Pilots in east-central Georgia have reason to fly more in 2013 since the East Georgia Regional Airport (SBO) in Swainsboro added mogas recently. Contrary to claims from Michael France, director of regulatory affairs for the corporate FBO lobby NATA, that “fuel suppliers believe the market does not support the costs associated with making mogas or […]
Florida ethanol repeal bill moves forward
From GAfuels reader Drew Hatch of Ft. Walton Beach we learned that HB4001, a bill sponsored by Florida State Representative Matt Gaetz to repeal the state’s ethanol mandates, is moving towards a full debate. According to his comments that appeared this week in an article in CapitalSoup.com, “HB4001 has officially cleared the House Energy and […]
Consequences and public funding
While reading “Inclined to Liberty” by Louis E. Carabini, it struck me that chapter 29, The Hazard of Equalizing Consequences, describes what one often sees at publicly-funded general aviation airports in my home state of North Carolina. Taj Mahal-like, LEED-certififed terminals bristling with solar panels at rural airstrips where more coyotes walk the ramp than […]
Sunset for avgas?
In recent months your bloggers have been contacted by a number of environmental reporters on the issue of leaded aviation fuel, for instance Sarah Zhang of Mother Jones, mentioned in this Jan. 28 posting. More recently, Rebecca Kessler, a science and environmental journalist based in Providence, R.I., published an article titled “Sunset for Leaded Aviation […]
Innospec news — a shot across the bow?
Early last week my inbox starting filling with breathless news that Innospec, the world’s last producer of Tetraethyllead (TEL), the amazing chemical compound that gives avgas such excellent anti-detonant properties, is planning to end production in 2013. Worse yet, according to an online article in Specialty Chemical News, the company had actually planned to stop […]
Maine seeks ethanol reprieve
We recently learned of a renewed effort by the Maine State Legislature to reduce or eliminate altogether the blending of ethanol in gasoline. As described in this article in the Maine Sun Journal, “A pair of bills introduced Thursday by state Rep. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, could have a significant impact on what goes into the […]
Mother Jones reports on leaded avgas
One of the positive aspects of dealing with aviation fuels is that concerns are politically bi-partisan among pilots, the media and even among elected officials. A recent example of this is an article on leaded aviation fuel written by Sarah Zhang, a contributing writer for Mother Jones, a magazine that describes itself as “a news […]
Aviation fuel and the 70/30 mantra
Over the past few years, a debate has raged over the best way to reduce our dependence on avgas in North America, one of the last places on the planet where leaded fuels remain in use. There are two “camps” of thought. The first one, consisting of the leaders of most aviation alphabet groups (with […]
Predictions: Aviation fuel in 2013
Early January is a time to review what transpired in the past year and make plans for the coming one. Fuel being consistently named by aircraft owners as their number one concern, it’s appropriate to review trends in recent years and make some predictions for 2013. The U.S. Energy Information Administration provides a wealth of […]