The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing, Sisters, Ore., an expert on autogas and ethanol, and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer and aviation journalist.
One alternative to 100LL avgas, 94 UL, was just approved by ASTM and will be published soon as ASTM D7592-2010. ASTM is now working on 100VLL, a 100 octane fuel containing lower levels of lead than 100LL.
A new workgroup has been established: ASTM WK30832 – Revision of D910 – 07a Standard Specification for Aviation Gasolines. The outline of their work can be seen here in this report.
ASTM is also working on “… an effort to streamline and simplify the logical placement of a new fuel into one of the existing ASTM specifications…”, ASTM WK30824 – Revision of D910 – 07a Standard Specification for Aviation Gasolines.
Submitted by Dean Billing
I should have added the following:
“Of course it is not specified on any TC or STC and the General Aviation Avgas Coalition consisting of the EAA, AOPA, GAMA, et. al. working with the FAA, certainly doesn’t want it to interfere with the program to find a 100 octane unleaded solution, so it will join the other useless unleaded avgas specs, including 82UL, ASTM D6227 which will soon add 87UL, and the 91UL avgas spec, ASTM D7547.
Meanwhile EAA, AOPA, GAMA, et. al. and the FAA and EPA continue to ignore the demise of the other approved aviation fuel that is available nationwide today, unleaded auto fuel made to ASTM D4814, as it disappears in an ethanol haze due to the unintended consequences of the federal RFS mandate in EISA 2007. If nothing is done soon it will completely disappear by the end of next year or early in 2012. May it Rest In Peace with all of the other unleaded aviation fuels specified by ASTM to date.”