The future of avgas has been a hot topic for almost 20 years. I recently reviewed some of my past columns and found that I was not too far off in some of my past predictions, but I thought I would try to update them with a touch of reality. The recent Super Bowl reminded […]
avgas
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 […]
Swift Fuels inks deal with German firm
Swift Fuels, an Indiana company that is developing a replacement for 100LL, has inked a deal that will allow a German firm to develop and sell 100SF in Europe. The transaction allows Zweibrücken, Germany-based Swift Fuel GmbH to license Swift Fuel’s intellectual property and technical expertise. In return Swift Fuels has acquired a 50% stake […]
Innovations: Fill ‘er up
Michael Kilcher, a snowbird pilot who splits his time between Winter Haven, Florida, and Old Forge, N.Y., came up with his own solution for refueling his airplane. “Back in the early 2000s I owned and flew a Skyhawk about 200 hours per year,” he said. “I purchased a Petersen STC for it so I could […]
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 […]