Bad Fuel Grounds Australia Outback’s Airborne Lifeline

From Wagga Wagga to Wee Waa, Andamooka to Lightning Ridge, towns in the vast Australian Outback depend on small planes to deliver the mail, dust crops, round up cattle, shuttle schoolchildren, bring in doctors and evacuate patients with medical emergencies.

But 11 days ago, half the nation’s light aircraft were grounded because of contaminated aviation fuel that thickens when it contacts copper and brass engine parts, raising the risk of clogged fuel lines and motors stalling in flight.

It is unknown how many planes are carrying the bad fuel. Mobil Oil Australia Ltd., a subsidiary of U.S.-based Exxon Mobil Corp. and source of the contaminated fuel, said it had no detection test.

“This is a contamination crisis of a magnitude that has never been seen before anywhere in the world,” said Mick Toller, safety director for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which ordered the planes grounded.

Scientists are working on a three-stage field diagnosis that they hope will identify which aircraft have tainted fuel. But pending further tests, grounded planes would not be in the air before Thursday, Toller said Sunday.

The contaminant affects piston-driven engines that turn propellers.