Rotax and Avgas

[MikeM]

Time to bump this back to the top with Malcolm McBride's note in July's LA, p49:

"Therefore we can revise our advice to pilots that if they can no longer source ethanol free 95RON fuel but can obtain 97+RON fuel which complies with BS EN228, then it is a legally acceptable alternative. Again, the only priviso here is that the fuel must contain no alcohol. So, it looks like Mogas is back on the menu for aircraft that are cleared to use it."

[gregorp]

Hi,

I have today spoken to Murco Ltd.
As of next week ALL of their fuel deliveries will contain 5% ethanol. I have emailed the other major fuel companies and will report their replies here. Incidentally ,I did not mention my query was for aviation use, just a specialised engine. some mogas suppliers will not deliver if they know the fuel will be used in aircraft.

Hope this is useful,

Pete

(P.S.please can we get ethanol approved for those aircraft that can accept it)

[gregorp]

Hi again,
This is the reply that I had from Esso.

"Dear Mr Gregory,

Thank you for contacting Esso Customer Care.

Esso Energy Supreme Unleaded meets EN228 and is largely ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, the Teesside area and Scotland) and we have no current intention to add ethanol to Esso Energy Supreme in other areas of the UK.

I hope this information helps.

Yours sincerely,

Anett Furedi

Customer Care Assistant UK&Ireland
Customer Service, Fuels & Lubricants, EAME
+ UK Customer Care, ExxonMobil House, MP 300, Ermyn Way, Leatherhead,
Surrey, KT22 8UX ( 020 7136 1798 7 020 7026 4728 :
[email protected]"

Hope this helps,

Pete

[ev97co]

just to add to the worries what do you make of this from Andrew Glendinning of Air BP.
Glendinning, Andrew
12 Sep 2011

Thanks for your recent queries to AirBP.com regarding Avgas and Mogas in Oban.

Please find attached below the advice I gave Argyll and Bute…I think you’ll find it’s clear what I’m saying…I’m not recommending the use of leaded Avgas 100LL arbitrarily…I’m explaining AirBP’s position is not to use, sell or recommend gasoline purchased at a forecourt for aviation use. As I mention below, Unleaded Aviation Gasoline is starting to enter the market.

If you’d like to discuss alternatives for your local airport or set up some kind of discussion forum or meeting, I’m happy to help.
Regards Andrew
quote

I think you’ll get the same answer from all the majors – EN228 gasoline (as specced) is suitable for use in some aircraft. EN228 gasoline (as purchased from a forecourt) is a whole other matter. We’re concerned about cleanliness, about variations in additives, about bugs in service station tanks, about the shelf life and performance degradation of the fuel…we’re concerned about the odd tanker driver who accidentally puts a bit of diesel in the gasoline tank during a delivery. These things are rare but can happen.

The AA get called out approx 2000 times a day to deal with fuel related issues – a small percentage of these do seem to be genuine issues with the fuel where a part of the handling chain has gone wrong. Apply this to aviation with our “no laybys in the sky” motto and you see where we’re coming from. The Tesco 2009 incident was the best one yet of a major breach of ground fuels integrity – 2100 cars “grounded” by an error in the supply chain.

The majors will only ever supply mogas for aircraft when it’s been handled like aviation fuel – checked, filtered, protected from the ground fuels side of the business. Until then we will only ever recommend Avgas 100LL or one of the new grades of Unleaded Avgas that are very slowly entering the market – the UL grades are EN228 gasoline, dyed purple or yellow and then handled like aviation fuel. That’s what any pilot wants.

I know some of my competitors are in the market already…hopefully BP will join in soon with our own UL grade.

unquote
AirBP Fuels Quality Team
+44 (0) 7770 731444
BP International Limited. Registered office: Chertsey Road, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, TW16 7BP. Registered in England and Wales, number 542515.

[Brian Hope]

Would you really expect any other response from a fuel supplier? Of course they are going to be wary about using mogas from a car forecourt because it isn't treated with the same strict quality control measures that avgas, or dedicated aviation mogas is.
We have to decide ourselves what we believe the risks to be. Given that we have around 30 million cars on the road in the UK, all of which are using forecourt bought fuels, and the roads aren't littered with broken down cars, you don't have to be a genius mathematician to work out the probability that forecourt fuel isn't riddled with bugs, water, incorrect additives etc., and provided you use a bit of common sense in re-fuelling your aircraft you are highly unlikely to have a problem with it.
Your choice of course, if you are particularly risk averse you may see it differently, in which case confine yourself to the use of avgas.
An interesting quandary is the risk comparison between using forecourt fuel which the fuel companies say has inherent quality risks, and 100LL avgas, which the engine manufacturer considers less than ideal for the Rotax 912.
I know which way I'd go - but I don't fly a Rotax!

[MikeM]

To back up what Brian said, in over 30 years of testing and using forecourt mogas in my a/c, I've never detected water, bugs or been aware of any other form of contamination. However, I have replaced old jerry cans when the red oxide lining has started to appear in my Mr Funnel filter.

To update the situation in the south west, all unleaded and super unleaded mogas from distribution centres in Devon & Cornwall now contain ethanol. I've found that BP Ultimate super unleaded distributed from Hamble is ethanol-free so far, but I blue-bud test every batch before filling a can.