The FAA yesterday formally asked the world’s fuel producers to submit fuel samples for testing in piston aircraft as the first concrete step in helping general aviation transition away from leaded avgas.
The FAA is seeking to speed the development of new unleaded fuels that could ease the pain of replacing 100-octane low-lead avgas for tens of thousands of GA airplanes, starting as soon as five years from now. Everything is on the table, the agency says, from the viability of candidate fuels, to their production and distribution infrastructure, to their impact on the environment and economic ramifications.
