Welcome

This website is dedicated to the preflight task of sampling aviation fuels and analyzing them for contamination with water, particulate materials and the proper type and color of the sampled fuel. To that end we have tested the commercially available fuel sampling and testing devices and picked the one we like best. Our pick is the GATS Jar Fuel Tester.

The picture below is meant as a gentle reminder of what can happen if there is an interruption of good fuel to an airplane engine during flight. We don't know exactly why this plane crashed, but the results are the same and it is never good. We hope no one was seriously injured in this accident.

  • Sometimes you don't get to choose a good landing spot
  • Other times you just can't make it to a hard surface runway
  • Jet fuel contaminated AVGAS can burn up gasoline engines
  • Debris can clog filters, lines and valves in twins too
  • Even a good emergency landing is bad and can be expensive
  • Any appreciable amount of water in the fuel lines or tank is too much
  • When crashing in a corn field, it's best if the corn is almost full grown
  • The GATS Jar returns only clean fuel back into the tank

Sample Size

The best Sampler should collect large enough samples to fully analyze the condition of the fuel and to some extent the integrity of the tank.

All GA Fuels

The best Sampler should handle all General Aviation fuels including NON-ETHANOL autogas, 100LL, diesel and Jet A.

Environmentally Responsible

The best Sampler should not force a pilot to harm our environment by throwing fuel samples on the ground.

Legal Compliance

The best Sampler should not force a pilot to violate Federal, State, or Municipal laws, FAR's, Airport rules or Fire Codes.

Thriftiness

The best Sampler should not force a pilot to waste expensive fuel by throwing it away before every takeoff.

Wrong Fuel Detection

The best Sampler should assist the pilot to detect Jet Fuel mistakenly put in an AVGAS fueled plane.

Clean Fuel Samples

The best Sampler should clean the fuel sample of water and debris before it is returned to the tank.

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The GATS Jar Fuel Tester

The GATS Jar Fuel Tester comes in two Sample Sizes. The smallest is 12 fluid ounces and the largest is 16 fluid ounces. Both are the largest samplers available for AVGAS.

The GATS Jar works with all purely petroleum distillate fuels including All GA Fuels, but can be used to clean water and debris from all NON-ETHANOL fuels for your car, lawn mower, chain saw, or any military or domestically used engine at home, for business, the farm, or at many Armed Services installations.

Since the GATS Jar makes it possible for fuel samples to be returned safely to the tank instead of just throwing them on the ground, it is the Original, Environmentally Responsible fuel sampler and fuel inspection device or tester. Once the clean fuel is returned to the vehicle's fuel tank, the trapped out water is then poured on the ground.

The GATS Jar allows Legal Compliance with all known laws, rules and codes because the fuel part of the sample is returned to the aircraft.

The GATS Jar allows the pilot to be Thrifty by frugally putting expensive fuel back into the plane instead of throwing it away every preflight.

If Jet or diesel fuels contamination of an AVGAS fueled airplane is suspected, the GATS Jar screen element can be used to help Detect the presence and concentration of diesel fuel or Jet fuel.

Because of the operational characteristics of the GATS Jar, it is able to Clean Fuel Samples of almost all water and can trap debris particles down to 200 microns in size.