OneCharlieTango
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OneCharlieTango
Availability at the pump.Please tell me what good qualities lead provides that UL doesn’t?
Availability at the pump.Please tell me what good qualities lead provides that UL doesn’t?
Availability at the pump.
This thread has me thinking, we need to bring asbestos building materials and lawn darts back! Freedom!
The issue is, many Type Certificates specify Aviation Gasoline or a fuel that meets ASTM D910.Double like. It’s not a mix of proprietary chemicals. It’s a patented blend of existing known and available chemicals that they found to meet the performance requirements. I’m surprised it took so long on the science and engineering end, but not surprised from the administrative end (patents, approvals, politics, etc.).
What’s all the fuss about ASTM? I haven’t really looked into that aspect, so I am unintelligent at the moment.
The crux of the problem now, with the new FAA reauthorization bill mandating 100LL until an ASTM replacement is available, is that there may be no ASTM-compliant 100UL fuel possible. That was what GAMI finally realized when they formulated their fuel. Instead of trying to force the square peg in the round hole, GAMI came at the solution another way. So now we have a drop-in fuel chemistry available, but for paperwork barriers. Meanwhile, when will the clock run out on bulk TEL manufacture?
What prevents some kind of movement now? It’s been approved for a year and GAMI have done nothing but whine since.View attachment 119532
I'd say you whacked the nail on the head.
I wonder, if we defunded EAGLE so there wasn't a free rice bowl anymore, whether we'd see more movement on G100UL. Right now, the fuel companies have no business reason to begin producing it, not while the USG is giving them science project money.
What prevents some kind of movement now? It’s been approved for a year and GAMI have done nothing but whine since.
yabut, the real question is what private party is/are invested in the stonewalling of 100UL avgas. IOW, who lobbied for EAGLE?
yabut, the real question is what private party is/are invested in the stonewalling of 100UL avgas. IOW, who lobbied for EAGLE?
I dug into this and maybe you can expand? ASTM D910 is the spec for leaded avgas. Every allowable octane must include lead. Conversely, no unleaded gas can meet the spec. Table 1. True?The issue is, many Type Certificates specify Aviation Gasoline or a fuel that meets ASTM D910.
So if it is meets an ASTM Aviation Gasoline Spec, you can just use it. Without that, you need some other approval, such as the STC required for G100UL.
The problem with the other UL fuels is trying to meet D910 and have the detonation resistance required. Plus needing to be fully compatible with 100LL, including in various mixtures.
As I understand it GAMI didn’t like the ASTM process as the ASTM people started “leaking” proprietary information to other parties. Not that it surprised me.I dug into this and maybe you can expand? ASTM D910 is the spec for leaded avgas. Every allowable octane must include lead. Conversely, no unleaded gas can meet the spec. Table 1. True?
Seems like the GAMI fix is to get ASTM to push a new rev of D910 that includes their fuel and methods since they have proven it is aviation compatible across all aviation piston engines. Yes, sometimes changing the standard is the easy route. Last revised in 2021 from what I can see.
Have you read the actual language in the bill?The crux of the problem now, with the new FAA reauthorization bill mandating 100LL until an ASTM replacement is available, is that there may be no ASTM-compliant 100UL fuel possible. That was what GAMI finally realized when they formulated their fuel. Instead of trying to force the square peg in the round hole, GAMI came at the solution another way. So now we have a drop-in fuel chemistry available, but for paperwork barriers. Meanwhile, when will the clock run out on bulk TEL manufacture?
Very few airports are going to be able to afford the addition of a second fuel farm to offer G100UL if federal law requires them to maintain 100LL availability until an ASTM-compliant fuel is available. So there is virtually no path to wider adoption and volume pricing. So we have a viable solution ready to go, but for clinging to an ASTM standard that may not be necessary and is very possibly unattainable. So the future supply of 100 octane avgas remains under the dual threat of environmental safety and manufacturing liability/viability concerns.What prevents some kind of movement now? It’s been approved for a year and GAMI have done nothing but whine since.
The amended legislation requires a "widely available" "industry consensus standard" unleaded fuel to allow replacement of 100LL, which is de facto currently an ASTM requirement. Legislators confirm that the intent is that fuels requiring an STC would not qualify. So the legislation, which (laudably) prevents airports from withholding 100LL fuel without a suitable replacement, the "suitable replacement" requirement stifles innovation and immediate progress.Have you read the actual language in the bill?
It was posted on BT and it does not say ASTM replacement. It says Aviation Fuel, but the text also defines Aviation Fuel to be any fuel that pays the avgas taxes.
It looks more like it requires airport to continue to have fuel available to cover all aircraft that were covered in 2018 at that same airport.
"Very few" isn't "none." Swift 94UL is at 30-some airports today. If they can do it, why can't GAMI?Very few airports are going to be able to afford the addition of a second fuel farm to offer G100UL if federal law requires them to maintain 100LL availability until an ASTM-compliant fuel is available. So there is virtually no path to wider adoption and volume pricing. So we have a viable solution ready to go, but for clinging to an ASTM standard that may not be necessary and is very possibly unattainable. So the future supply of 100 octane avgas remains under the dual threat of environmental safety and manufacturing liability/viability concerns.
Exact words pleaseThe amended legislation requires a "widely available" "industry consensus standard" unleaded fuel to allow replacement of 100LL, which is de facto currently an ASTM requirement. Legislators confirm that the intent is that fuels requiring an STC would not qualify. So the legislation, which (laudably) prevents airports from withholding 100LL fuel without a suitable replacement, the "suitable replacement" requirement stifles innovation and immediate progress.
I'm not finding the term "industry consensus" in your text above (happy if it's not there). Link to complete source, please. (or maybe I missed it earlier in this thread)Exact words please
"
SEC. 431. CONTINUED AVAILABILITY OF AVIATION GASOLINE.
(a) In General.—The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall ensure that any of such varieties of aviation gasoline as may be necessary to fuel any model of piston-engine aircraft remain available for purchase at each airport listed on the national plan of integrated airport systems (as described in section 47103 of title 49, United States Code) at which aviation gasoline was available for purchase as of October 5, 2018.
If /when we see G100UL, it'll likely be at smaller airports that aren't bound by grant obligations. Those airports will also tend to have a higher percentage of older engines that don't like 100LL.Very few airports are going to be able to afford the addition of a second fuel farm to offer G100UL if federal law requires them to maintain 100LL availability...
Which makes no sense considering how little 100LL makes up of total sales.very informative video on the history of this kerfuffle. If I understood his theory of the case correctly, he argues the stonewalling source is oil companies hiding behind ASTM to not upset the status quo of their 100LL sales. Did I get the gist of his accusation right?
There’s a lot of contradictory talk. On one hand, it’s too small of a market to worry about. On the other, the margin is so fat that the oil companies will do anything to protect it.Which makes no sense considering how little 100LL makes up of total sales.
Let's REALLY stir things up.
I do science for a living, successfully, and I have read all the reports and even checked the math and other data.
The is NO lead pollution from 100LL piston powered aircraft. The studies done by the EPA and the FAA both indicate that airborne lead pollution in and around airports is BELOW the acceptable national level. To quote from the report: https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P100YG46.pdf
"For the vast majority of airports, these small areas with lead concentrations
potentially above the air standard are within the fence line of the airport and not accessible to
the public, in all but a few instances. Lead levels dissipate quickly with distance from piston-
engine aircraft exhaust. Thus, within 50 meters of the high concentration area, lead levels were
uniformly below the lead air standard."
Once lead is in the ground, at these low levels, it's no longer a problem. Not anywhere near the levels found in mining debris and lead smelting plants, which NO ONE ever talks about.
So, we are spending a crap ton of tax payer money, chasing a problem that doesn't exist, so someone can create a product that we don't need, but will probably, according to industy estimates, will cost us 2 or 3 dollars a gallon more than 100LL.
If you want to argue, show me facts, no some egg sucking politicians, or chest beating climate change whiners opinion.
Can you tell I had to cancel today's flight due to too much predicted vertical development?
There will only be one of these manufacturers approved as a 100LL replacement. None of them want part of the business. The sales of 100LL are very small compared to all fuel sales in the US, so nobody wants a fraction of the sales. They are not working together and none of their fuels are compatible with the others. They are all compatible with 100LL. You will not have to worry about mixing the approved fuel with 100LL at any ratio.
I covered the EAGLE forum at Oshkosh this year. I was just there to take photos, but as a pilot I was also interested. It was a good discussion with the FAA, EAA, GAMA, all four possible fuel manufacturers, and more.
Here is what I understood, from my perspective of course. I was working for EAA, but only as a photographer, so this is only my personal view.
Here are the four companies/teams working on a solution:
Afton Chemical-Phillips 66 - PAFI process
VP Racing - PAFI process
Swift - STC ($100 one-time)
GAMI - STC (Price will be based on engines and horsepower, similar to the pricing for other fuel STCs.)
All four of the companies above made speeches. I thought that George Braly of GAMI wasn't very professional and sounded like a conspiracy theorist, stating multiple times that any bad information out there was made up by his competitors.
There will only be one of these manufacturers approved as a 100LL replacement. None of them want part of the business. The sales of 100LL are very small compared to all fuel sales in the US, so nobody wants a fraction of the sales. They are not working together and none of their fuels are compatible with the others. They are all compatible with 100LL. You will not have to worry about mixing the approved fuel with 100LL at any ratio.
Lirio Liu, Executive Director of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Aircraft Certification Service, said the FAA will insist all airports with 100LL now will continue to sell it until a replacement is in place. Of course this is only airports that have accepted federal funding. She specifically mentioned California.
They expect it to cost about the same as 100LL
They didn't have an answer on what color the new fuel will be and what color it will be when mixed with 100LL.
It will have a requirement to sit in aircraft for long periods of time, like 100LL.
2030 is the hard deadline, but the EPA told the FAA they would give them 7 years and let the FAA tell them when to start. The FAA chose 2023 because they feel they're ahead of schedule.
I'll take the time to watch the full video, but this is not the forum I heard him speak at.IMHO - I didn't see George speak to GAMI at EAA, but I think given all the work he's done and the FAA pulling the rug out from underneath him with EAGLE, I think we can give him some grace if he sounds like he thinks the politicians are not being on the up and up.
I'll take the time to watch the full video, but this is not the forum I heard him speak at.
Where I feel he seems bitter is when he says things like, "It's not yet available and that's largely because of the pushback that's been ongoing from some of your favorite alphabet groups and from the fuel distributors that don't want their existing business model disturbed." Was he promised that if he developed a fuel it would be accepted as a replacement for 100LL? It seems like they're doing it correctly by letting multiple companies compete and come up with the best product for us. If they accept his fuel, according to what I heard, none of the other manufacturers' fuels would be compatible, so he would own the market. How would this be fair to the rest of them? They were all given the same amount of time and testing requirements.
Also, he's one who wants and STC based on horsepower, it's on their website. So you develop a fuel, we all have to use it unless we want to use MoGas, but you'll force us to buy your STC even though it's supposed to be an equal replacement with no mods to our planes.
This is the first time I heard him mention that it's heavier than 100LL... I'm curious how much heavier.
I'm not convinced he has the correct solution to the market. I'm also not convinced he doesn't! He's a very smart guy and a successful businessman, but he's up against some very large companies. We'll see what happens.
Yep. The Victim schtick is getting a bit old. Trashing the alphabet groups is pi**ing in the punch bowl. So far, I've gotten a lot more benefit from the groups than anyone has gotten from the GAMI STC.Where I feel he seems bitter is when he says things like, "It's not yet available and that's largely because of the pushback that's been ongoing from some of your favorite alphabet groups and from the fuel distributors that don't want their existing business model disturbed." Was he promised that if he developed a fuel it would be accepted as a replacement for 100LL?