General Aviation News

The bigger question

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In several of my previous columns, I have proposed that part of the problem with general aviation is the lack of new technology in piston-powered aircraft.

The fact that the engines are based on 1930s and 1940s technology means that many of today’s future pilots do not relate to their operating systems.

I proposed that manufacturers adapt technology from the automotive world to new aviation engines. I have received a lot of responses. The two most common are “Do you know how much that will cost?” and “Pilots prefer the old tried and proven engines.”

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Just the facts

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When I was young, I used to watch the TV series Dragnet. One of the famous lines from that series was “The facts, ma’am, just the facts.”

But today the question has become what are the facts and whose facts are correct?

When I watch the news, on almost every issue, one party will show facts and/or data showing their side and the other party will show just the opposite. So, which one is correct? Well kind of sort of both.

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The future of unleaded avgas

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In my January column I wrote that not all 100 octane fuels are the same. Now it has been reported that the 100UL avgas program has been more or less put on hold. The reasons given were technical problems and the change in administrations in Washington.

This begs the questions: “Why did the program go on in the first place?” and “Why would big oil companies put so much money into a program that may not go anywhere?”

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A challenge to the younger generation

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When I started in the fuels and lubes research business in 1967, a big part of my job was to monitor changes in automotive technology and the effect that these changes had on the fuels and lubricant requirements.

I remember the first emission control engines and their effect on temperature and operating conditions. I followed the technology through VW’s electronic fuel injection to electronic ignition, EGR, catalytic converters, and on and on.

The new technology worked very well, except for a few initial problems like when one of the manufacturers used aluminum connectors in its electronic ignition circuits. Just a small amount of corrosion increased the resistance and the engines died. But these gremlins were worked out and the new systems work very well.

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And you thought octane ratings were confusing

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In my January column, “All 100 octane fuels are not equal,” I explained some of the problems with assuming that an octane rating is an absolute number. One of the comments from that column concerned cetane rating for compression ignition — diesel cycle — engines.

In general, octane ratings and cetane ratings are more or less opposite. In other words, the higher the octane rating the lower the cetane rating and vice versa.

Although it is not a straight line relationship, it does follow a general trend. In octane rating we are measuring a fuel’s ability to limit auto-ignition, while the cetane rating is a measurement of a fuel’s quickness or ease to auto-ignite. [Read more…]

15 reasons why teaching Millenials to fly is tough

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Recently, a friend of mine was working on a Holly carburetor off his vintage car when his nephew stopped by. The nephew looked at the carburetor and asked “what does that thing do?”

The scary point here is that the nephew had just graduated from a technical school with a degree in auto mechanics!

If new auto mechanics don’t know what a carburetor is, then how difficult is it going to be to teach Millenials how to fly?

Alas, here is a list of some, but not all, of the problems with teaching them to become pilots. [Read more…]

All 100 octane fuels are not equal

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In the past few years, I have written a lot of columns about octane ratings. However,  the questions I receive indicate there is still a lot of confusion as to what the ratings systems are and their relationship to each other.

Many people do not realize that the octane rating of a fuel is not a physical property of the fuel, like specific gravity or pour point. It is a performance perimeter that gives a rating for the fuel under very tightly controlled lab conditions.

How that fuel will perform in the real world under a variety of conditions is another matter. [Read more…]

What oil is best for my plane this winter?

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At this time of year, pilots are wondering about winter oil and what is the best practice for their airplanes.

Many pilots are still confused about when, where — or even if — they should use a multigrade oil. They also wonder whether they can go back and forth without harming their engines. [Read more…]

The advantages of updated technology for general aviation

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In my past two columns I put forward the idea that for the future of general aviation, we need to update technology to meet the demands of a changing world. I would like to further that discussion and answer a few of the comments from readers.

The first step is to forget the 100 unleaded avgas program and go to a two fuel system. The two fuels would be very similar, with one being the present 100LL and the other being the same fuel only without the lead. It would have an octane of around 94 lean rating (call it 94UL) and would meet all of the other properties of 100LL.

Now I know there is the problem of FBOs needing two fuel systems. But many of them presently have two systems or sell mogas.

The advantages of the two fuels are very significant. [Read more…]

A wild idea

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In my last column “Standing still too long,” I wrote about the problem with general aviation not moving ahead technically. This resulted in a significant amount of feedback from readers.

The comments mostly centered around GA being too small a business to pay for new technologies, all GA aircraft are hand built, the fact that the FAA would never approve new technology, and the always present, “who will pay for it?”

This month I thought I would try to come up with a solution to all of these problems. [Read more…]

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