5 ms·
Wait, airplanes don't already use unleaded fuel?
by martincmartin 4y ago
Wait, airplanes don't already use unleaded fuel?
- skykooler 4y agoJets do (as well as turboprops), but piston-engine planes (aka almost all general aviation aircraft) currently burn leaded gasoline.
- midoridensha 4y agoJets and turboprops do not use "unleaded fuel", they use jet fuel (which is basically kerosene). "Unleaded fuel" doesn't mean any fuel without lead, it specifically means gasoline (petrol) without lead. Hydrogen gas (or liquid) can be used as a fuel, but no one would call it "unleaded fuel".
- throwthere 4y agoReminds me of the xkcd comic-- https://xkcd.com/641/ https://xkcd.com/641/
- midoridensha 4y agoYeah, that one is exactly like all the "gluten free!" stuff being marketed, which never had gluten in the first place.
- codalan 4y agohttps://www.faa.gov/newsroom/leaded-aviation-fuel-and-environment https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/leaded-aviation-fuel-and-enviro...
- dreamcompiler 4y agoNope. Not piston engines anyway. Airplane engines have to be much more reliable than car engines in a much harsher environment, and until today leaded fuel was the only solution that produced the requisite level of reliability.
- lbriner 4y agoThanks. This was the question I was looking to answer, "if we did it in cars seemingly easily, why not planes!)
- doliveira 4y agoWas it easy, though? We already knew it was a bad idea to start with, and yet it took almost a century to phase it out.
- sokoloff 4y agoIt was introduced into auto fuel in 1921 and phased out in autos in the US from 1976 to 1996 (with the phase out being heavily front-loaded).
- doliveira 4y agoI would count from the very introduction, because everyone knew from the start it was a bad idea but profits spoke louder.
- dreamcompiler 4y ago
- moffkalast 4y agoYeah, my reaction to this isn't "oh hey about time" but more "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HOW IS THIS STILL A THING"