Frank,
I believe the EAA position on ethanol is not to use it under their STC.
Here is a quote about compliance from the EAA web site:
/"EAA STC approvals are for the use of unleaded regular automobile
gasoline, *excluding gasoline containing alcohol*, manufactured to the
ASTM Specification D-4814 (American Society of Testing Materials, 1916
Race St., Philadelphia, PA 19103). Specification D-4814 superseded
Specification D-439. "
/The 5% figure you refer to is also from their web site in an area
discussing alcohol that may be in gasoline. This information is found on
a page which speaks of how to detect alcohol in your gas, how to measure
the amount of alcohol in your gas, and the effect of alcohol on your
engine and fuel systems. Many EAA members are flying experimental
(rather than certificated) aircraft and I believe they have more freedom
as to fuel choice than pilots of certificated aircraft. The 5% alcohol
level is noted DO NOT FLY as a warning that there is danger to being off
the ground with 5% or more alcohol in your tank. However, the mogas STC
is pretty plain -- NO ethanol is approved.
I believe the recent EAA article about mixing mogas and 100LL referred
only to unleaded mogas and was in reference to the use of this mix to
control lead deposits while TCP was unavailable. I saw nothing in the
article that referred to ethanol or changed the EAA position as quoted
above.
John Roach
N 2427H
fnelson913 wrote:
>
> Here are a few things that I have found out about fuel in the past
> few days. Since the Mogas STC does not allow for automotive gasoline
> that contains ethanol, the question was asked about where you can
> get gasoline that does not have Ethanol. I thought my sport pilot
> instructor had a source in California. That was partially true.
> Apparently "all" gasoline sold in California has between 4% and 6%
> Ethanol. Through the Ultralight forums, there is a list of the exact
> amount of ethanol in the gasoline that each company is producing.
> Right now Mobil is low and ARCO is the highest in California. My
> instructor buys from Mobil and mixes 100LL aviation fuel to reduce
> the Ethanol percentage. The Rotax engine can tolerate up to 5% which
> is the same percentage that is listed in the EAA STC for mogas as
> the absolute-don't-use-it maximum.
>
> In some states, only E10 (10% ethanol blend) is available by law.
> Some states have passed laws that the premium grade of automotive
> gasoline contains no ethanol. In California, there is a mandate to
> move to E10 by 2010 but the refineries will need to invest in their
> transportation and handling infrastructure to support that.
>
> Relate to this discussion is the news that TCP will begin production
> of TCP again around April of this year. They had some problems with
> their packaging that tended to leak. The EAA recommended that
> people use the auto fuel STC in the meantime. They also suggested
> mixing 100LL with auto fuel to provide the same benefits of STC with
> respect to lead fouling. They recommended a mixure of three-fourths
> autogas and one-fourth 100LL which would contain the same lead
> content as was allowed in the 80/87 octane aviation fuel (suitable
> for the Ercoupe).
>
> So it seems that mixing 100LL and ethanol-blended auto gas will
> solve both the lead problem and the alcohol problem. If you only
> have E10 available, it looks like you would have to mix 50-50 to get
> the percentage of alcohol down to 5% or lower. At that point the
> lead content is half as bad but not yet done to the level of 80/87
> avgas (no longer available). A higher mixture of mogas can be used
> if the actual alcohol content is less than 10%, but it will require
> some research and/or testing to know what the content is to ensure
> that the mixture does not contain more than 5% alcohol.
>
> Of course the use of 100LL is the other option which will need TCP
> available to mitigate the risk of lead fouling. WOW… we practically
> have to make our own fuel to provide the right fuel for our birds.
>
> Frank Nelson
> N51DV – 415C
> TOA/California
>
>
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