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, aviation sales rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114.
With the number of retail sellers logged at Pure-Gas.org poised to reach a record monthly high, our petition calling on a ban of the blending of ethanol in Premium gas is nearing its goal, too. If you have not logged your local suppliers of ethanol-free fuel at Pure-Gas, please do this now. If you have not signed the petition, please consider doing this, and don’t forget to tell everyone you know who wants a choice in the fuel they burn in their engines. Upon reaching our goal, several members of Congress who understand the widespread damage being caused by ethanol will be taking our message to the EPA, FAA and other government agencies that can influence the future of ethanol mandates. Please take a moment to educate your state and Congressional representatives on this important issue. A simple means to do this is to forward this posting to them, which includes below some of the recent comments from aircraft owners you’ll find on the petition.
# 7,965 – 22:15, Mar 22, John Thibaut, LA – for my 5 boats, 1987 truck, 1996 truck, 1970 Dodge, 2 motorcycles, 2 airplanes, chain saw, 3 generators, 2 lawn mowers, 2 weedeaters, 1 gas powered welding machine
# 7,917 – 10:13, Mar 22, John Koons, ME – snowmobile, airplane, boat…..give us a choice!
# 7,699 – 09:15, Mar 20, Craig Grabowsky, AL – I fly a light plane and both leaded gas and ethanol infected gas is bad for my plane, the environment and food prices.
# 7,513 – 15:49, Mar 18, Barton Jones, CO – If the gas doesn’t have Ethanol I can use it in my airplane. That would be very useful and convenient for me, not to mention less expensive.
# 7,487- 05:20, Mar 18, George Miller, TN – I have two airplanes and they do not run well on 100LL aviation fuel and I need ethanol free gasoline!
# 7,462 – 13:14, Mar 17, Ronald Moses, NC – My boat is made to run on ethanol free gas. Ethanol causes $$$ problems. My Honda car gets 5 more miles to the gallon using ethanol FREE gas. My truck gets 2.5 more miles to the gallon with ethanol free gas. My lawn mower and other yard equipment perform better with alcohol FREE gas. Ethanol causes trouble in everything I own. If I am ever able to own a plane again I would want to pure gas.
# 7,460 – 12:29, Mar 17, Larry Garner, GA – Better performance/mpg in vehicles. Also my airplane is STC’d for autogas. Small yard engines will last longer. It takes at least 100-gallons of water to produce one-gallon of ethanol.
# 7,418 – 13:13, Mar 16, Daniel Hughes, NV – I have a boat with twin engines, recreational vehicles, generators, motorcycles and an airplane that will not run on fuel with ethanol. I am familiar with people who are in the ethanol business and I understand all the BS and lobbying surrounding the use of ethanol and how the regulations got where they are.
# 7,405 – 10:17, Mar 16, Richard Rake, AZ – I have an airplane that was built with a fiberglass gas tank and ethanol eats the polyester resin that the tank was constructed with.
# 7,161 – 11:58, Mar 11, Name not displayed, NY – It would be nice to have, for my mowers, my chain saws, my snowblower, my motorcycle, my boats, my cars, my truck, and my plane. With all this equipment, you can imagine how long fuel could sit in any one of the gas tanks, not to mention the gas cans for the small engines. It’s especially problematic for the seasonal use equipment, where fuel might sit for months in the tanks. Ethanol is harmful to the fuel systems and the engines in each of these items, it reduces fuel mileage on highway equipment, and in short doesn’t do any good for anyone besides its producers.
# 7,266 – 09:47, Mar 14, Timothy Heilig, NC – Ethanol causes major problems in engines of all types. I have had to buy a need weedeater due to ethanol eating the seals and gaskets. I have a small lawn care business, is this fair to the little guy trying to run a business to have to replace equipment due to the Government forcing Ethanol on us. The Carb on my big John Deere lawn mower has to be replaced $300 + labor all due to Ethanol in the gas. There are many reported cases of aircraft having fuel leaks and even some whole fuel tanks having to be replaced in some RAF-2000 Gyroplanes (aircraft ) where Ethanol attacked and eat thru the fiberglass Fuel tanks.
Its real simple……….no one has discovered a way to make water burn in any of my engines yet
OUT WITH ETHANOL!!! …………end of conversation!!!
Count me in! Unfortunately, I see the EPA as being so far out of control the only solution is to get rid of the whole department. Congress is apparently not providing oversight necessary or they are and our Congress is even more out of touch and stupid than could be imagined.
Ethanol mandates and subsidies are nothing more than bribes. Why are we using a food source needed for people and livestock when we have gas?