Story ID: 
Operator Seeks Damages after DEF Incident
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Air Trek's medical services division is preparing legal action after two of its jets were downed by DEF-laced fuel.
Word Count: 211
Air charter provider Air Trek and its Ambulance by Air Trek aeromedical services subsidiary is preparing to file a lawsuit against Florida’s Punta Gorda Airport for monetary damages after two of its aircraft fell victim to the latest instance of fuel contamination with diesel exhaust fluid (DEF).

According to a letter sent to the Charlotte County Airport Authority by the company’s attorney, the May 9 incident resulted in irreparable damage to a pair of the company’s Cessna Citation 550s that were fueled at their home base before departure. One of the jets, bound for Niagara Falls, New York, suffered a dual-engine flameout but landed safely in Savannah, while the other, headed to Chicago, diverted to Louisville, Kentucky, when it experienced engine failure. No injuries were reported in either instance.

The NTSB’s preliminary report on the incidents stated that a lineman at the airport-operated FBO admitted that he had inadvertently combined a container of fuel system icing inhibitor (FSII) and a container of DEF instead of what he thought were two partially empty containers of FSII.

The damages sought include incurred costs, as well as loss of revenue from the inoperable aircraft.

Listen to AIN's podcast on DEF contamination.