In their continued efforts to provide pilots with affordable, safe, approved alternatives to 100LL now, the GAFuels bloggers have launched FLY UNLEADED. This new website consolidates information concerning 100LL, efforts to find an unleaded replacement for 100LL, and Mogas.

For 70%-80% of all piston-engine aircraft in the U.S., and for virtually 100% o fthe new LSA fleet, unleaded, ethanol-free premium (91 octane) gasoline (Mogas) is the best, most affordable fuel available today. FLY UNLEADED documents where you can find the fuel and what actions are recommended to add additional Mogas fuel pumps at your local airport. As an added bonus, FLY UNLEADED includes a store offering items you can purchase to show your concern to “get the lead out” and to use Mogas to lower the cost of flying.

For a listing of gasoline stations across the country providing ethanol-free Mogas, see PURE-GAS. If you know of other stations not on this list, it is simple to add them.

There is a raging debate over the future of 100 octane avgas and Lycoming’s view about the problem on an  AVwebinsider Blog by Paul Bertorelli. The gist is that TCM thinks most of its engines would work on 94 UL, or could be made to work on it, and Lycoming says that there must be a 100 octane gasoline. Of course, this is all wrapped in the context that GA can only afford to have one avgas.

[Read more...]

Submitted by Dean Billing

VAN’s RV-12 aircraft are being completed at an accelerating rate and it is now beginning to dawn on the owners that there are very few airports that have mogas, and of the ones listed in AirNav there is no distinction between regular and premium gas. These new RV-12s are powered by 100HP Rotax 912-series engines, which are best operated with premium (91 AKI) mogas. Here’s a recent posting by RV-12 builder Marty Santic: “Anyone know of a reasonably good listing of FBOs that have 91/92 octane MOGAS available. AirNav.com allows you to search for FBO’s that have MOGAS BUT the FBOs that I have called have 87 octane for the low compression STC engine crowd. … There are a BUNCH of 912/914s out there, would think someone has put together such a list.”

It would be very helpful, as more and more LSA aircraft and RV-12s ply our skies, for AirNav to make the fuel listings for mogas more informative. It should also be kept in mind that as terminals convert to producing E10 to satisfy the unintended consequences of the federal RFS mandate in EISA 2007, regular gasoline may be blended first since the terminal will recoup the conversion costs for the tanks and ethanol injectors through the blenders credit. Airports may be forced to convert to premium unleaded to continue getting mogas. At least that is how it has played out here in the Northwest. For a list of airports that have ethanol-free fuel and those no longer pumping it, compiled by the authors, follow this link.

I am constantly asked what we can do to prepare for the coming fuel debacle if no timely replacement for 100LL is found.

Work on our aviation alphabets to support two pumps on every airport selling fuel.  Some 20 years ago, this was mostly the case.  What is ironic is that in the proposals the aviation alphabet groups have published, or talked about publicly, they admit that they will probably need a two fuel solution, especially during any transition from 100 LL.

We propose that aviation quit being so proud and independent and start acting like the ethanol industry.  Ask Congress for subsidies and tax credits.  The ethanol industry has been getting them for 30 years.  They have generous tax credits for gas station infrastructure upgrades for E85.  Why can’t the touted General Aviation Caucus in Congress pass generous tax credits for adding fueling infrastructure on our public use airports?

[Read more...]

GAFuels blogger Dean Billing sends the following report on his three talks held last week at Sun ‘n Fun 2010:

There was a lot of media coverage of Sun ‘n Fun, but you will notice that none of it was about the fuel situation facing GA.  There was only one group of pilots that presented any information about the pending fuel crisis, the sponsors of this blog.  We presented three forums, one on Wednesday attended by about 20 people, one on Friday attended by about 30 people and one on Saturday attended by six people.  The slides for the presentation can be viewed at EOPC.com/SNF10.pdf. If you view the presentation, you will note a key set of two slides from a report on Avweb about the pending EPA termination of the waiver it has granted for the continuing use of TEL in avgas, which will result in the demise of 100LL.  We have reported about the EPA action several times on this blog, so it should come as no surprise to our readers.

A peculiar thing happened at the Friday presentation. During the question period after the presentation, a spokesman for Swift Fuels announced that they would be presenting a forum on Saturday about their progress in developing a drop in replacement for 100LL.  This was an unscheduled presentation, it did not appear on any of the published forum schedules prior to Sun ‘n Fun.  Swift Fuels did have a presence at Sun ‘n Fun through its joint research venture with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University based in Daytona Beach, Fla.  The plane testing Swift Fuel’s 100LL replacement was prominent in the ERAU display area.

[Read more...]

As reported in the March 15, 2010 issue of AVWeb:

The Environmental Protection Agency continues to go through administrative motions suggesting it’s serious about removing lead from avgas. Earlier this month, the agency sent a draft endangerment finding to the White House as part of its proposed action to address a petition from Friends of the Earth claiming that lead in avgas represents a public health risk. Before it can move forward, the EPA has to issue a finding under terms of the Clean Air Act that health risks actually exist. To reach that finding, the agency has ordered lead pollution studies around a number of U.S. airports. Friends of the Earth has asked EPA to ban lead from avgas “without delay,” although the industry still has no ready high-octane substitute for 100LL.

What’s missing here is the equally sobering fact that the only viable alternative to 100LL for 70%-80% of the current piston engine airplane fleet (and most new LSAs) — premium ethanol-free gasoline — is also disappearing due to pressure from federal and state mandates for ethanol use in vehicle fuels.

To see the latest trends in avgas availability in the U.S., follow this link.

The GAfuels Blog is written by three private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft. They are:

• Dean Billing (Sisters, Ore.) – an expert on autogas and ethanol
• Kent Misegades (Cary, N.C.) – an aerospace engineer and aviation journalist
• Todd Petersen (Minden, Neb.) – former aerial applicator and owner of more than 150 Mogas STCs for aircraft

The EPA has finally announced the 2010 RFS standard, albeit several months late.

While there is no change in the ethanol mandate increase — the gasoline industry must blend more than 12 billion gallons of ethanol in 2010, up from 10.5 billion gallons in 2009 — the real surprise is that the EPA is not going to hold the emerging cellulosic ethanol industry to its production quota of a measly 100 million gallons. It will only have to contribute 6.5 million gallons of ethanol.

To understand the ramifications of this change read about it at StopEthanol.wordpress.com

The GAfuels Blog is written by three private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft. They are:

• Dean Billing (Sisters, Ore.) – an expert on autogas and ethanol
• Kent Misegades (Cary, N.C.) – an aerospace engineer and aviation journalist
• Todd Petersen (Minden, Neb.) – former aerial applicator and owner of more than 150 Mogas STCs for aircraft

For a list of airports that have ethanol-free fuel and those no longer pumping it, compiled by the authors, follow this link.

The articles recently posted from Steve Bill Hanshew (Passing gas) and Ben Visser (The demise of 100LL is no surprise) were a breath of fresh air, devoid of the usual P.C. claptrap surrounding most environmental debate these days.

We, the co-authors of the online GaFuels blog, would like to add a few points to this important discussion:

1. We’ve had a solution for 70%-80% of the current 100LL users for 20-plus years: ethanol-free premium gasoline, also called Mogas or AutoGas.

2. In the past, the lack of Mogas pumps at airfields was largely due to the unwillingness of FBOs to add a second fuel tank for piston engine aircraft, likely due to economic reasons.

[Read more...]