you are not allowed to transport gasoline in the cabin/trunk of your car, I think the limit is 10l
I am afraid the limit is slightly higher. There is a piece of legislation called ADR 2009 which regulates the transport of dangerous goods within the EU (only 1.600 pages or so long). The ADR makes in paragraph 1.1.3.1 an excemption if the gas in the car is carried by a private person for sport or recreational purposes. Here the limit is 240l per car and 60l per individual canister. I.e. if you want to fill up your plane or boat you can legally drive around with 240l of gasoline on board and the usual restrictions for the transport by a professional company do not apply (no need to mark the car as carrying dangerous goods etc.) The canisters have to comply with certain EN-norms and need to be secured within the car, ie. not just thrown onto the backseat but apart from that one is pretty much good to go.
10l is the recommended amount of fuel one should not exceed to permanentely carry around in a canister in order to have some gas onboard if the tank runs dry, but this is only a recommendation for safety purposes, not a hard limitation. A different topic is driving over a border with filled gasoline canisters on board. Here the customs guys will become very excited if there is more than 20l in canisters on board.
you will need a bunch of permissions which is doable. A lot of airfields have these tanks on wheels
When going for a stationary tank or a non certified tank, that is correct. If one goes for a tank on wheels with has a proper “Baumusterzulassung” (an STC for lack of a better word) to be used as a mobile tank on an airfield one only needs the ok by the field operator. Additionally, one needs to comply with the regulations of where on the field it is ok to fill a plane (e.g. just within the area of the gas station or also on the apron). That depends on the approval of the individual airfield. Also, the usual rules apply like grounding the plane and the tank etc.
No, you can be sure it has much more than 1%.
Actually, that is not true. Our airfield gets mogas from local standard gasoline suppliers, the same stuff they deliver to the independent gas stations. Shortly after this E10 stuff started, there was increased ethanole, around 2%. Since then it has gone down to 0.2% and has been at that level for at least 2 years. We have a good testing device. You don’t know what you’re getting but so far it has been good.
In Germany you have to differentiate between what a business is allowed to do and what a private person can do. Generally, people are rather relaxed about the jerry can population, it is being tolerated in my experience. As part of the road safety regulations, you are not allowed to transport gasoline in the cabin/trunk of your car, I think the limit is 10l. I wouldn’t say that stops a lot of people, you normally wouldn’t drive hundreds of kilometers with it.
As to your club, you will need a bunch of permissions which is doable. A lot of airfields have these tanks on wheels. I suggest you talk to one of the airfields that has it, Auerbach EDOA comes to mind. It is usually handled by your county administration (Landratsamt) so might depend on where you are thanks to our federalism.
But I was told by a friend with connections to Total that they are moving out of this market
Of course they are. UL91 is their product that replaces their mogas.
Thank you, I will have a look there. Did not come across this site with my Google-search for cannisters and planes …
95% of them fly Rotax engines, which can tolerate up to 5% alcohol.
True, but that says nothing about the rest of the fuel circuit.
Actually, not really true to the letter: Rotax 912 are now even “certified” for 10% ethanol.
But the fuel tanks, filters, valves, tubing, pre-pump, &c. are outside Rotax’s control.
Fibreglass wet-wing tanks are a particularly delicate subject.
only TOTAL guarantees less than 1% for their MoGas
That is correct. But I was told by a friend with connections to Total that they are moving out of this market. Don’t quote me on this as it might not be the official line of Total or even total hearsay.
I spoke to a couple of other clubs using “tanks on wheels” at their fields. Their attitude towards alcohol is rather widespread. Some do not test the fuel they buy at all, others test every batch they obtain. The feedback I got from two clubs which purchase rather a lot of car petrol (30.000 l and 40.000 l p.a respectively) for their fleets of both ULs with Rotax-engines as well as Lyco-powered Echo-class planes, and they seem to test every batch, was that every tank of SuperPlus they purchased contained less than 1% of alcohol and that SuperPremium (e.g. Aral Ultimate or Shell V-Power) contained only traces of alcohol.
Speaking of maximum alcohol content in fuel for Lycontinentals, I wonder if there is an STC’d modification that would do away with that requirement by changing some gaskets etc. in the fuel system – after all, there are Lycoming models certified to run on E85.
Sure, but 95% of them fly Rotax engines, which can tolerate up to 5% alcohol. Most Lyco and Conti STCs specify max 1%, if I remember correctly.
As a microlighter, and in a (mostly vain) effort to keep my little mastery of German alive, I lurk a lot, and post rarely, on www.ulforum.de The original subject has been debated there repeatedly, as has the alcohol matter.
No, you can be sure it has much more tha 1%. I heard that only TOTAL guarantees less than 1% for their MoGas, at least that’s what the guys at my airport told me
