FAA Receives Unleaded Fuels Proposals

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FAA Receives Unleaded Fuels Proposals

July 10, 2014 - The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today it has received nine replacement fuel proposals from producers for further evaluation in the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI), an industry-government initiative designed to help the general aviation industry transition to an unleaded aviation gasoline (Afton Chemical Company, Avgas LLC, Shell, Swift Fuels and a consortium of BP, TOTAL and Hjelmco).

The FAA will now assess the viability of the candidate fuels to determine which fuels may be part of the first phase of laboratory testing at the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center. The goal is for government and industry to work together to have a new unleaded fuel by 2018.

"We’re committed to getting harmful lead out of general aviation fuel,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This work will benefit the environment and provide a safe and available fuel for our general aviation community.”

There are approximately 167,000 general aviation aircraft in the United States that rely on 100 low lead aviation gasoline for safe operation. It is the only remaining transportation fuel in the United States that contains the addition of lead, a toxic substance, to create the very high octane levels needed for high-performance aircraft. Most commercial airplanes do not use leaded gas.

PAFI has been established to facilitate the development and deployment of a new unleaded aviation gasoline with the least impact on the existing piston-engine aircraft fleet. PAFI will play a key role in the testing and deployment of an unleaded fuel across the existing general aviation fleet. Congress authorized $6 million for the fiscal year 2014 budget to support the PAFI test program at the FAA Technical Center.

“The FAA, the general aviation community and the Environmental Protection Agency are focused on this issue, and we look forward to collaborating with fuel producers to make an unleaded aviation gasoline available for the general aviation fleet,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

On June 10, 2013, the FAA asked fuel producers to submit proposals for replacement fuels by July 1, 2014. The goal is to identify, select, and provide fleetwide certification for fuels determined to have the lowest impact on the general aviation fleet. The FAA will analyze the candidate fuels in terms of their impact on the existing fleet, the production and distribution infrastructure, their impact on the environment, their toxicology and the cost of aircraft operations.

By September 1, 2014, the FAA will select several of the fuels for phase-one laboratory and rig testing. Based on the results of the phase one testing, the FAA anticipates that two or three fuels will be selected for phase-two engine and aircraft testing. That testing will generate standardized qualification and certification data for candidate fuels, along with property and performance data.