Environment

Vegetable Oil Used on Airline Flight, Slid Right through the Sky

by Albert Milliron | January 1, 2009 at 05:17 pm

332 views | 18 Recommendations | 5 comments

Smell like French Fries out side? Maybe it is New Zealand Airlines. Maybe you can pay for a tiecket with Vegitable Oil

Air New Zealand hailed the flight as a "milestone" in the development of sustainable fuels that could lower aeroplane emissions and cut costs.

One engine of the Boeing 747-400 was fueled by a 50-50 mixture of jatropha plant oil and standard A1 jet fuel.

A Virgin Atlantic test flight in February used fuel derived from a blend of Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts.

In Auckland on Tuesday, a range of tests were completed both on the ground and during the flight, said Air New Zealand Chief Pilot David Morgan.

He said the oil from the plum-sized jatropha fruit performed "well through both the fuel system and engine".

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158

at 19:47 on January 1st, 2009

Something new in technology.

Worth a try.

harringtola

at 20:43 on January 1st, 2009

A friend and I were behind an older Mercedes the other day that had a funny "French Fry" type of smell. We decided that the owner must have converted it somehow to use an alternative fuel source. I am not saying it was used french fry oil for sure but that was the first thought. Here's hoping that if all airline travel (never mind all mass transit) goes to alternative fuels the whole world does not begin to smell like a giant box of fast food french fries. Of course, if it did we might all start to loose weight and fast food outlets would probably go out of business.