Careless Linemen

Kyle Boatright wrote:
How do the rest of you deal with careless linemen? The kind who scratch
your airplane or chip the paint because they are either careless or have not
been properly trained on how to avoid damaging aircraft when refueling 'em.

By the time I grabbed those things, the lineman had already filled the left
tank, and there was a brand spankin' new paint chip near the fuel filler on
the tank.

I feel your pain. Also on some aircraft there are baffles just inside
the tank that can be damaged if a fuel nozzle is put in too far inside
the tank. I know from experiece that there can be a tendency to put the
nozzle in farther (below the top of the liquid) to prevent fuel drops
from splashing back out of the tank. The solution is to hold the nozzle
at a 45 degree angle and never put it in farther than you can see.
Because avgas damages skin and is full of poisons that get absorbed
like tetraethyl lead and benzene, I try avoid letting it touch me at all
costs.

I realize that line service isn't a high paid job but proper fueling is
a simple thing to learn and the FBO should be teaching its employees,
new and old about it. If they don't know how to fill a tank without
scratching the paint, do they know that turbocharged aircraft need the
blue juice and not Jet A? It would be worth mentioning to the
management or even filling out a comment card.

I use a club aircraft and we have our own pump so I'm used to doing it
myself. But if I am elsewhere and someone else is going to be doing it,
I always want to be there to supervise the operation and make sure
quality control is just as good