GAMI expects 'fleetwide' approval for its unleaded avgas
The company that in July announced receiving FAA approval of its high-octane unleaded aviation fuel for use in a limited number of engines and airframes as a long-sought alternative to leaded avgas now expects many more approvals in the next four weeks.
George Braly, co-founder and chief engineer of General Aviation Modifications Inc. (GAMI), broke the news during an AOPA webinar on September 16, noting that the expected expansion of supplemental type certificates will include “literally several hundreds of additional makes and models of popular engines.”
The news about a giant leap toward an unleaded avgas for the masses didn’t end there. Braly estimated that a “fleetwide expansion” of the list of models approved to burn GAMI’s G100UL unleaded avgas could be accomplished by the first or second quarter of 2022.
Two tests that are “closely similar to tests GAMI has already successfully performed as certification tests” remain to be accomplished, Braly said. But because of the similarities, “GAMI believes the risk of failure is extremely low.”
Braly rejected suggestions that giving outside experts a shot at weighing in on the fuel’s performance would be productive with the expected approvals so near at hand and FAA oversight of the process so careful.
Aviation-fuel distributor Avfuel is working with GAMI on planning the logistics of introducing G100UL into the aviation-fuel supply chain. Muneeb Ahmed, Avfuel’s director of trading and logistics, said he envisioned distribution building slowly over time from a starting point involving small-lot fuel deliveries to organizations such as flight schools.
When asked about the fuel’s future availability to non-Avfuel customers, Ahmed reiterated the position Avfuel asserted in a news release after the initial STCs were announced in July, at which time Avfuel said the two companies would “ensure G100UL avgas is available to all legitimate distributors and vendors on an equitable basis in terms of access and economics.”
