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.
Ditto to all of the above comments. Future high horsepower, light engines will all require at least 91 octane fuel.
An excellant idea! We list the octane level on 100LL why not on MOGAS?