The general aviation (GA) community is united in responding to the government’s exploration of alternatives for 100 low lead fuel, according to officials with the National Business Aviation Association.
NBAA is part of a coalition of GA and petroleum industry stakeholders that seeks to address concerns about cost, availability and ease of production. Steve Brown, NBAA senior vice president of operations & administration, and Rob Hackman, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association vice president of government relations, talk about the progress the group is making in a recent episode of the NBAA Flight Plan podcast. Listen anytime online at: NBAA.org/flightplan
Reader Misegades just nailed it. Lead free premium gas already exists in the world and it suits the needs of most small aircraft owners just fine. For years airports had one tank for 100LL and a tank for 80 octane. If and when the higher octane stuff hits the market, those folks with the complicated engines can have their own tank. In the mean time there is an immediate solution for the rest of us if ethanol can be taken out of the mix.
The title should read “GA Alphabet Group Leader are United”; pilots and aircraft owners are not. The alphabets are focused on finding a fuel for aircraft that need 100 octane solutions. They don’t want a sub-octane unleaded fuel that requires expensive modifications to the engines or airframes. What they completely ignore however is the fact that 70% – 80% of all piston engine aircraft and nearly 100% of all new LSAs run just fine on 91 Octane (Premium) ethanol-free Mogas, and these aircraft currently use around 50% of all 100LL. If the alphabets would put as much energy into getting this fuel onto our airfields, they would really help GA, especially all of us who pay our own bills, i.e. non-commercial, the majority of airplanes based at most airport. If 50% of the fuel sold was Mogas, it would not only make a dramatic reduction in the use of leaded fuel (taking the heat off those who seek an alternative 100 octane fuel) but it would also dramatically reduce the cost to fly, train, own aircraft, etc.