Any time I write about 100LL avgas, readers remind me that ethanol-free mogas could meet their needs, if only somebody would make it available at their airport.
Where commenters see an obstacle, I see an opportunity.
I guess it just depends on your perspective.
If you’d like to burn mogas in your airplane, but it isn’t available at your airport, why don’t you be the one to make it available at your airport?
I believe it is possible to do. And while the checklist will likely be long, it will also be finite.
A few items pop into my head right from the start:
- Find other aircraft owners on your airport who would also like to use mogas.
- Find a tank or truck to use. Don’t buy anything yet, just find it. I’d be willing to bet there are both new and used options.
- Find the local mogas distributor and ask for tips, tricks, or suggestions.
- Talk with the airport owner or sponsor.
- Research state, county, and local regulations and codes.
- Talk with the local fire marshal.
If you think you can’t self-fuel with mogas at your grant-obligated airport, think again.
“The sponsor of a federally obligated airport must permit airport aeronautical users, including air carriers, the right to self-service and to use any of the airport’s Fixed-Base Operators (FBOs),” states the FAA’s Airport Compliance Manual – Order 5190.6C – Airports.
“The right to self-service” includes, but is not limited to, “maintenance, repair, and self-fueling.”
Of course, it isn’t as easy as buying the aforementioned tank and calling a fuel distributor.
While it may seem a daunting task, years ago, Cirrus Aircraft Co-Founder Alan Klapmeier explained aircraft certification to me in a way that stuck. As I remember it, his point was that certification involves satisfying requirements throughout a process. Complete that work and certification follows. Certification is not subject to a final subjective call, it is the culmination of a completed and finite list of tasks.
A fuel partnership or co-op or club or (insert organizational structure here) deserves that same practical examination.
What else may be required beyond my short, top-of-the-mind, list? If you know, let me know so I can share it with our readers.
Just like the variety of ways a flying club can be organized, there are likely multiple ways to work together to pump mogas into your airplane at your home airport.
Caveat: I’m thinking of personal use in this example. Mogas that I and others in this thought exercise can use. Not sell to others.
Making mogas available for sale is a different chapter, but likely part of the same book.
If you’ve already done the work it takes to make mogas (or any aviation fuel) available for your own use at your airport, I’d like to hear from you. We can share what made you successful with others looking to do something similar.
Mogas could be available at your airport. And you could be the one to make it happen.
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