![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mark-Baker-1-2-1024x683.jpg\")
\u201cI\u2019m proud of GAMI, the industry team, and the FAA for\npersevering over the long term and getting a fuel that the FAA has recognized\nas a viable alternative to low lead,\u201d AOPA President Mark Baker said. \u201cIt\u2019s\nvital that we find solutions to what has been plaguing general aviation since\nthe seventies. It\u2019s certainly the biggest issue I have dealt with in my time at\nAOPA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a big deal,\u201d Baker added, \u201cbut there is a lot of\nwork yet to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021 the FAA approved STCs for GAMI covering a smaller number\nof Cessna 172 engines and airframes, and then expanded those STC approved model\nlist (AML) to include essentially all lower-compression engines. Though that\nwas seen as an encouraging step forward in the years-long path to supply\nunleaded aviation fuel to the piston aircraft fleet, the STC\u2019s did not include\naircraft needing the higher-octane fuel that accounts for two-thirds of avgas\nconsumption. Today\u2019s announcement by the FAA addresses the needs of those\nhigher-compression engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GAMI co-founder George Braly said, \u201cThis is a big day for\nthe industry. It means that for a lot of our general aviation communities, and\nespecially for a high fraction on the West Coast, relief is on the way. And it\nmeans that our industry will be able to go into the future and prosper, and\nprovide the essential infrastructure for this country for everything from Angel\nFlights to critical training of our future airline pilots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Braly thanked the GA community for its support through this\nlong process. \u201cWithout it we couldn\u2019t have gotten this done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GAMI\u2019s Braly has said that Ann Arbor, Michigan-based fuel\nsupplier AvFuel is standing by to manage the logistics and distribution of\nG100UL, and said he is open to partnerships. \u201cOur arrangement is that any\nqualified refiner or blender of existing aviation fuels will be eligible to\nproduce and sell it subject to the quality assurance requirements that the FAA\nhas approved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The timing for when G100UL will reach airports is still\nuncertain. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a while to manage the infrastructure including\nmanufacturing and distribution,” Braly said. The supply chain \u201cis still a\nvery wounded infrastructure and that\u2019s not going to make the process any\neasier, but we have a handle on how to do this, and with the support of the\nmajor players I think we can do that. It\u2019s going to be limited to begin with,\nbut it can be ramped up rapidly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baker said it\u2019s important to get any fuels approved for use\nto the California market as soon as practical, in light of the fact that some\nmunicipalities have prematurely banned the sale of leaded avgas and threatened\na safe and smart transition to unleaded. \u201cIt is a politically charged issue\nthere, and this will help keep our airports open with fuel that works with all\naircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the cost of the fuel has not been determined, Braly said the small batch production process that will initially earmark the arrival of G100UL at airports means that the fuel will cost slightly more than leaded avgas. \u201cSmall volume batches cost money,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil we can get revved up that we\u2019re making millions of gallons at a time, there will be an incremental [additional] cost,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be unreasonable,\u201d Braly added. \u201cPilots in\nAmerica will not be paying what they\u2019re paying for avgas in Europe today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owners can also expect to see engines that operate more\nefficiently. \u201cI think the days of cleaning spark plugs every 50 hours are going\nto be behind us for good,\u201d Braly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swift Fuels Inc., an Indiana based company, has received FAA\napproval for its 94-octane unleaded fuel, and has expanded its distribution,\nparticularly to the West Coast. Swift Fuels\u2019 94-octane fuel meets some, but not\nall, of the demand of aircraft with lower-compression engines. The company is\ndeveloping a 100R unleaded fuel with more than 10 percent renewable content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, two fuel candidates are currently in the PAFI\ntesting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All fuel manufacturers continue to be encouraged to follow\nthrough with their own formulations, Baker said. \u201cWe\u2019d like to see several\nfuels available that all work together and blend together. Competition is\nalways a good thing for the markets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The FAA has signed off on supplemental type certificates to allow General Aviation Modifications Inc.\u2019s 100-octane unleaded fuel (G100UL) to be used in every general spark-ignition engine and every airframe powered by those engines. The move was hailed by the industry as a major step in the transition to an unleaded GA future. The FAA\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23351","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=23351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23353,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23351\/revisions\/23353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}