In a move intended to help create environmentally friendlier skies, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it will solicit test samples of lead-free fuel for use in by the private and charter prop planes used in general aviation.
“We need to work with industry to develop an unleaded fuel that advances aviation safety and improves the environment,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who overseas the FAA, said in a statement today.
The testing will be done in New Jersey, at the William J. Hughes Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport.
Unlike the cleaner-burning turbines of commercial jet engines or so-called turbo-prop planes, the piston engines used in most propeller aircraft use fuel containing tetraethyllead, the performance-enhancing additive that was banned in U.S. automobile fuel in 1995. Lead has been linked to neurological disorders in children, birth defects and cancer.
General aviation is the only transportation sector in the U.S. that still uses leaded fuel.
General aviation consumes a tiny fraction of the fuel burned by cars and trucks – .14 percent, in 2008, according to federal figures. But the FAA’s announcement was hailed as a significant step by environmentalists. There are 167,000 aircraft in the United States.
“It’s long overdue,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. Leaded fuel, he added, is “very dirty, and that is why it is illegal to put in automobiles."
Under the testing program, the FAA will invite producers of aviation fuel, known as avgas, to submit samples of lead-free alternatives by July 2014, for evaluation by the FAA by the following Sept. 1. For the first phase of testing, the FAA will ask producers for 100 gallons of their lead-free fuel, and then 10,000-gallon samples for phase 2 flight testing.
Both phases of testing will take place at the Hughes Technical Center, which has been the site of countless technical evaluations, experiments and training exercises by the FAA. The center, which employs about 650 people and is the FAA's largest facility outside its headquarters, is the base for the agency’s biggest technical project, the implementation of the nation's Next-Gen satellite-based air traffic control system.
Federal officials have tried unsuccessfully to replace the current 100 octane low-lead fuel that is now the industry standard with a “drop-in” alternative, or one that could be substituted directly without the need for aircraft or engine modifications. So, rather than a ”drop-in,” the current initiative will choose an alternative with the least impact on prop lanes, with the goal of introducing a lead-free general aviation fuel in 2018.
Last year, aviation fuel industry leaders and government officials convened a panel charged with developing a process that would lead to the creation of a lead-free fuel.
Thomas L. Hendricks, president of National Air Transportation Association, the main general aviation industry group, welcomed the announcement.
“FAA's participation and leadership in establishing this testing program is vital as we work to bring about an unleaded future for our industry," Hendricks said in a statement.
RELATED COVERAGE
• Three Mercer County gas stations pumped aviation fuel instead of regular gas