4 ms·

It's shameful the EPA still hasn't banned leaded aviation fuel.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Aviation fuel is a far smaller source of lead in humans than just about anything else since it's mostly thinly distributed thousands of feet away from them (contrast with paint, handling of lead objects, plumbing, etc). I don't find anything disagreeable about the EPA refraining from spending my taxes on low impact things to appease people who just want to see a feel good message be sent.
verst 5y ago
And most pilot will have touched this fuel quite a bit - for example when checking a single engine propeller plane during preflight we sump the fuel tanks. There is always some fuel that sprays onto my hands then. I wonder how much lead this exposes me to. (I'm working on a private pilot license in a Cessna 172)
- s0rce 5y ago
  If you are particularly concerned (could be justified) you could get a small aircraft with a diesel engine, don't seem super common but might be increasing.
  - ryandrake 5y ago
    Or wear gloves during your preflight.
  - ericd 5y ago
    And that'd have the benefit of accelerating the industry's transition a little, by boosting demand.
- myself248 5y ago
  Ask your doctor, get it checked! I just got my test results back, since I'm having some odd symptoms and my doctor's kinda throwing ideas at the wall. He asked, jokingly, if there was a chance anyone was trying to poison me with arsenic. I said no, but I do a lot of soldering (like a LOT), and I make a point not to chew on my solder or wear the iron behind my ear like a pencil, but who knows whether the dust is getting absorbed or whatever. What the heck, let's check for it. My level came back at "less than 1" µg/dl, which I guess is as far down as that particular measurement can go. So that's cool, seems my precautions are adequate.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I switched to using a GATTS jar (which also helps detect Jet-A contamination, which is not much of a concern for a 172). The design of that jar is such that much less fuel (often zero) touches/splashes onto your hands and it's easy to pour the fuel back into the tank if the sample is "clean".
nradov 5y ago
The city of San Jose is forcing a local airport to close largely over lead concerns. However research has shown that children living near the airport don't actually have higher blood lead levels. https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-airport-lead-levels-are-average-despite-alarm/ https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-airport-lead-levels-ar... Although the absolute risk is probably small the aviation industry should have moved faster on this issue. Airplanes last longer than cars but they can't expect the status quo to be tolerated indefinitely. At some point airplane owners need to be forced to upgrade their engines, or quit flying.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  The county of Santa Clara, which owns the airport, is closing it because it is an uneconomical waste of a huge amount of phenomenally valuable land, and it is only 5 miles from a real airport. It serves no legitimate purpose in the society and economy of the Bay Area.
  - outworlder 5y ago
    > The county of Santa Clara, which owns the airport, is closing it because it is an uneconomical waste of a huge amount of phenomenally valuable land, and it is only 5 miles from a real airport. It serves no legitimate purpose in the society and economy of the Bay Area. That is false. It is a "relief" airport precisely because it is close to SJC. That allows slower traffic to land in RHRV instead of SJC. It is a real airport. Has two runways, air traffic control and what have you. What's the threshold for a 'real airport'? There's a lot of "phenomenally valuable" land nearby with only dirt and maybe trees growing on it. There are parks and wilderness areas. Should we turn them into businesses and houses just because real state values are up?
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      It's not a real airport because 100% of its operations are wankers flying around in their obsolete mosquitos. The Bay Area has a superabundance of GA airports and RHV is superfluous.
- 5y ago
sokoloff 5y ago
There is progress on the front to find a viable replacement fuel: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/july/27/gami-receives-unleaded-avgas-stc https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/july/27/ga... Without a workable (technically and legally) replacement fuel, banning 100LL was never going to be viable IMO.
truffdog 5y ago
As of this year, the FAA has finally approved lead free avgas: https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/gami-awarded-long-awaited-stc-for-unleaded-100-octane-avgas/ https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/gami-awarded-long-awaite...

Aviation fuel is a far smaller source of lead in humans than just about anything else since it's mostly thinly distributed thousands of feet away from them (contrast with paint, handling of lead objects, plumbing, etc). I don't find anything disagreeable about the EPA refraining from spending my taxes on low impact things to appease people who just want to see a feel good message be sent.

verst 5y ago

And most pilot will have touched this fuel quite a bit - for example when checking a single engine propeller plane during preflight we sump the fuel tanks. There is always some fuel that sprays onto my hands then. I wonder how much lead this exposes me to. (I'm working on a private pilot license in a Cessna 172)

s0rce 5y ago
If you are particularly concerned (could be justified) you could get a small aircraft with a diesel engine, don't seem super common but might be increasing.
- ryandrake 5y ago
  Or wear gloves during your preflight.
- ericd 5y ago
  And that'd have the benefit of accelerating the industry's transition a little, by boosting demand.
myself248 5y ago
Ask your doctor, get it checked! I just got my test results back, since I'm having some odd symptoms and my doctor's kinda throwing ideas at the wall. He asked, jokingly, if there was a chance anyone was trying to poison me with arsenic. I said no, but I do a lot of soldering (like a LOT), and I make a point not to chew on my solder or wear the iron behind my ear like a pencil, but who knows whether the dust is getting absorbed or whatever. What the heck, let's check for it. My level came back at "less than 1" µg/dl, which I guess is as far down as that particular measurement can go. So that's cool, seems my precautions are adequate.
sokoloff 5y ago
I switched to using a GATTS jar (which also helps detect Jet-A contamination, which is not much of a concern for a 172). The design of that jar is such that much less fuel (often zero) touches/splashes onto your hands and it's easy to pour the fuel back into the tank if the sample is "clean".

nradov 5y ago

The city of San Jose is forcing a local airport to close largely over lead concerns. However research has shown that children living near the airport don't actually have higher blood lead levels. https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-airport-lead-levels-are-average-despite-alarm/ https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-airport-lead-levels-ar... Although the absolute risk is probably small the aviation industry should have moved faster on this issue. Airplanes last longer than cars but they can't expect the status quo to be tolerated indefinitely. At some point airplane owners need to be forced to upgrade their engines, or quit flying.

jeffbee 5y ago
The county of Santa Clara, which owns the airport, is closing it because it is an uneconomical waste of a huge amount of phenomenally valuable land, and it is only 5 miles from a real airport. It serves no legitimate purpose in the society and economy of the Bay Area.
- outworlder 5y ago
  > The county of Santa Clara, which owns the airport, is closing it because it is an uneconomical waste of a huge amount of phenomenally valuable land, and it is only 5 miles from a real airport. It serves no legitimate purpose in the society and economy of the Bay Area. That is false. It is a "relief" airport precisely because it is close to SJC. That allows slower traffic to land in RHRV instead of SJC. It is a real airport. Has two runways, air traffic control and what have you. What's the threshold for a 'real airport'? There's a lot of "phenomenally valuable" land nearby with only dirt and maybe trees growing on it. There are parks and wilderness areas. Should we turn them into businesses and houses just because real state values are up?
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    It's not a real airport because 100% of its operations are wankers flying around in their obsolete mosquitos. The Bay Area has a superabundance of GA airports and RHV is superfluous.
5y ago

sokoloff 5y ago

There is progress on the front to find a viable replacement fuel: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/july/27/gami-receives-unleaded-avgas-stc https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/july/27/ga... Without a workable (technically and legally) replacement fuel, banning 100LL was never going to be viable IMO.

truffdog 5y ago

As of this year, the FAA has finally approved lead free avgas: https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/gami-awarded-long-awaited-stc-for-unleaded-100-octane-avgas/ https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/gami-awarded-long-awaite...