Thanks to Cal Hoffman of the Barnwell Regional Airport (BNL) in Barnwell, S.C., for informing us that the airport has a supply of 93 octane (AKI), ethanol-free, lead-free Mogas on the field.
He does not expect any disruptions to the supply in the near future, and suggests that the strong demand for ethanol-free fuel from the marine industry on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia is the cause.
At the time of this posting, Mogas at BNL cost only $3.05 compared to a national average of $3.30, and a national average of $4.53 for 100LL.
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.
It should be somewhat less than 100LL but it will have to be higher priced than premium autogas.
Karl, here is what Dean Billing says about this. Kent
Considering that it is 100 LL without lead and therefor has a new ASTM number, my guess is the ASTM number will replace the cost of the TEL, so, ipso facto, 94UL will cost exactly the same as 100 LL. 🙂
Seriously, it IS 100 LL avgas without TEL so the only cost that is going to decrease is the transportation cost which could decrease slightly because it could go through a pipeline and they won’t have to purge the tank cars or truck tanks to ship other unleaded product. Other than that nothing changes, and face facts, a big part of the cost of 100 LL is extremely small production runs and liability costs.
— Dean
I’ve been wondering if we do switch to UL94 and it works in our aircraft, will the price be about the same price as premium auto gas (about 2.75 to 3.00 dollars per gallon by todays prices). That would make it much cheaper to operate my aircraft.
Karl