The big oil players keep saying the same stuff. And you get various execs from them posting on pilot forums more of the same stuff.
We have had years of this crap, all over the internet.
But for some amazing reason there is no problem with anybody making the stuff! The price isn’t going up either (well not more than anything else in this game).
Then you get Warter Fuels (Polish) saying the EU is a 200M-300M euro avgas business and they love it. No problem at all making it, and distributing it anywhere. They just stand up at Aero Friedrichshafen and take the p1ss out of the oil companies…
It just looks like the issue is really a mixture of
Just visited Warter’s site. They are offering not one but FIVE grades of avgas: 100LL, 115/145, B91/115 (the Russian standard), UL91 and OBR85UL, plus smoke oil!
So why is the internet full of the “avgas ending tomorrow” FUD, while anybody who can make it (which seems to be quite a lot of people) is happily selling it to anybody who wants to buy it?
You forgot the Environmentalists that complain about our “exception” with lead use .
The EPA here int he US is fierce and they will eventually shut it down. Might not be a problem now, but it will be eventually. And with the lifespan of the average spam can being over 40 years old these days, you got to think long term….
Peter wrote:
It just looks like the issue is really a mixture ofairport management not wanting it (maybe not wanting piston GA)
airport having done an exclusive fuel deal with say BP and they want a minimum volume
stupid airport management can’t be bothered because they don’t want more planes coming
I think it is a storage/handling/distribution thing. It’s similar to mogas. The gas stations earn nothing by selling fuel, they just need it to get customers to purchase hot dogs, burgers and ice cream. I believe it is cheaper to get avgas in bulk or barrels yourself, for your own use, than to pay BP/Shell for this “service”.
The gas stations earn nothing by selling fuel, they just need it to get customers to purchase hot dogs, burgers and ice cream.
That may be true in some places but is far from a general fact.
I agree – I work right above one.
I believe it is cheaper to get avgas in bulk or barrels yourself, for your own use, than to pay BP/Shell for this “service”.
Bulk or barrels – a big difference in cost, seemingly. But barrels are a lot more discreet and there are many locations in Europe where barrels are delivered to “some other location” and then kept out of sight next to the grass strip.
Michael wrote:
You forgot the Environmentalists that complain about our “exception” with lead use .
And rightly so. Interestingly, “the environment”, which usually is associated with nature and climate, does not suffer much from lead. But we humans do. Using lead as anti-detonant in combustion engines must be the second most stupid idea in physics/engineering after actually building and using the atomic bomb. The technology to build and/or modify combustion engines to be compatible with unleaded fuel has been around since half a century.
The EPA has dealt with the perpetual smog problems in LA by forcing ALL carmakers to go unleaded and install catalysers in spite of their initial whining that it will destroy the industry. So anyone hoping EPA will be lenient with GA is probably not familiar with EPA and its longtime chief.
