About a month ago, we heard from our airport's fueling service that they were officially going to be selling Swift Fuel's UL94 Avgas. With environmental lead contamination being Exhibit A in recent efforts to shut down nearby RHV, we wasted no time in moving as much of our fleet as possible to UL94, which we did starting last weekend.
As an extra precaution, we had an initial trial run in just a few of our planes to make sure this fuel wouldn't cause the same problems that mogas would cause. That trial period lasted about a week and went without issue, which was expected as UL94 is proper avgas and not just high octane mogas. Even at the same octane rating, avgas and mogas are formulated differently, with avgas being more stable and less prone to vapor lock. Swift Fuels avgas website goes into more detail on this subject in their FAQ section.
Currently, we're running UL94 in all our 152s, 172s, and Archer. Some of our 182s are also running it.
As far as what other planes can run it, it depends, but most of them. Aircraft originally certified for 80/87 avgas, such as our 182P, can run it without the STC. Many aircraft engines are already type certified for avgas in the low-mid 90s octane range, its just that the aircraft they are bolted onto are only certified for 100LL, hence the STC that requires no real modification to the aircraft or engine. Swift fuel's avgas website has a compatibility listing. Right now it seems like the biggest gap in compatibility is with turbocharged engines.
Each STC from Swift cost us a flat $100 per plane, and was literally just a set of placards and some paperwork. Even though no practical modification to the aircraft was required, it is still considered a major alteration to install, and thus required a Form 337 (which they included mostly pre-filled out, though our IA insisted on filling it out himself). The STC is being sold as a "Forever" STC, which means that it will also apply to any other avgas they produce, specifically the unleaded 100 octane avgas that they are working on getting approval for, at no extra fee, though there will be another 337 to go along with the updated placards.
At our airport, UL94 is currently being sold for about $0.10 less per gallon than 100LL. This is due in part to the county not adding a flowage fee to the sale of UL94 while it remains less popular overall than 100LL, at which point the fee will swap from 100LL to UL94. We are anticipating that UL94 will become slightly mor
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Japan used biobutanol as a substitute for oil based fuel in their aircraft in late WW2 period. Knock resistance was extremely important in aviation fuels of the day to achieve the high power needed in air combat, especially in fighter planes. How does butanol compare to different octane level aviation gasolines of the day?
Can the loose change be converted to cash cards or should I just use them as tinder? I guess it doesn't matter since cash cards are plentiful anyway just curious.
On discount cards, are they consumed on use? Wasn't sure if there was any reason for me to keep gold gas discount cards over a platinum one or whether I should keep multiples, haven't tried it yet at a pump.
Is avgas just another alternate fuel source? All the aircrafts I've seen use JP8 but I've found like 3 steel drums of the stuff, thanks.
I really just need to learn as much as possible about Rotax engines, and how easy they are to maintain/manage from an owner/operator standpoint. I am in the market to buy a plane, and most planes I am interested have a Rotax engine. First time buyer/owner here.
Can the average maintenance shop work on a 912? What things are unique from an owner's perspective? Can I actually not run avgas? What do you do to bring in mogas short of a permanent hangar storage solution? What are the main differences between a Rotax and an 0-200 or O-360? Are they hard to fly?
Free plane ride for the best advice.
I'm a line op, and my brother recently asked me if I could aquire avgas for his racing vehicles. My manager told me we most certainly could not, and I'm looking for any kind of regulation to back that up. To be clear, I'm not trying to give him the gas in the first place, I just want to be able to cite a reason to tell him no.
Like half the sump do-hickey was full. I never sump anyway cos what I dont know won't hurt me amirite! Lol anyway not like i care about proper procedure or regulations, but how much water can the gas take before the engine full on quits is what I wanna know?
Just what the title says. Was just reviewing my old Jepp book where they talk about the 'other' aviation fuels and colors. I just realized I've never seen anything but 100LL.
If you have seen anything besides 100LL where did you see it and how long ago did you see it.
I'm not really curious about MoGas as much as 80/87,100/130 and 115/145.
Earlier today (maybe 3 hours ago) I had to fill up (C150) before flying. Long story short the tanks overflowed and avgas flowed off the leading edge of the wing and straight on my pants and crotch (it was about a third of a gallon I’d say).
Went flying expecting it to evaporate and came home and showered. The whole time while in the air the skin was irritated, almost like a minor sunburn. Are there any other things I can do? I don’t want to mess with lead poisoning or anything like that. Especially between my legs.
Has anyone tried running avgas (aviation fuel) through their Ruckus? Asking for a friend.
