GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – When American Airlines pilot Kent Wien flies for fun, his routine involves a long detour: a 90-mile round-trip flight from his base in Poughkeepsie, NY, to this Berkshire town, to buy unleaded airplane fuel.
Lead was banned from US gasoline 25 years ago, but it is still found in almost all avgas, the fuel used in many propeller-driven aircraft. Great Barrington’s small airstrip is the only airport in the area that sells an unleaded alternative.
The limited availability of unleaded avgas has made Mr. Wien, who prefers unleaded and drives his sporty two-seater a few times a month, an outlier among pilots. Now, growing opposition from airport neighbors on both coasts could help spur a broader transition away from leaded fuel, which has been on hold for years.
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The fight has already caught up with pilots in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Santa Clara County this year banned the sale of leaded fuel at two small airports. The airport in East Hampton, NY, which is crowded with jet-setters in the summer, has also considered a ban.
If rules like these are rolled out across the country before unleaded fuel becomes more widely available, private flying — known as general aviation — could be severely impacted, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, an advocacy group. “General aviation would really struggle if we lost our ecosystem of public airports that deliver fuel,” said its president, Mark Baker.
Greg Spades, a flight instructor at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, Calif., said the Santa Clara ban added hundreds of dollars in costs to some of his company’s instructional hours. Its high-performance aircraft now have to fly to other airports to refuel.
Mr Spades said the rule was onerous and felt like deliberate interference by politicians. “They knew this would have a serious impact on our business,” said Mr. Spades.
Overall avgas consumption has declined over the years, reflecting a broader decline in general aviation flight operations. In the mid-1980s, airports were pumping more than 30,000 barrels of avgas per day. By last year, consumption had dropped to about 12,000 barrels a day, according to the Federal Energy Information Administration. Commercial jet aircraft, such as the Airbus models that Mr. Wien flies at work, use a different unleaded fuel.
Studies have linked leaded gasoline pollution to chronic disease and developmental problems. In the Bay Area, a county-commissioned report found that banning lead in avgas would improve children’s health. For the same reason, the use of lead in automotive gasoline began to fade in the 1970s and was eventually banned in the US by the Clean Air Act in 1996.
“We have made it clear that we do not sell leaded avgas and it is the responsibility of pilots to plan accordingly,” said Sylvia Gallegos, Santa Clara Deputy District Superintendent. She said the county is proud that its ban on leaded fuel has raised awareness nationwide.
Many pilots are also suspicious of leaded fuel. Mr. Wien hates getting his hands on it and believes leaded gasoline is worse for his plane’s engine and the environment. But technical and business challenges have limited the lead-free alternative it uses to a small niche.
Engineers have been working for years to develop an unleaded fuel that burns smoothly in even the most demanding aircraft engines.
Adding lead to fuel increases its octane rating, which can help prevent combustion problems in some engines. Many high performance propeller aircraft require a higher octane formulation.
Two companies, Swift Fuels and General Aviation Modifications Inc., are among those trying to introduce alternatives.
Swift’s 94-octane unleaded Avgas is available at approximately 70 small airports across the country, including fields in California where lead is now banned. Still, that’s a fraction of the more than 5,000 public airports in the US, most of which still only sell leaded avgas.
Further expansion is slow because most airports don’t stock spare tanks for the unleaded product, said Swift CEO Chris D’Acosta. And the fuel doesn’t have a high enough octane rating to replace standard 100-octane avgas for high-performance aircraft.
Mr D’Acosta said the company was working on a 100-octane unleaded fuel that could be ready within three years.
The Great Barrington, Mass. airport is the only one in the area that sells unleaded avgas.
Photo: Matt Grossman/The Wall Street Journal
The Federal Aviation Administration has yet to approve such a product. Earlier this year, the agency launched a partnership with trade groups and fuel manufacturers aimed at what then-FAA Administrator Steve Dickson called a “safe and practical path to unleaded aviation.” The group’s goal is to transition to unleaded fuel by 2030.
Meanwhile, some unleaded fuels can work in some propeller planes. But even where it is available, getting pilots to accept unleaded avgas is a challenge.
On a Saturday morning, Mr Wien had little company as he reached for the unleaded pump at the Great Barrington Airport service station. More recently, some of its flying buddies have made the switch, but buying unleaded lead still requires regulatory paperwork and a scavenger hunt for the few airports that sell it.
Pilot training is another hurdle. Many have been taught that avgas contains lead for a reason, and no one wants to experiment and risk an in-flight engine failure.
“There are a lot of old wives’ tales,” says Mike Busch, mechanic and piston engine expert. “Aviation is remarkable in its resilience to change, particularly on the maintenance side.”
write to Matt Grossman at [email protected]
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