Criteria for General Aviation Fuel Systems Crashworthiness

Fuel systems post-crash hazard is the threat to occupant survival posed by fire, smoke, toxic gases, etc., following an impact (crash) sequence. The probability of occupant survival during crash impacts due to fire, smoke, toxic gases, etc., will be enhanced by the inclusion of some general crash survivability design features addressed in this paper. To minimize or prevent thermal deaths and injuries in survivable crashes, an improvement in the crash resistance of general aviation fuel systems is necessary. This paper summarizes the General Aviation Safety Panel (GASP) recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on fuel systems crashworthiness, and presents selected technical presentations given at several GASP public meetings.