A California court will consider whether to compel 17 FBOs and four fuel distributors to sell GAMI G100UL unleaded fuel on Wednesday and an enormous effort has been mounted to block that. As we’ve reported, the Center for Environmental Health is going to court to enforce a consent agreement signed by the FBOs and distributors in 2014 to switch to the first commercially available high octane unleaded fuel. The STC-approved G100UL has been available at two California fuel sellers since November and the contract refiner says it can supply all of the state with it. More than 800 pages of documents have been filed in opposition to the court action and a decision is expected Wednesday.
Meanwhile Michael Luvara the California A and P who has been chronicling possible fuel compatibility issues with G100UL has released a fourth video on the subject which follows up with the damage reported by some users of the fuel. About 130 aircraft operators have purchased a total of almost 8,000 gallons of G100UL at the two outlets and Luvara estimates 18 percent have had issues. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association issued a statement (copied in full below) on Monday opposing the replacement of 100LL with G100UL, noting that a host of OEMs have told owners of their aircraft not to use it. It also calls on the FAA to issue a formal notice warning of potential issues in using the fuel. The full GAMI statement is copied below followed by the latest video from Luvara:
GAMA Voices Significant Concerns Over Court Motion Attempting to Prematurely Force Leaded Avgas Out of California Market
“WASHINGTON, D.C. – A California state court is preparing to decide on a motion, scheduled for March 5th, brought forth by the California Center for Environmental Health (CEH) to arbitrarily force several California fixed base operators (FBOs) and general aviation fuel distributors to prematurely transition to solely offering a new unleaded avgas. While the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) is actively working to support a safe transition to an unleaded future for piston-engine aircraft through support and participation of the Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) initiative, the CEH motion is premature and counterproductive, which could cause undue harm to the general aviation community.
“There is a concerted effort currently underway to ensure that there is a safe and efficient transition to an unleaded future for piston-engine aircraft. We have seen some key milestones reached to progress efforts, but there is still significant work needed before a full-scale transition can take place. The CEH motion is based on a brand new high-octane unleaded fuel, which is currently available at just two California airports. Although the FAA issued an STC allowing for its use in airplanes, this is the only aviation fuel that has not been subject to a stakeholder consensus peer review process and does not have the endorsement for use by piston-engine and aircraft Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or other stakeholders such as distributors and FBOs due to lack of transparency and understanding of the new fuel’s composition and performance properties. Additionally, this fuel cannot be used in piston helicopters. There are also questions and a need for additional information about materials compatibility and safety in both aircraft and fuel distribution infrastructure. The general aviation industry is committed to supporting a viable unleaded avgas solution, but a forced and premature transition will not be in the interest of the aviation community or public in the long run,” said Pete Bunce, GAMA president and CEO.
There have been notices to the public, from Cirrus Aircraft, Lycoming, Piper Aircraftand Textron Aviation, that there are questions and potential concerns about the specified unleaded avgas product CEH is attempting to prematurely force on the piston aircraft community. In addition to these warnings, aircraft manufacturers Aviat Aircraft, Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH, Enstrom Helicopter Corp., Piper Aircraft Inc., Schweizer RSG and Robinson Helicopters each submitted information to the Court that stated the new unleaded avgas variant was not approved or supported by manufacturers for use in their models, given their companies lacked the information necessary to verify its safety and material compatibility. Additionally, several aviation trade organizations, including GAMA, submitted declarations to ensure the Court was aware of the general aviation piston industry’s relevant perspectives.
According to court documents, several individual aircraft owners in California have filed declarations related to adverse issues potentially encountered by using G100UL. Additionally, according to court documents, a California-based FAA Flight Standards District Office has initiated an investigation into some of these possible material incompatibility issues identified in several piston airplanes. In the interest of aviation safety, GAMA calls for transparency and openness in a manner consistent with established industry practices for all transportation fuels – a broad stakeholder peer review assessment of new fuel property and performance data through the ASTM consensus standards process or similar – to include collaboration among fuel producers, chemical manufacturers, testing laboratories, fuel distributors and piston-engine aircraft and component manufacturers, etc.
GAMA further calls on the FAA to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin or other notice, as deemed appropriate, to properly inform the general aviation community of potential issues and possible airworthiness impacts while the alleged FAA investigations continue and/or mitigation efforts, as determined necessary by the FAA, are developed.
The public statements and court submitted documents can be found HERE.
