Thanks to Ryan Grendus of the AFC Hangar Committee for putting together our new aircraft wash station. Please do not use the brushes for the underside (Belly) of the aircraft as the oil and contaminants will damage the brushes and they will be unusable after that. Please only use the brushes for the main surfaces.
The club will do some research into proper degreasing chemicals or solutions to clean the underbelly of the aircraft. If anyone has ideas, please let us know.
We are proud of the aircraft we have and appreciate that we have members helping us keep them clean and in good shape.
Thanks Ryan for your work on putting together an aircraft wash station.
Please accept this as an attempt at helpful feedback to our safety committee. I’m alarmed at the direction to use 100LL as a degreaser/solvent. I’d suggest that everyone consider checking the Safety Data Sheet for the product before using any form of gasoline as a degreaser solvent. There are a number of significant statements within that document related to the hazards and risks associated, these include both personal health concerns, flammability concerns, issues related to spill containment.
There is a significant risk of ignition due to electrostatic discharge – and this is likely depending on the material an individuals cloths are made from.
And perhaps most convincingly, there is a specific statement in the SDS “Do not use as a cleaning solvent or other non-motor fuel uses.”
I’m confident that a quick check of aircraft suppliers will reveal many much safer alternatives.
Again, many thanks for the start on this.
Regards
RK
Thanks for amending the blog post. I’ll forward some alternate degreasers to the club secretary.
RK