Aviation Link: Air Frames Alaska

Take Action Now Against Government Imposed User Fees

Inospec Specialist to Meet With Concerned Aviators About Avgas Options

Anchorage, AK (Jan.4, 2012)--A fuel additive specialist from England will meet with members of the Alaska aviation industry and concerned aircraft owners on Tuesday Jan. 10 at 4 p.m.at the Alaska Aviation Museum at Lake Hood.
    John Eason the Western Regional Performance and Marine Manager for Innospec will be in Anchorage for discussions about diesel fuel additives to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel but has acknowledged that will meet with Alaska aviators on Tuesday.
    Innospec is said to have additives that may offer an option for Alaska pilots and aircraft owners if and when the current 100 Low Lead Aviation fuel is discontinued.The Environmental Protection Agency is targeting 100 Low Lead for its lead content.
    According to the EPA on October 15, 2008, EPA substantially strengthened the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for lead, finding that serious health effects occur at much lower levels of lead in blood than previously identified. The EPA has studied airports and will submit its finding which could lead to the discontinuation of the 100 Low Lead fuel in the near future.

Fuel Additive Specialist Headed to Alaska

Anchorage, AK(Jan. 2, 2012)--An official from Innospec Fuel Specialities will be visiting Alaska on Jan. 9, 2012. 

John Eason the Western Regional Performance and Marine Manager for Innospec will be in Anchorage for discussions about diesel fuel additives to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel.

Innospec an international company that produces specialty chemicals, fuel specialties, active chemicals and octane additives..
As a side issue Eason may meet with local fuel industry experts to discuss the issue of 100 Low Lead Aviation fuel and the performance guidelines of aviation engines using a fuel additive that may meet the EPA regulation standards.
More information on this will be published in an upcoming post this month.

Price of AvGas increases in Alaska

Sept. 01, 2011-

The current price for AvGas (100 Low Lead) in Alaska has risen to:
Average price per gallon= $6.59
Minimum price per gallon=$5.17
Highest price per gallon   =$11.00

For more information on Arctic fueling go to:http://www.colvilleinc.com/fuel.html

AOPA on the AVGAS issue: Lycoming's Approach

AVGAS AND ENGINES: LYCOMING’S APPROACH

How are the engine manufacturers preparing for the eventual transition to an unleaded avgas? AOPA posed some questions to Lycoming Engines about the company’s approach to the challenge.

AOPA: What is your primary focus in considering a transition to unleaded avgas?

Lycoming: Flight safety is Lycoming’s top consideration and is at the forefront of our call for a 100 octane replacement fuel. Flying an aircraft is an inherently complex and demanding activity. An airplane works because it is designed as a system which involves (a) the fuel, (b) the engine, (c) the propeller, (d) the aircraft, (e) the pilot, and (f) the mechanic. A malfunction in any one of these elements can affect flight safety.

Few flight safety inputs are more important than the fuel that allows engines to create and maintain the power needed by the aircraft for predictable flight performance. Without a 100 octane replacement fuel, many legacy and current production aircraft will be unable to operate in the same entire flight envelope for which they were designed. This impact to the aircraft performance window is why—in Lycoming’s viewpoint—the aviation fuels issues are directly related to flight safety.

AOPA: How are you organizing internally to respond to the eventual transition to unleaded avgas?

Lycoming: We are engaged on this subject at several levels. In general, we have been anticipating a change for some time, thus have tried to remain as flexible as possible with our fuel approvals, as evident in our Service Instruction 1070Q. Here are three key categories of effort.

• First, we're working to build out our understanding of the relationship between our engines and unleaded fuels based on almost 20 years of data. Many Lycoming engine models have been approved to run on unleaded aviation grade fuels since 1995. This was made possible by the materials and component designs used in our engines combined with more than two decades of service history—and that data history is part of our baseline for taking steps for a next generation avgas.
• Second, we have a public component to our strategy. We have provided the FAA with engines and component parts, as well as engineering support, to assist with the evaluation of potential future, unleaded, fuels; and we have moved Lycoming to a much more public stance via our ongoing fuels education campaign and our commitment to unbiased, independent fuels research.
• Third, we are introducing new engine technology. In addition to their many other advanced features, the iE2 integrated electronic engine, now flying in the Lancair Evolution, and 233 series light sport aircraft engine are both capable of operating on lower octane unleaded fuels.

AOPA: From an engine manufacturer’s perspective, what do you see as the greatest technical challenge in a single-fuel solution for a future unleaded avgas?

Lycoming: There are a number of challenges that will need to be addressed, and focusing on the technical aspects is only one dimension of the problem. So let’s assume—and it is a big assumption—that the market demand has been established for a 100LL equivalent and that the necessary capital investment has flowed to the innovators to make their processes economical. It has now been demonstrated that you can get to “100LL performance” without TEL (tetraethyl lead) via multiple paths.

The greatest technical challenge appears to be mitigating potential materials compatibility issues on legacy aircraft.

While this may seem to be a daunting challenge on the surface, one of the most rapidly advancing fields in engineering has been in the materials science area. Lycoming believes that there is a high probability that any materials compatibility challenges could be resolved within the natural maintenance life cycle of equipment. It is also the reason why we point out that we need to identify a solution in the next one to two years in order to be able to have 10 years for a roll-out without major economic impact.

Aug. 27 "Today" is the deadline for comments on the 100Low Lead Avgas issue

Please be advised that today Aug. 27, 2010 is the deadline for comments to the EPA about how a ruling restricting the use of 100 Low Lead Avgas will affect future aviation operations in the U.S.

Comments specific to Alaska (and the U.S. in general) need to be addressed in addition to those in the Lower-48 Please see previous posts as to how to comment on this issue.