SANTA CLARA COUNTY, California — The FAA has invited Santa Clara County-owned and operated Reid-Hillview Airport (KRHV) and San Martin Airport (E16) to participate in a project to study best practices for transitioning airports nationwide to unleaded aviation fuel.
The invitation is part of a memorandum of understanding that the county signed with the FAA on Feb. 7, 2023, that suspended an ongoing FAA investigation into alleged grant violations at the two airports, county officials said, noting the memorandum also “sets forth a framework for participation in the demonstration project.”
Santa Clara County banned 100LL at its two airports in January 2022.
Reid-Hillview Airport and San Martin Airport are the only general aviation airports in the country to transition to the exclusive sale of unleaded avgas, according to county officials. Both airports now exclusively carry 94-octane unleaded avgas and jet fuel, and expect to be among the first in the nation to sell 100-octane unleaded avgas when it becomes available this year.
Officials with General Aviation Modifications Inc. (GAMI) targeted the West Coast — and specifically Santa Clara County — as the first place they want to sell their recently approved unleaded avgas, G100UL. To use the unleaded avgas, aircraft owners will have to buy an STC, which costs about the same as a tank of fuel.
“Despite the unavailability of leaded avgas for sale at the airports since January 2022, the number of general aviation operations and aircraft based at the airports have remained constant,” Santa Clara County officials said in a press release. “The county is unaware of any safety incidents caused by the unavailability of leaded avgas for purchase since the transition.”
GA advocates, however, say that there has been at least one accident blamed on fuel exhaustion they believe is related to a lack of appropriate fuel at Reid-Hillview.
The county’s ban on 100LL also increases the potential for misfueling, which has been reported to have occurred, and can cause catastrophic engine failure, GA advocates noted.
The Transition to Unleaded Fuel
The demonstration project will study airports around the country in various stages of transition to unleaded aviation gas to better understand how airports can implement the change in a safe and efficient manner.
Conducted by the Airport Cooperative Research Program, sponsored by the FAA and managed by the Transportation Research Board, the project will “provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities for airports and identify best practices, guidelines, and tools to help individual airports across the nation effect the transition” to unleaded fuel, according to Santa Clara County officials.
It is expected to begin in 2023.
“Once the scope of the demonstration project and the county’s obligations are known, the county will decide whether to accept this invitation” to be part of the project, they added.
“When the county banned the sale of leaded aviation gas at our airports, we did so to protect the health of those who live in our community, especially children, who have been unjustly exposed to harmful pollution for decades,” said County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who represents the area surrounding Reid-Hillview Airport. “We would welcome the opportunity to showcase what we have done here in Santa Clara County, which can and should be replicated across the country.”
FAA Investigation Suspended
The memorandum of understanding between the FAA and county also suspends for six months an FAA investigation that alleges violations of grant assurances the county made to the FAA as a condition of accepting federal grant money.
The investigation, which the FAA initiated in December 2021, under the FAR Part 13 regulation governing FAA enforcement of federal airport requirements, cited the county’s “failure to address a significant number of significant safety concerns” at its airports.
According to GA advocates, while it has been more than a year since the FAA initiated that investigation, the county has taken no action to mitigate the problems.
The new memorandum gives the county 60 days to develop an action plan to “meet the parties’ common goal of operating the county airports in a safe condition.”
“The county and the FAA both want the county’s airports operating in the safest and most efficient manner, which includes eliminating the threat of lead exposure,” said County Counsel James R. Williams. “We look forward to working towards these shared goals with the FAA in a more collaborative fashion.”
The MOU does not affect a complaint filed with the FAA by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) alleging grant violations relating to the county’s 100LL ban.
“It appears that Santa Clara County officials have finally agreed they are not following FAA safety rules, and are now willing to help the airport meet its required obligations and prepare the airport for the future, which will include unleaded aviation gasoline,” said AOPA President Mark Baker. “It’s just unfortunate that it has come to this. While no compromise is perfect, this agreement seems to indicate that resources will finally be spent to improve safety at these airports.”
Seems to me that banning 100LL before a suitable replacement “is available” at the field is a recipe for disaster. To me it’s typical California politics. Next they’ll want to ban gasoline car sales in the state and have everyone buy electric cars, even though most of the population can’t afford one. Then, they’ll tell you not to charge your electric car because the grid can’t handle it. Oh wait, that already happened!!!
I hope they have UL94 and UL100 side by side to see how they would sell when the consumer has a choice. There might just be a large price difference.
A decade ago at the request of a group of aircraft owners based at this airport, I helped them prepare to move to lead-free mogas. From information on all piston aircraft based there, we determined that inexpensive Mogas STC existed for well over 70% of these aircraft. I also helped them find a supplier of ethanol-free, higher-octane mogas, a challenge on the west coast due to its extreme policies pushing ethanol-laced automotive fuels. I also helped them find a supplier of low cost, self-service fuel system. I urged them to fund this privately, knowing that the airport authorities would probably not provide funding. I did all this voluntarily, received no compensation nor sought any. As far as I know, this all went nowhere, and now we see the consequences. As long as airports are owned by government, they will pull us over a barrel to do the bidding of non-flying bureaucrats, joined at the hip with environmental extremists and their crony business friends.