This week GAMI, which developed the STC-approved G100UL high-octane avgas replacement, announced that a shipment of the fuel has been delivered to the Reid-Hillview airport in California. A load of 7500 gallons will be sold by the county-owned fueling service via truck. Currently, the only fuel available at KRHV is mogas, Jet A and Swift’s UL94 unleaded. Cost of a gallon of G100UL is expected to be close to what the County of Santa Clara is selling UL94 now, $7.59. Note that fuel prices in this part of California vary greatly, from $5.37/gallon at Tracy to $10.87/gallon at San Jose.
G100UL received supplemental type certificate approval for all gas engines in fixed-wing aircraft so certified airplanes will need this STC to legally use the fuel. Experimentals do not require the STC. To encourage aircraft owners to try G100UL, GAMI is offering the STC for free at a rollout event this Saturday, November 2, from 9am to 6pm, and will “provide the services of an I.A. at KRHV during the day on Saturday, November 2nd, to ‘sign-off’ the required Form 337 at no charge.” Also, according to GAMI, “Residents of KRHV who purchase a G100UL STC between now and midnight on November 1st, 2024, will receive a full refund of the purchase of that set of STCs.
Moreover, by having G100UL “commercially available,” GAMI believes it will have tripped a requirement established by a consent decree that will force some California FBOs to sell any fuel that has lower lead content than 100LL.
As reported by AVweb, the load of G100UL had to come from its origin in Louisiana to California entirely by truck. GAMI previously announced that Vitol Aviation has refined some 1 million gallons of G100UL currently being stored in Louisiana.
Finally, a note on comments. Previous coverage of the transition from leaded to unleaded fuel has prompted notably heated debate. Whether or not you believe that lead in aviation fuels constitutes a verifiable health hazard, the truth is that industry and legislative action will push general aviation toward an unleaded future. It is inevitable. Please refrain from making this political.
I don’t understand the business model. Charge a small license fee per gallon through the distributor, give the STC away free. That’s how I’d do it.
There must be some reason why that won’t work, most likely that there’s no ability to prevent the oil companies from mixing G100UL themselves without having to pay a license fee. That is, it’s not patentable.
Unfortunately, the free STC is only available to RHV residents. Details here: https://g100ul.com/dl/GAMI%20Reid%20Hillview%2010%2028%202024.pdf
Any chance of a nationwide “free STC for a limited time” window?
It’ll be interesting to see how the definition of commercially available shakes out. I’d say there’s a fair chance of it giving that trucking company a competitive lead on everyone else for shipping fuel until others get going. Being unleaded, it may even be possible for it to ship via pipeline eventually.