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Ethanol and other such fuels have even higher octane. And yes, it WOULD suck in the interim, would have been more disruptive to general aviation, range would h

Ethanol and other such fuels have even higher octane. And yes, it WOULD suck in the interim, would have been more disruptive to general aviation, range would have been impacted (in the case of alcohols), but this is such a MASSIVE public health issue, it would clearly have been worth it IMHO. Pilots would’ve absolutely hated it, but the wrath of pilots is not a good enough reason to justify lead emissions over the last several decades which may have depressed intelligence and increased crime rate. I am NOT saying this wouldn’t have had negative, perhaps even massive, temporary disruptions in general aviation, including grounding some planes. I am saying it would be worth it.

sokoloff 5y ago
Ethanol-inclusion fuels would require both airframe and engine modification and re-certification, which would probably be more difficult (read: slower) to accomplish than what GAMI just got over the finish line. The industry and FAA have been working on this a very long time. I’m not happy with the pace of progress and not demanding “nothing changes”, but I give them credit that they’ve thought and worked 100x longer and harder on the topic than everyone in this HN comment page combined. I think this is the best technical solution of the ones proposed and publicly tested. I’ve visited the GAMI test stand and gotten a demo of their operation and followed their progress over the last decade. I hope that this now goes quickly from “only Lycoming 172s” to include my and all other avgas-burning airplanes.
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  Oh, I’m glad with what GAMI has done and at this point it would be better than alcohols, but this whole thing shows the status-quo bias of the FAA IMHO where anything existing and established gets a pass (no matter how bad the environmental/societal consequence, no matter how many people the trolley runs over) because of the possibility of a temporary increase in risk for general aviation. Anyway, yeah, good on GAMI for developing this.
VLM 5y ago
> a MASSIVE public health issue Its not. Its the kind of topic made for karma farming on social media.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
I think you're massively overestimating the amount of avgas used in aviation. It is used by the fringes of aviation only. All jets and turboprops run on Jet-A1 which is unleaded. All that remains is flying much less hours and using much less fuel per flight hour as well. When cars switched away from lead the impact was huge because there were so many of them using so much fuel. Avgas is really a minor thing and some airports don't even want to stock it anymore. Refineries don't like making it and as a result it's so expensive that complete engine refits with turbodiesel have become viable.

sokoloff 5y ago

Ethanol-inclusion fuels would require both airframe and engine modification and re-certification, which would probably be more difficult (read: slower) to accomplish than what GAMI just got over the finish line. The industry and FAA have been working on this a very long time. I’m not happy with the pace of progress and not demanding “nothing changes”, but I give them credit that they’ve thought and worked 100x longer and harder on the topic than everyone in this HN comment page combined. I think this is the best technical solution of the ones proposed and publicly tested. I’ve visited the GAMI test stand and gotten a demo of their operation and followed their progress over the last decade. I hope that this now goes quickly from “only Lycoming 172s” to include my and all other avgas-burning airplanes.

Robotbeat 5y ago
Oh, I’m glad with what GAMI has done and at this point it would be better than alcohols, but this whole thing shows the status-quo bias of the FAA IMHO where anything existing and established gets a pass (no matter how bad the environmental/societal consequence, no matter how many people the trolley runs over) because of the possibility of a temporary increase in risk for general aviation. Anyway, yeah, good on GAMI for developing this.

VLM 5y ago

> a MASSIVE public health issue Its not. Its the kind of topic made for karma farming on social media.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

I think you're massively overestimating the amount of avgas used in aviation. It is used by the fringes of aviation only. All jets and turboprops run on Jet-A1 which is unleaded. All that remains is flying much less hours and using much less fuel per flight hour as well. When cars switched away from lead the impact was huge because there were so many of them using so much fuel. Avgas is really a minor thing and some airports don't even want to stock it anymore. Refineries don't like making it and as a result it's so expensive that complete engine refits with turbodiesel have become viable.