First of all, I’d like to wish everyone a healthy and Happy New Year.
It seems as I get older the years seem to come and go much faster than they used to, but someone once told me that life is like a roll of toilet paper — “the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes” — and I believe that they knew what they were talking about.
So, having been around this exciting industry that we all find fascinating, I’d like to offer some personal opinions on what I see happening these days.
I think you’ll agree with me that one of the most talked about things these days is the aviation fuels issue.
From my experience, this fuels subject has been going on for the better part of 50 years, if not longer. I vividly remember being pounded on at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh for many, many years as to why Lycoming wouldn’t approve the use of “car gas” in its engines.
We’ve been up and down the boulevard on this subject and the discussion is still ongoing, but with different players coming into the mix. I think most of you know that most internal combustion engines may run on almost any fuel that can be ignited, but the most important issue is whether it is safe and will work under all sorts of conditions.
You can get into all sorts of deep technical and chemical discussions — which are way above my head — but the basic fact remains: We must have a safe fuel that is capable of being produced and distributed at a reasonable cost.
Please note that I said cost and not price, in which there is a big difference.
I’m certain that those who currently produce and distribute aviation fuels are capable of supplying the market with viable safe products, but it sure isn’t that simple. Remember, when you can’t make a profit, you are out of business.
When you really stop and think about this challenge we have, it’s truly mindboggling as to what all has to be taken into consideration. Think about establishing a standard specification that must be repeatable. Think about all of the materials that must be tested for compatibility.
With that in mind, the engine may be the easiest thing to make it through the certification process.
I remember many of those discussions at Oshkosh over the years when the mindset was that the FAA was going to ban aviation fuels because of the lead content and, yes, we did see some changes when 100LL came to market.
I can go way back to the 1970s when this was the discussion. My response to those at the time was “I’ll be retired before that ever happened” and here we are still talking about the same subject many years after my retirement.
I think at the time most folks thought whatever fuel would replace the leaded fuels would be — hopefully — cheaper. I’m here to tell you that any fuel produced from now on will not be cheaper if it is compared to present production and distribution costs.
You may think I’m talking out my exhaust, but I think this situation is much more of a challenge than people would like to believe.
My final comment is this: Having two sons, it was a real challenge to bring them up, trying to teach them the difference between “needs and wants.” Maybe that’s where the general aviation fuels situation stands today.
Just how much of an impact does our use of 100LL really impact our environment? So, it begs the question: Do we need it or just want it?
In the big scheme of things, some would say “that our government certainly knows what’s best for us,” but in this case, I have my doubts.
