Refueling Options
As I’ve been building my second fuel tank, another thought has re-entered my mind: how to get gas to my plane.
Leaded gasoline has been in the news lately, with a not-so-great spotlight being shone on aviation’s 100LL AvGas as being the last major producer of airborne lead emissions. The good news is that my Rotax engine prefers to burn unleaded “Mogas” (automotive gas). The bad news is that mogas is pretty hard to find at airports, since most aviation engines require 100LL “low-lead” gas.
There is a new unleaded gas called G100UL that was just approved in June. It’s been 30 years in the making, and will take a while – maybe years – before it’s widely available. Also, since it’s so new, I also don’t know if it’s approved to use in Rotax engines. The first targeted applications for G100UL are Lycoming and Continental engines that currently require 100LL gas. So, unless things change rapidly,
Since my airport doesn’t have unleaded gas at the field yet, that leaves me with two options to get unleaded gas – either I can fly to another airport selling mogas, or “tanker” in my own gas. The closest airport selling mogas is 50nm away, in Sanford Maine. For the tankering option, there’s a thread on Pilots of America forum talking about ways to get mogas from regular filling stations over to the airport, and most recommendations are to use portable fuel cans. A product made by Flo-fast came recommended, I may get something like the picture below – a pair of 10.5 gal containers along with a manual hand pump secured to a cart. 21 gals will fill the tanks half-way for about 3 hrs of flight time, which should meet most of my needs. I need to look into safety regs regarding transporting portable fuel containers in personal vehicles. I don’t have a pickup truck, so these containers would be riding in the trunk of my car.
