UNLEADED AVGAS: EAGLE’S DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN The State of California is now fully aware that there is a viable, FAA-approved unleaded avgas—G100UL—and, from what I’ve learned from multiple sources, is demanding that it be sold at all California airports by the end of this year. That’s great news to pilots and especially to FBOs in California […]
The April issue of Aviation Consumer featured staff commentary entitled Unleaded Fuel: More Foot-Dragging. After that article was published, GAMI was invited to provide a firsthand update on exactly where GAMI is in the process of beginning to deploy G100UL™ avgas to the aircraft owners and pilots. Gami’s George Braly follows up here. Initially, […]
In a world of pulling mags at 500 hours and turbos that last 1000, fuel pumps are a breath of reliability fresh air. So reliable, in fact, that it’s much more common for a pilot to have an engine stoppage because the pilot does not know the aircraft’s fuel system or misuses the boost/aux pump […]
In the May and June 2022 issues of Aviation Consumer, we reported on the ongoing activities of the general aviation alphabet groups and the FAA to revive the failed Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative and incorporate a new government/industry effort christened as EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Emissions—by 2030) project. Half-expecting we would be pumping GAMI’s G100UL […]
LEAD AS A LUBRICANT? I have excitedly watched the developing story on the rollout of G100UL as a drop-in replacement for 100LL. It’s completely fungible with 100LL; no more lead in the exhaust, longer lasting engines/oil/spark plugs and reduced maintenance (never mind the one downside: price increase). Everything seems to indicate that the testing has […]
It starts innocently enough—in your fixed-pitch prop single, climbing out on a warm, but not hot, summer day, the VSI points to a number even lower than the usual lethargic rate. Or, on a cold morning the engine monitor on your Bonanza is showing higher than normal CHTs. Have you got a problem up front […]
They’re smaller than your thumb, inject a metered amount of fuel into each cylinder of your fuel-injected engine and rarely cause problems, but their maintenance needs should be understood as part of knowing the whys of your engine’s operation. Fuel injection was developed to overcome some of the disadvantages of carburetors, notably unequal distribution of […]
In the May 2022 issue of Aviation Consumer we reported on the recent effort by the general aviation alphabet groups and the FAA to revive the collapsed Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative (PAFI) under the snappy new name EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions). Along with it was a request to Congress to increase its funding […]
The FAA’s EAGLE initiative stands for Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions, and many are asking how it differs from PAFI (Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative), which fell apart in 2018 when the agency suspended its efforts. Moreover, will EAGLE’s outcome be any different than the last 31 years of FAA unleaded avgas initiatives? And what is […]
We see plenty of fuel exhaustion events in the NTSB wreck reports, and we suspect some might have been avoided with fuel totalizers. These are valuable devices, especially when interfaced with panel GPS navigators, because you’ll always know how much fuel you’ll have to a given waypoint in the flight plan. Better yet, if your […]
Having skipped a year due to pandemic shutdowns in 2020, AirVenture came galloping back in 2021, with near-record attendance, more aircraft than ever on the field and, most impressive, strong sales for aircraft companies and vendors. EAA Chairman Jack Pelton said the showing was all the more impressive because as late as December 2020, with […]
It could be the grandest STC ever, and it’s awarded to Oklahoma-based General Aviation Modifications Inc., for its 100-octane G100 unleaded fuel. The STC is for Lycoming-equipped Cessna 172 models, but the company says it will be expanded in time. That could be sooner than some expect, given the approved data that’s already in place. […]
