It works on ENVA, sort of, anytime now at least. The reason is cost and changing operators since when Statoil and Avinor stopped doing avgas.
To have an aircraft and be dependent on avgas in Norway is not a practical thing anymore. Jet A1 is on all airports, and 98 (non ethanol) can be obtained on all smaller strips, but it’s all private, you have to talk to people.
The avgas situation is getting better, but at snail speed, and highly dependent on local activity and initiative.
The reason is cost
You can get CC processing done, in volume, for under 2%. Like TOTAL-only pumps, this is pure greed.
To have an aircraft and be dependent on avgas in Norway is not a practical thing anymore
Unless all of Norway buys a DA40 or DA42, or can run on car petrol (with all the issues like shelf life which must be a huge issue in Norway due to the extremely seasonal operations) or can afford a Jetprop / TBM / etc, that is a death sentence for GA in Norway.
that is a death sentence for GA in Norway.
Still alive, but it’s a nuisance for sure, compared with how it used to be 30 years ago. It’s not that you won’t get fuel, but you have to make sure up front regarding 100LL.
Getting a plane today that is not mogas compatible, will severely restrict the flying you can do in that plane. Hence, very few do, which in terms will lower the demand for 100LL further.
Old aircraft, ULs and experimental will burn anything. Diesel powered planes are few and far apart, but this is more due to technical issues, and the fact that practically speaking, only Avinor airports have Jet fuel. (ENOP) has all kinds of fuel though.
Old aircraft, ULs and experimental will burn anything
Ethanol will dissolve the fuel system seals very nicely 
Getting a plane today that is not mogas compatible
Peter wrote:
Ethanol will dissolve the fuel system seals very nicely
In Norway we have ethanol free (and led free) 98 octane I don’t know any station anywhere that sell 98 with ethanol. It’s used for:
Shell and Esso (Exxon) have this everywhere. In my region there is even a local oil company called Trønder Oil. The only gasoline they sell is 98 octane, guaranteed ethanol free. They sell lots of diesel and other stuff as well though.
Peter wrote:
Are there fixed pumps at airfields doing “mogas” (filling 20 litre jerrycans at a petrol station is not practical)
Very seldom fixed pumps with mogas at smaller fields. What is used is typically towed tanks, min 330 l, but could be 1000s of liters also. At ENOP (a small non Avinor field) there are one towed 2000l (I think) MOGAS, one fixed Jet A1 and one fixed 100LL, 2000 l or more each. Tynset (another small field) has 100LL in a large tank. At ENVA we have 100LL and mogas on a 330l tank. Røros has 100LL and so on. On even smaller fields there are jerry cans only, but now we are talking private strips, more or less for private use.
There’s no problem getting fuel if you need fuel. The problem is more that 100LL may run empty, and if it does, it could take a week or more before it’s filled up again. No such problem with mogas. The other problem is that the entire infrastructure of 100LL that Avinor served is gone. That has happened gradually during the last 20-30 years. Today the words from Avinor is they have stopped 100LL entirely. This means that unless there are some private initiative, typically by the local flying club, there will be no 100LL (or mogas for that matter).
Statoil used to have aviation fuel, all kinds. They sold all the retail stuff to Circle K (90% + was ordinary gas stations). Circle K is not into aviation fuel retail business, at least not in Norway. BP and Shell is still around, but don’t do aviation retail either, except for Jet. It was Avinor/Statoil that “operated” the retail business. There have been some other companies, but they have given up, or have been completely unreliable.
The status today is that there is no fuel infrastructure at all. Every single fuel pump or fuel outlet of any kind (100LL and mogas) is entirely built on the principle that “someone” has to make it happen. There’s no money in it. The best one can hope for is to run it at zero net cost. 9 times out of 10 this also means that unless some local club or local individual administrates this for free, there simply will be no fuel at all, anywhere. Except Jet at Avinor fields. This may seem strange for folks in England and on the continent perhaps, but this is how lots of stuff works in Norway. The entire rescue business, ambulance helicopters, rescue boats and rescue personnel operates for all practical purposes, more or less, on this principle for instance. Fire departments are mostly part time workers, but that’s more common other places also I think. To be sure you will get fuel somewhere within reasonable distance, the way to go is with an aircraft that can accept 100LL or any other aviation gasoline of course, but most importantly mogas 98.
Avinor is in practice the only one that could (and did for a long time) operate a fully functional fuel infrastructure. With that gone, there’s no money in it for anyone to bother with any commercial go at it anymore. And if they do, they for sure will not last long. So this is how it is. At some places there are nice facilities and easy to pay with card. Other places there are seemingly nothing, and no “ordinary” way to pay, but that doesn’t mean you cannot get fuel and pay for it.
Another thing is that tax on mogas is defined as road tax. Mogas used for other tings than road use, does not pay that tax. It’s about € 0.5 per liter, and will add up to a whole lot during a year.
At Hattfjelldal you can simply taxi to the (car) gas station
Ga would be much better off with Avinor serving fuel (100LL) as they used to do of course. That is not going to happen ever again. We have to adapt to it. It’s as simple as that. The same has happened in Sweden as far as I understand, but Swedes are usually more organized than us, so they have a pretty OK working fuel situation They have had longer time at it as well I think. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there would be much fuel around in Sweden if it haven’t been for free work done by local flying clubs. (they also have Hjelmco). Fuel is much more expensive there though.
Peter wrote:
Unless all of Norway buys a DA40 or DA42Don’t forget the DR401 155CDI. Great GA plane. Very powerful in the mountains and still a true 4-seather.
You can get CC processing done, in volume, for under 2%. Like TOTAL-only pumps, this is pure greed.Agreed. It’s a pity. At least BP cards are free to obtain (French Total cards cost a 200€ deposit), but still a hassle for new customers. Also, in Norway, some airports even require Shell cards, as they canceled cooperation with BP. Ålesund (ENAL) for example doesn’t take BP for Jet A1. Avgas is however delivered by local aeroclub and can therefore paid by traditional methods.
At Hattfjelldal you can simply taxi to the (car) gas stationHow cool is that? Does that work well with a regular SEP? (Still, I do prefer a good Avgas network, instead of taxing to a car gas station.)
Sure, the DR401 is not without problems. I’m only chartering one since last year, and the owner runs also a maintenance facility. They had an engine issue after 750 hrs, which had to be replaced last autumn. Other than that, it seems to run pretty well without FADEC issues. You might see the DR401 at several Swiss aeroclubs. It’s maybe the best GA plane in its category for Alpine flights. Short runways, high-density altitude, moderate leeward winds, climbing out a valley towards a pass… all no problem. And a decent cruising speed of 130 kts TAS. The one at our aerodrome comes with Garmin G500, which is nice too.
I fly the DR400/180R with Avgas as well. Still a nice GA plane, and also a true 4-seather, but it loses power at altitude and is practically 10-20 kts TAS slower, depending on power setting and cruising altitude.
LeSving wrote:
Old aircraft, ULs and experimental will burn anything.
well, some experimentals would burn anything, others would not. But I would agree, that ability to run on straight 95 fuel is a big plus.
LeSving wrote:
There’s no problem getting fuel if you need fuel.
My experience is that there is indeed no problem in getting fuel as long as it’s 95 mogas. Getting 98 fuel is much more difficult.
