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Getting The Lead Out

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Key Takeaways:

  • The FAA has approved a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for GAMI's unleaded 100-octane aviation fuel, G100UL, marking a major step towards eliminating leaded aviation gasoline.
  • This approval is a significant triumph for General Aviation Modifications, Inc. (GAMI), which developed the fuel over decades, overcoming both technical challenges and industry pushback.
  • Initially, the STC applies to Lycoming-powered Cessna 172s, with plans to expand to cover all airframes and engines by the first half of 2022.
  • G100UL is designed as a "drop-in" fuel, compatible and mixable with 100LL, though it is projected to cost more, offer slightly better range/endurance despite a minor weight increase.
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With the news during July’s Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in that the FAA has approved a supplemental type certificate (STC) for an unleaded aviation gasoline, we’ve all transitioned from the early phase of the decades-long effort to rid ourselves of leaded aviation fuels. It wasn’t easy to get this far, and it won’t be easy to step across the finish line, but at least we’re closer to it than ever before.

The announcement also is a well-earned triumph for the team at General Aviation Modifications, Inc., GAMI, the fine folks in Ada, Okla., who in the 1990s brought us balanced GAMIjectors fuel injection nozzles for smoother and leaner engine operation, and are the home for Tornado Alley Turbo, TAT, which offers aftermarket turbonormalizing for Bonanzas, Cirri and some Cessna models. The brain trust behind GAMI and TAT are pilots and aeronautical engineers George Braly and Tim Roehl, who have spent the last couple of decades doing things for general aviation that many said couldn’t be done.

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