{"id":23021,"date":"2022-08-01T22:57:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T22:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=23021"},"modified":"2022-08-01T22:57:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T22:57:30","slug":"und-aerospace-to-get-the-lead-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/north-dakota\/und-aerospace-to-get-the-lead-out\/%20","title":{"rendered":"UND Aerospace to Get the Lead Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – UND\u2019s fleet of aircraft is seen gathered at the University\u2019s location at Grand Forks International Airport. Photo by UND Aerospace. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the coming weeks, UND Aerospace<\/a> will be the largest public flight school in the nation to fully switch to unleaded avgas or aviation gasoline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fuel is called UL94 and is produced by Swift Fuels, a\nWest Lafayette, Ind.-based research-and-design firm that develops fuel process\ntechnology and makes high-performance fuels. Swift Fuels is the sole producer\nof UL94 unleaded avgas, which will be used at UND in place of 100 octane Low\nLead fuel, also known as 100LL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaded fuel is currently being used by airports and\nflight schools across the country. Switching to unleaded avgas will help UND\nsave money through reduced aircraft-maintenance costs, and is a \u201cgreener,\u201d\ncleaner fuel than the existing legacy avgas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting because we are looking at the future of\ngeneral aviation,\u201d said Robert Kraus, dean of the John D. Odegard School of\nAerospace Sciences. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at where we are going and how we are going\nto get there. Then we are looking at general aviation training and collegiate\naviation programs. All of those are going to be affected by this in the long\nrun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris D\u2019Acosta, CEO of Swift Fuels LLC, said UND\u2019s entire\nfleet of 100 aircraft are compatible with UL94. He said the agreement to supply\nUND with a fuel that reduces maintenance costs is a \u201cwin-win\u201d situation.\nEliminating lead exhaust emissions adds another dimension to that situation:\n\u201cLet\u2019s call it a win-win-win,\u201d D\u2019Acosta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSwift Fuels is very pleased to be working with Dean Robert\nKraus and the entire aerospace team from UND to bring about the benefits of our\npremium unleaded aviation gasoline,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019Acosta said using UL94 can significantly improve\nmaintenance costs for UND aircraft, which will lead to improved productivity of\nstudent-pilots and flight instructors. Using 100LL means an aircraft engine\nmust be serviced every 50 hours; in contrast, the unleaded avgas produced by\nSwift Fuels does not foul the engine with lead deposits. Additional maintenance\nbenefits include doubling oil change intervals, reducing the frequency of\nsparkplug replacements and reducing incidents of mechanical issues and delays\n(from fouled spark plugs, for example) that might otherwise interrupt a flight\ntraining schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Kasowski, manager of flight support services at UND,\nagreed with the maintenance benefits of using UL94. In 2021, UND technicians\ncarried out more than 1,300 aircraft inspections, as part of a regular\nmaintenance rotation. The new unleaded fuel can extend the interval period\nbetween those inspections by up to 25%, reducing the number of inspections by\nmore than 270 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each inspection can take between 10-to-20-man hours to\nperform, which keeps the aircraft off the flight line for up to two days.\nKasowski said the increased efficiency can save UND a \u201ctremendous amount\u201d of\nmoney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to reduce the downtime and reduce inspection\ntime in the life of an airplane while still maintaining safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, 100LL is the most widely used avgas, but steps\nare being taken to look for cleaner fuels. D\u2019Acosta lauded Kimberly Kenville,\nUND aviation professor, for her leadership in helping the aerospace industry\nfind alternatives to 100LL. Kenville was among a group of scholars who sat on\nthe Committee on Lead Emissions from Piston-Powered General Aviation Aircraft.\nIn a project with the National Academy of Sciences, the committee compiled a\ncongressionally mandated report titled \u201cOptions for Reducing Lead Emissions\nfrom Piston-Engine Aircraft\u201d in early 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report noted that 100LL can be used in all kinds of\npiston-engine aircraft because of its high-octane rating, thus it is\nconsistently available. UL94 is the only unleaded fuel that can be used in the\nkinds of aircraft that make up UND\u2019s fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the use of lead was disallowed in automotive gasoline\nin 1996, leaded avgas has become the leading source of lead pollution in the\nnation. The report observes that lead is a highly toxic substance and that\n\u201cthere is no known safe level of lead in blood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kraus said that switching to an unleaded avgas makes UND a\nleader in pilot training both in terms of environmental stewardship, as well as\ncost-efficient operations of training aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s moving forward as a fleet to become more\nenvironmentally conscious,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to continue leading collegiate\naviation programs in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – UND\u2019s fleet of aircraft is seen gathered at the University\u2019s location at Grand Forks International Airport. Photo by UND Aerospace. In the coming weeks, UND Aerospace will be the largest public flight school in the nation to fully switch to unleaded avgas or aviation gasoline. The fuel is called UL94 and is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-north-dakota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/UND-Aviation-fleet-2021.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23023,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23021\/revisions\/23023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}