Aeroplex Group Partners announced that Santa Monica Airport (SMO) in California has successfully transitioned to unleaded aviation gasoline — Swift UL94 — at its self-service fuel station to support the aviation industry’s efforts to reduce lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft.
Santa Clara County in California, located just a few hours north of Santa Monica, recently came under fire for its banning of the sale of 100LL fuel at airports beginning the first of the year. Piston operators, whose aircraft are not yet approved for unleaded fuels, feared both misfuelling at airports and a lack of access to certified fuel.
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Santa Monica will be the first airport in the region to offer a viable fuel replacement option for 100LL avgas. According to Aeroplex, Swift UL94 satisfies the requirements for over 125,000 aircraft, or 66% of the U.S. piston fleet.
In February, the industry established the EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions) initiative that will ban leaded fuel by 2030.
“With more than 40 years of experience developing airport and aviation facilities across the nation, our team partnered with a committed city, airport staff and Swift Fuels, to encourage the adoption of viable and operationally safe fuel replacement alternatives,” said Curt Castagna, President and CEO of Aeroplex Group Partner. “This serves as a first step in an evolutionary process to deploy 100% “unleaded” alternative drop-in replacement aviation gasoline that will eliminate the need for toxic lead in avgas altogether.”
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