Watsonville Municipal Airport became the second California field to sell GAMI's G100UL high octane unleaded fuel and to kick it off its offering incentives to based operators as well as those from neighboring fields. The full list of incentives is attached below, but those who keep their planes at Watsonville can get the required STC for free, including the necessary sign off by an IA at the kickoff event on Saturday. To get the STC payment refunded they have to buy it by midnight Friday.
Oh boy… that’s great Russ. Now Russ, are we or expect a 100UL rollout story every time some obscure California airport decides to supply it, all discount incentives included? I am so excited especially considering I live in Ohio. How many decades until it gets here, if ever?
C’mon Tommy, the rollout of 100UL is exciting no matter where you are. These are only the first rollouts. I’m sure Russ will not report every single one, but perhaps, for your sake, the first one or two in each state. Good on you! —Kevin
I find this topic fascinating, and thank you, Russ, for letting us know - you may post something that I find uninteresting some day, and I’ll quietly click past it, and wait for tomorrow’s news.
I didn’t realize G100UL doesn’t require grounding the nozzle to the aircraft filler port when dispensing. That’s an awesome safety feature! They must have a proprietary anti static formula.
Being the first to adopt something new with a lot of unanswered questions and possibly expensive liabilities is daunting, but as soon as one or two jump in, the rest will follow. It looks like GAMI may have finally managed to break thru. Hopefully we will see it popping up all over the country and begin to have a large number of real world testers. I still don’t have a dog in this fight, but I look forward to seeing the contenders well-vetted.
I’m not “excited” about paying more for 100 octane fuel (that my O-320 does not require). For the love of all that is holy quit pushing the one-fuel-fits-all for GA.
GA is dying on the vine. Forcing (yet again) a higher priced fuel is not a solution. Well, it’s a solution to further handicap the roots of GA.
I just called Watsonville Airport and they indicated it will be $6.75/gallon and self service only (at least for now) - versus 100LL which is $6.25 and $6.75 for self serve and full serve respectively. I don’t know if that is introductory pricing.
This 100 UL fiasco has literally been going on for decades with no drop in solution as has been promised for decades. So a couple of airports somehow now have 100UL is nothing short of a yawner which is a major understatement. I fail to see the excitement of any announcement regarding 100UL. Like I have said many times in the past, the current status of 100UL is joke. Not until there is 100% universal availability will I even think about getting excited. Someone once said, “the thrill is gone.”
The full national roll-out will likely take several years - but it’s got to start somewhere. I imagine many FBOs are waiting to see if any issues pop up before they will consider moving forward, plus the status quo is almost always easier.