Vintage Aviation
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Whats will happen to high performance piston engine aircraft when the ban on 100 LL is forced upon us? ?
Will this be the end of general aviation? If an existing certified engine is not compatible with the "new eco-friendly" fuel what then? Are we expected to re certify with a new fuel compatible engine? What about airframe system incompatibility with a proposed new fuel like vapor lock or bacteria growth? What about vintage and historical aircraft, will this park them for good? Am I the only one who thinks this sucks?
Most airplane owners and recreational pilots are indeed worried about this. However, general aviation is not a small part of the economy, so with the political clout weilded by such groups as the EAA and AOPA, a ban is not likely any time soon, and then only after a suitable substitute is found.
It's also going to take many years for all the mandatory environmental tests to be done around the nations 14,000+ public airports with paved runways, and 5,000+ heliports. I'm not going to say "don't worry", because you still need to make your voice heard in Congress (letters, emails, petetions...), but chances are very good that nothing is going to change dramatically (except the price of avgas) for 10-20 years.
The irony here is that most of the low-compression engines in older aircraft that were designed to burn 80 octane LEADED fuel actually have lower lead emissions than those that must burn 100LL, which has a higher lead content (to boost octane) than the 80 octane stuff.
Many 1940's and earlier Vintage Engines can run on as little 73 octane, which is the maximum octane attainable by a manufacturer without adding lead. Such engines are very low compression, and therefore less powerful than high-compression engines of the same displacement, but it is one viable alternative, at least for smaller aircraft such as those in the light sport category.
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