I'm not familiar with aviation practices, but you are saying can't be true. Even your car has a pressurized fuel tank, and for good reason. Otherwise all that would be left after a few months of non-use would be a sludgy-sticky liquid that would clog the injectors. Pour a little gasoline in an open dish and leave it outside, in the shade, for a few hours to see for yourself. An unpressurized fuel tank at 30,000 feet would lose many of the key fuel ingredients within a few minutes, leaving behind a low grade fuel. I’m not a chemical engineer either, but my guess would be that the fuel would be closer to a diesel fuel grade (energy wise) after an hour or two at 30-35,000 feet than even a gasoline grade, and certainly not something that would burn efficiently in a jet engine. It probably would clog the fuel system even before it got to the engine itself. Bottom line, the tanks are probably pressurized to at least sea level. It would be helpful to get someone with aircraft experience to chime in. Hmmm....please note my tagline of Aviator. I have been flying professionally for 35 years. Since you are not familiar with aviation practices and you are not a chemical engineer, you are indeed shooting in the dark.
Hmmm....please note my tagline of Aviator. I have been flying professionally for 35 years. Since you are not familiar with aviation practices and you are not a chemical engineer, you are indeed shooting in the dark.OK, I make this a direct question, since (in spite of my lack of degrees) I am will to go out on a limb and state that I am positve you are wrong.
My question: Do the fuel tanks on the large airplanes (737 747 etc) operate at whatever elevation pressure the plane happens to be at?
By way of refinement, when the plane is on the runway in LA what is the internal pressure of the tank relative to the outside air pressure? When that same plane climbs to an altitude of 35,000 feet, what is the pressure of the tank, relative to the outside air pressure at 35,000 feet?