Rochelle Municipal Airport-Koritz Field (KRPJ) has become the first general aviation airport in Illinois to sell Swift Fuel’s unleaded UL94 aviation gasoline for its piston aircraft customers.
“With a solid portion of the traffic at the airport being piston-engine aircraft, we were not only seeking a cleaner, more environmentally-friendly alternative to 100LL, we also needed a more resilient option than recreational autogas,” said Michael Hudetz, airport manager. “With Swift Fuels’ UL94 being commercially available nationwide, we recognized that we had an opportunity to offer our pilots the best unleaded option in the market today.”
Hudetz listed the benefits of the unleaded avgas, including: “UL94 eliminates lead-fouled sparkplugs, allows longer oil change maintenance intervals than 100LL, and UL94 avgas has a 10-15 times longer shelf life than autogas.”
“Also, since it has a low RVP year-round, we no longer must concern ourselves with seasonal vapor pressure fluctuations that can cause vapor lock in aircraft, so our pilots will love flying it year-round and come back for more,” he continued. “We’re extremely proud to be the first airport in Illinois to join the progressive nationwide movement toward unleaded avgas.”
“We continue to work with regulators, aircraft and engine OEMs, pilots, airports, municipalities, airport boards and supply chain folks as a part of a multi-year initiative to educate the market on the key benefits of unleaded avgas,” said Swift Fuels CEO Chris D’Acosta. “The industry leaders like Mike Hudetz at Rochelle recognize the growing demand for cleaner fuel for their customers, and such forward-thinkers continue to play an integral role in the transition. We recognized early on that pilots would value the longer maintenance intervals, less wear-and-tear on engines, less corrosion, longer sparkplug life, etc. We are extremely proud to have our UL94 avgas available for piston aircraft use at Rochelle.”
Swift Fuel’s unleaded UL94 Avgas is sold nationwide. More than 100,000 aircraft are already FAA authorized to use the UL94 avgas as a “drop-in ready” fuel.
Company officials noted that UL94 is not a full replacement for 100LL, so only those aircraft with engine and airframes requiring 94 motor-octane fuels or lower are compatible, which represents 65% of the U.S. piston fleet.