Braun, director of the Alternative Fuels Certification Office. "We did component tests on the engines, ground tests, engine install ground tests and then single-engine flight tests. We then stair-stepped from one, to four, to all engines, which provided a component of risk mitigation."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4283188.html

14 posted on 03/24/2010 10:37:12 PM PDT by zipper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson