Why are these planes still using toxic fuel?

WDD said:
And yes, I'm in the camp of "why are they still using lead?" - can't we get 100 octane some other way?
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It isn't 100 octane that is holding this up. It's having 0% liability from the change. It's same reason your engine is still a design from the 1930s and needs lead to operate.
 
Fracpilot said:
“Approximately one-quarter of the piston-engine fleet are estimated to “consume more than half of all avgas,”

I love when the obvious becomes journalistic reporting. No ****, that piston airplanes consume more than half of the Avgas....becauuuuse it’s for airplanes! Duh!

This terribly written article uses a lot of fractions and percentages to make a point. I’m sure it’s more than 1/4 of the piston engine fleet consuming more than 1/2 of all avgas. You cant tell me 75% of the piston fleet runs on mogas or jet a.

This was another trash article with zero substance.


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Assuming his facts were right, his point makes sense. What he was saying that some piston planes fly a lot more than other piston planes 80/20 rule. Think plane used for instruction that flies 100 hours a month vs a personally owned plane that does 50 hours a year. That falls into the no **** sherlock zone, but does make factual sense. What that has to do with any point in the article escapes me.
 
A marketing trick. You make it seem like you have a lot of gravitas in making your point by showing off with lots of stern facts that are true. One will agree the facts are true and then emotionally accept the entire argument. What needs to happen is the critical reasoning of “fact A is true - but that doesn’t or does support hypothesis/argument XYZ”.
 
Fracpilot said:
“Approximately one-quarter of the piston-engine fleet are estimated to “consume more than half of all avgas,”

I love when the obvious becomes journalistic reporting. No ****, that piston airplanes consume more than half of the Avgas....becauuuuse it’s for airplanes! Duh!

This terribly written article uses a lot of fractions and percentages to make a point. I’m sure it’s more than 1/4 of the piston engine fleet consuming more than 1/2 of all avgas. You cant tell me 75% of the piston fleet runs on mogas or jet a.

This was another trash article with zero substance.


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I think you're misinterpreting that statement. It doesn't tell us how much of the avgas is consumed by the piston-engine fleet (which is probably 100%), it tells us that some piston-engine aircraft consume more of the avgas than other piston-engine aircraft.

The explanation I've heard for this is that the higher-consuming engines are likely to have higher compression ratios which can't be run on lower octane fuel. Judging by how few airports have auto gas readily available, I doubt that the percentage that are running on mogas is significant. As for jet A being used in piston aircraft, I don't know whether diesel engines can do that, but I think diesel engines in aircraft are still pretty rare.
 
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Palmpilot said:
I think you're misinterpreting that statement. It doesn't tell us how much of the avgas is consumed by the piston-engine fleet (which is probably 100%), it tells us that some piston-engine aircraft consume more of the avgas than other piston-engine aircraft.

The explanation I've heard for this is that the higher-consuming engines are likely to have higher compression ratios which can't be run on lower octane fuel. Judging by how few airports have auto gas readily available, I doubt that the percentage that are running on mogas is significant. As for jet A being used in piston aircraft, I don't know whether diesel engines can do that, but I think diesel engines in aircraft are still pretty rare.
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No, not 100% of 100LL is used in aircraft. I’ve seen it bought for use in race cars and chainsaws. The number is probably above 99% though.
 
It should be telling that the STC for quite a few engines is the installation of a couple of placards.

When you have to an engine rebuild, you should ask about choosing valves and such that are UL Mogas compliant. Then you're ready.
 
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