AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014 - 28

PILOT BRIEFING
| NEWS |

75 years ago
THIS MONTH

Possible avgas replacements proposed
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N
THE SEARCH FOR AN UNLEADED FUEL to replace avgas moved forward as the FAA received nine proposals for its Piston Aviation Fuels
Initiative (PAFI) by the July 1 deadline.
The formal submissions came from fuel producers Afton Chemical
Company, Avgas LLC, Shell, Swift Fuels, and a consortium made up
of BP, TOTAL, and Hjelmco.
"Aviation organizations, the petroleum industry, and the FAA are
working collaboratively to ensure the aviation community will have
access to unleaded fuel that meets performance and safety standards,
is affordable, and can be used by the existing fleet with minimal disruption," said AOPA President Mark Baker. "We are pleased with the
progress so far and look forward to the next phase."
PAFI is an industry-government effort to develop and deploy a
safe, new unleaded avgas for the piston-engine aircraft fleet. In addition to AOPA and the FAA, the PAFI Steering Group includes the
American Petroleum Institute, the Experimental Aircraft Association,
the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the National Air
Transportation Association, and the National Business Aviation
Association.
The FAA will now begin assessing the candidate fuels based on
safety, costs, production and distribution, and environmental impact.
The most promising fuels will undergo laboratory testing led
by the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center beginning in
September. Fuel developers will each be asked to supply 100 gallons of fuel for phase one testing. Fuels that are determined to be
potentially viable replacements in this evaluation will move to phase
two, which is comprised of full-scale engine and aircraft testing.
This will require 10,000 gallons of fuel from each developer and will
generate standardized performance data necessary to demonstrate
scalability of production, and support qualification and fleet-wide
certification data.
Congress fully supports this program and its goal of deploying a
new unleaded replacement avgas by 2018, and provided $6 million in
the current fiscal year. Both the U.S. House and Senate appropriations
committees have proposed spending another $6 million on the program next year, which is $300,000 above President Obama's request.
There are approximately 167,000 piston-engine aircraft in the
United States and a total of 230,000 worldwide that primarily rely
on the currently available 100LL avgas. It is the only remaining transportation fuel in the United States that contains added tetraethyl lead.
EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

28 | AOPA PILOT September 2014

SEPTEMBER 1
The German Luftwaffe uses 1,600 of its 3,650 combat
aircraft in the invasion of Poland. J. Robert Oppenheimer publishes a previously rejected paper on black
holes in Physical Review. He later leads the team that
explodes the first atomic bomb. Gen. George Marshall
is sworn in as United States Army chief of staff. BBC
television ceases broadcasting after a Mickey Mouse
cartoon, fearing German bombers could track the
signals to London.

]

SEPTEMBER 2
The Luftwaffe achieves air
superiority over Poland.
Jackie Cochran, a New York
City beautician and winner
of transcontinental air races,
writes Eleanor Roosevelt
suggesting valuable contributions could be made by
a women's air corps in case
of war.

SEPTEMBER 3
The United Kingdom and France declare war on
Germany.

[

FAA to evaluate
nine unleaded fuels

AOPA was founded May 15, 1939.
It is September 1939. Germany and the Soviet Union
invade Poland. The United Kingdom, France, New
Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Canada declare
war on Germany. World War II has begun.

SEPTEMBER 14
First tethered flight of the
Sikorsky VS-300, the first
helicopter to enter mass
production.

SEPTEMBER 17
The Soviet Union invades Poland. A German U-boat
sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous while
on antisubmarine operations, with the loss of 518 lives.

[

SEPTEMBER 20
Joe Louis knocks
out Bob Pastor for
the heavyweight
boxing title.

SEPTEMBER 25
Nicola di Mauro of Italy sets a world seaplane altitude record of 44,429 feet in a Caproni Ca.161 Idro.
Defenders of Warsaw surrender after aerial bombing
witnessed by Adolf Hitler.
SEPTEMBER 30
First televised American football game between Fordham and Waynesburg in New York City is broadcast
with one camera and announcer Bill Stern to 1,000
television sets. Fordham won, 34-7.

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014

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