Originally published at: San Diego Airport Tops U.S. in Leaded Avgas Sales
The airport sold more than 1 million gallons of leaded avgas over two years, despite offering an unleaded alternative.
The UL94 is priced not to sell at MYF. Maybe to either a) show there’s no demand for it or b) avoid the hassle of having to re-stock. But maybe it’s simply because c) the vendor is pricing it really high for its own reasons.
No surprise here. The wholesale price of the Swift unleaded is said to be about 2 dollars more than the leaded alternative. Of course it is not because the Swift UL 94 is an exotic blend of expensive hydrocarbons infact it Is for the most part just 100LL without the lead. So these high costs are associated with distribution costs mainly.
At this airport this fuel is only available at a fuel island pump and no available off a truck and the fuel is a lot more expensive than 100LL about 2 dollars more.
Currently the price of Swift UL 94 is $10.99 per gallon off an island pump at this Airport. At some other airports in California the city’s subsidize this product to keep it at the same price as the 100 LL.
At one of the airports that they did a lead study of the soil, it was closer to an old long defunct drag way that closed up in the late 70’s, than the airport. Another article i read was that leaded aviation fuel, which is low lead, the yearly total of all fuel pumped, is less than what unleaded fuel gets pumped in one day.
Not only was 94UL significantly more expensive than 100LL at KMYF, but it appears (based on online comments) that CrownAir would not allow pilots to fuel with 94UL unless they could produce an STC for the fuel, right there, on the ramp at the time of fueling. Those two factors would definitely limit adoption. I fly behind a Rotax 912 for which a 94UL STC isn’t required, so I probably would not be able to purchase 94UL at KMYF.
I asked Reid Hillview Airport if their UL 94 that is available self service requires an STC to use the pump. They said no all you need is a credit card.
When I went to Santa Monica, they had self service UL94 Fuel there and once again all you needed was a credit car, no policing.
This issue of lead in 100LL avgas is just nonsense. Stop the efforts to eliminate 100LL.
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