The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) recently added an Unleaded Avgas Fact Sheet to its Misfueling Program Resources.
Produced by NATA’s General Aviation Fuel Handling Subcommittee, the fact sheet points out that as of August, Swift Fuels’ UL94 is the only grade of unleaded avgas that’s commercially produced and available at some airports.
What is UL94 Unleaded Avgas?
Produced and sold solely by Swift Fuels from its Indiana fuel facility since 2015, UL94 is a 94+ Motor Octane aviation gasoline without tetraethyllead that meets the ASTM D7547 Unleaded Avgas specification.
According to Swift Fuels’ website, “UL94 has an identical density to 100LL, meaning weight and balance calculations will not change by using UL94. UL94 Unleaded Avgas satisfies the minimum octane requirements of over 125,000 aircraft (66 percent of the U.S. piston fleet) as a ‘drop-in ready’ unleaded avgas. It requires no modifications and no hardware changes.”
To minimize refueling errors, Swift Fuels says, “All piston aircraft should demonstrate an FAA-approved fuel placard showing allowed fuels.” The company also insists on the use of FAA Form 337 and offers the option to print an auto-populated form from its website.
To determine which aircraft can use UL94, interested parties can search Swift Fuels online database.
To ensure that an aircraft requiring 100LL is not misfueled with UL94, NATA advises pilots should communicate with FBOs and verify their fuel orders every time fueling takes place. According to NATA, a properly communicated fuel order (verbal or written) includes:
- Aircraft registration (tail) number
- Type and grade of fuel (e.g. UL94 or 100LL) – Until recently, spark-ignition piston misfueling concerns were primarily limited to misfueling with Jet A. Now, if an aircraft requires 100LL, requesting “avgas” is no longer sufficient. All fuel orders must specify the grade of fuel requested.
- Volume of fuel to be distributed into each tank.
Once the above has been communicated to FBO staff, NATA advises, “Verify the information by having the order repeated back to you. Additionally, verify your fuel ticket/credit receipt for proper grade of fuel and quantity before signing.”
Additional information about aviation gasoline can be found at https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/avgas.
