PC-12
Ground Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft
We arrived just before our show time. I confirmed that the aircraft had been fueled the night before and was in the hangar (it was winter and I wanted to avoid frost on the aircraft) and I asked for a bucket to take a fuel sample. My First Officer and I made our way to the hangar and began getting the aircraft ready. I decided to take a fuel sample while he was finishing the preflight. The left tanks; fuel filter; and fuel system low point drains showed clear jet fuel with no contamination. I then went to check the right feeder tank and a large amount of water and cloudy fuel came out of the drain. The right main tank also had a significant amount of contamination but not as much as the feeder tank. I continued to sump the fuel a few more times and it was no longer making a layer; but the fuel was still cloudy. My First Officer had completed the preflight and I made him aware of the fuel contamination and I told him that I'd need to talk to maintenance before flight as I had never seen this much contamination before. I went ahead and had the aircraft pulled out and put on a GPU to warm the cabin before the passengers arrived. While that was happening; I sent the pictures to maintenance. Maintenance directed me to speak with maintenance and that the cloudiness needed to be resolved. I talked with maintenance and they acknowledged the pictures and started working on solutions to see if a maintenance tech could be found. I then checked in with the operations and informed them that the flight may need to be recovered. I then got back in touch with maintenance who said that they had reviewed the pictures and that continued draining of the fuel should cause it to clear up and that it may take several full sumps before it does. I then asked for another bucket and tried again to sump the right tanks. After 2 more sumps on each drain I was able to get clear fuel with no layering. I took pictures of the result and sent them to maintenance and we all agreed the problem had been resolved. I also asked my First Officer if he was comfortable with the result and he agreed. We then continued the flight as normal with only about a 15 min delay.
Pilatus pilot reported discovering contaminated fuel in fuel tank.