Unleaded Avgas Candidate Passes Critical Engine Tests, Moves Ahead

UL100E fuel produced by LyondellBasell/VP Racing is first to pass the 150-hour durability test under PAFI.

Jonathan Welsh

Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 02:11 PM ET

Verified

The piston GA fleet is moving toward an unleaded future. [Credit: iStock]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA has advanced LyondellBasell/VP Racing's UL100E unleaded avgas to full-scale engine and flight testing following its successful completion of a 150-hour engine durability test.
This marks the first unleaded fuel to pass this rigorous phase of testing under the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI).
The development is a significant milestone towards the aviation industry's goal, spearheaded by the EAGLE initiative, to transition to unleaded fuel and eliminate lead emissions by 2030.
The UL100E will now proceed with comprehensive engine and airframe testing, expected to take 12 to 18 months, as part of its path to potential fleet authorization.

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Encouraging news about unleaded aviation fuel arrived from the FAA on Wednesday. The agency cleared the unleaded UL100E avgas developed by LyondellBasell Industries/VP Racing for piston-engine aircraft to move ahead to full-scale engine and flight testing.

The announcement came after the fuel passed a 150-hour engine durability test under the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI), a collaborative industry and government testing program established in 2014. The FAA noted that the LyondellBasell/VP Racing UL100E is the first unleaded fuel to pass this phase of PAFI testing. The program’s signatories are working towards a replacement for 100LL avgas for aircraft requiring higher octane than the currently available 94UL unleaded fuels.