If running costs are the first consideration, yet good performance is required, have you thought of the Tecnam twin? Should be able to do with 25-30 liters of MoGas per hour, is really spacious (perhaps it could be considered a miniature Aero Commander?) , and state of the art so will better keep its value.
BTW pumpgas is a term I never heard or saw before – there is some poetry to it, admittedly, but little practical communications value, I’m afraid. Whenever I came across the term mogas it meant petrol as sold for cars along the roadside, possibly including alcohol up to 10% – the term does seem to apply to both 95 and 98 octane.
Not an answer to your question, I suppose, but some kind soul in Germany does keep up his MoGasKarte, mentioning the rip-off Total UL91 separately. No mention of the ethanol content, though.
By Mogas in Ireland, I mean unleaded car petrol meeting spec IS EN 228. There is no special Mogas for aviation use over here. So Mogas or PumpGas call it what you like, but either way you are just buying trouble. Think Rotax flyers can manage it, but as for Lycomings and Conti’s no thanks.
Does this mean that the MOGAS STCs (which go back decades on e.g. Cessna 182 or similar O-540 engines) were based on ethanol-free fuel and are today basically useless?
It would be far from the only STC which is useless but it’s worth knowing why.
Ethanol can damage fuel system seals.
Peter wrote:
Does this mean that the MOGAS STCs (which go back decades on e.g. Cessna 182 or similar O-540 engines) were based on ethanol-free fuel and are today basically useless?
The term used in the FAA STCs is Auto Fuel, but they require that fuel to contain no meaningful amount of alcohol. As such, they are basically useless in most areas of the US. I have them for both my planes, and don’t use them now.
Peter wrote:
Does this mean that the MOGAS STCs (which go back decades on e.g. Cessna 182 or similar O-540 engines) were based on ethanol-free fuel and are today basically useless?
Yes… Unless you can find ethanol-free Mogas nearby. Some chains have such premium fuels (containing bio-EBTE instead of bio-ethanol as the biocomponent).
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
If running costs are the first consideration, yet good performance is required, have you thought of the Tecnam twin?
I hadn’t really considered it, no. I’ll give it a look, thanks for the tip.
Peter wrote:
Does this mean that the MOGAS STCs (which go back decades on e.g. Cessna 182 or similar O-540 engines) were based on ethanol-free fuel and are today basically useless?
Yes, absolutely.
As JnsV mentioned, it is still possible to obtain ethanol-free Mogas in the States though.
A lot of boats and drag racers also burn high octane fuels, and they would have the same issues as GA if ethanol were in the mix along with various other agrarian machines, so some specialist fuel suppliers stock it.
From what I’ve read, none of the guys using Mogas have had any problems with their fuel lines or any other issues except for those who mentioned vapor lock, but for all those aircraft, there’s no STC available (for exactly that reason).
What some of the experimenters have been doing is taking 3-5 buckets of 91+ octane from the local gas station (with ethanol) and putting samples of their hoses, seals, washers, etc. in each bucket. They’ll have a bucket for each component, and leave it for months to see if there is any deterioration. What one individual reported is that the chemical directly responsible for deteriorating the seals, gaskets and the like, was common in fuels in the 80’s, but refineries have stopped putting these chemicals in the gas. He uses mogas with ethanol (has for years) and reports no issues whatsoever.
A little balsy, but I’m glad he’s trying it and not me.
I’m absolutely no chemist, or materials engineer, so I have no personal experience or expertise in this arena. Just looking into it after seeing a rising tide of news about AVGAS being phased out in the States.
Also, as there is an abundance of “Mogas” available in Austria, Italy and Germany, it makes sense for me to look into it, because I see LSA taking off, and a large number of these burn Mogas, so I expect this trend to spread.
AF wrote:
As JnsV mentioned, it is still possible to obtain ethanol-free Mogas in the States though.
I was referring to Central Europe (HU/SK), but the situation should be similar in the US.
JnsV wrote:
I was referring to Central Europe (HU/SK), but the situation should be similar in the US.
Oh! My mistake, sorry about that.
So there are still pumps delivering ethanol-free gasoline/benzin in HU/SK?
AF wrote:
So there are still pumps delivering ethanol-free gasoline/benzin in HU/SK?
MOL Group Evo Neo gasoline is advertised as only containing bio-EBTE and the lack of ethanol is confirmed by my own tests. Shell V-Power Nitro+ and some other local Slovakian premium gas should also be free of ethanol.
JnsV wrote:
MOL Group Evo Neo gasoline is advertised as only containing bio-EBTE and the lack of ethanol is confirmed by my own tests. Shell V-Power Nitro+ and some other local Slovakian premium gas should also be free of ethanol.
Brilliant, thanks for the update!
