EAGLE Assesses Alaska's Specialized Avgas Needs

Representatives of the Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) initiative visited Alaska recently to gain a better understanding of the unique circumstances faced by operators and fuel distributors in the far-flung state. Piston aircraft (about 7,000 in total) are a lifeline for many communities and individuals in Alaska and the state has the highest per capita use of general aviation in the U.S. so EAGLE says its members heard that a smooth transition to a thoroughly vetted unleaded fuel is vital.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/eagle-assesses-alaskas-specialized-avgas-needs

That’s News - Swift has submitted its fuel to ASTM committee, while it promotes its STC route.
Last I heard, Swift had listed problems with ASTM’s standard.
Is it now challenging ASTM to change the standard?

Since it’s a consensus standard, that’s exactly how it works.

GAMI just claims they’re so good they are better than ASTM, so they won’t bother. That’s not really how conformance to standards work.

Alaska is a mighty big market to walk away from. And how might GAMI’s refusal to achieve ASTM standard affect their position in the Lower 48?

ā€œSpecialized AVgas Needsā€ā€¦

Mules, Horses, ATV’s.

ā€˜Jason J. Baker’
You forgot dogs, the traditional method of transportation in AK, besides human feet. :wink:

Not many mules in AK, hard to breed many. Unfortunately as they are big and tough.

1 Like

I remind you of serious problems with ASTM ā€˜consensus’ committees, from my own experience - as I’ve related in this forum.
Including companies trying to shut innovations out.

Very costly to participate, Swift has other products to help pay the time and travel, perhaps GAMI can fund from sales of its product, delaying payback to George for his time spent inventing a no-lead fuel.

I challenge you to provide a direct verified quote from GAMI to support your assertion.

Alright, Keith. You win. Lets replace mules with traveling on foot. It has been done before and since we are well on our way into the past on almost everything else, why not.

It amazes me to see an industry, which has willingly abandoned development of more efficient and environmentally less impactful engines for almost 5 decades try to wind its way out of whats coming.

The thing with consensus standards is that they sound great on paper - the ultimate in ā€œdemocratic governanceā€, where everyone involved comes together to agree upon a standard.

Unfortunately, those same processes that are supposed to allow for innovation can also be used to block newcomers from entering the field. This can be accomplished in many ways, such as ā€œagreeingā€ to unnecessary and burdensome tests that small newcomers might not be able to afford, or an unwillingness to change some processes because ā€œthat’s how it’s always been doneā€.

ā€˜Jason J. Baker’:

What are you talking about?

Mules are special, they aren’t fertile, only created by convincing a female donkey to put up with a male horse. So population is small. They are popular in the dry SW US.

Horses are readily available, but in winter sled dogs may be better - horses are vulnerable to uneven ground under the snow. Of course today the snowmobile is common, but few run on diesel/JetA - the Canadian Military now has a few.

(Being complete I should say ā€˜JetA’ as there is a more volatile ā€˜JetB’ which the Canadian military once used in the Arctic, but is less safe. JetA is close to kerosene.)

The Alaska market is probably sizeable as Alaskans are very dependent on aviation, but I doubt as large as California with far greater population (740,133 compared to San Francisco alone of 873,965, ).

Most places in AK want avgas, jet fuel for helos and large fixed wing like Cessna Caravan, and heating oil. Stationary, marine, and automotive diesels can run on jet fuel especially as thin fuel is needed in winter. Heating oil may be closer to summer diesel. (In the High Arctic only one heavy transportation fuel may be brought in and used for stationary, trucks, and aircraft.) And there’s propane, commonly used for heating buildings.

Crowley Fuels Alaska | Aviation Fuels Services in Alaska lists aviation fuels by location.

They also supply unleaded automotive fuel through 31 retail stations.

(As for LyondellBasell Industries, it is an established refiner.)

1 Like

Definitely no expert on mules or their fertility…

Jason J. Bakerjjbaker:

Mule - Wikipedia but first paragraph is garbled, nonsensical.

Seems to have best characteristics of horses and donkeys.

Mule - Wikipedia but first paragraph is garbled, nonsensical.

I re-read it three times, looking for any typos, ambiguities, or contradictions. Couldn’t find any.

What parts do you find to be garbled or nonsensical? Can you quote the offending passages? If so, I’d be happy to edit the Wiki article in order to eschew obfuscation.

This seems to be quite off topic and not at all aviation-related…

Why does a couple people in Anchorage think they can speak for the operators throughout the whole state of Alaska?

Alaskans are VERY Resourceful. They will continue to deliver people and products safely with or without the government’s media releases pushing an anti-GAMI narrative.

EAS is already pushing operators into turbines. High compression piston engines will just go away. Get Over It… Move On.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.