Peter wrote:
But this is where it got stuck. From the article:
If this requires the US Congress to add statutory authority to the FAA mandate, then I’m 100% sure all of us here will have long lost out medicals before it happens.
Sure the modern-day FAA behaves in an anal manner and moves at the speed of a tortoise (ask anybody with a special issuance medical for example) but, to be fair, you have to “somehow” deal with the point in post #30.
This cannot be disposed of by saying EASA can do it, or whatever. Somebody has to establish material compatibility in the GA fleet with the two candidate fuels. This isn’t technically difficult but there are probably a few hundred types to cover IF you are going to certify the fuel (for all aircraft which currently use 100LL) rather than the aircraft. Or you could do it for fewer types if you did less research – like Lycoming certified not all engines for 91UL.
There may be a route whereby an STC (or whatever route is used) has a condition that the fuel system must be verified by an A&P to use only compatible materials (PR1422/1440/etc, Viton o-rings, etc).
I don’t know the legal challenges involved here but EASA cannot be immune to this given they have just screwed a few k pilots due to a claimed (and highly technical and basically bollox) liability issue!
Or maybe a legally rigorous route is to not worry about some planes crashing if their fuel seals start to break up and end up sucked into carbs or fuel servos etc, but it would surprise me.
The other fuel candidates were rejected earlier; it would be interesting to know why, but I can imagine that some of the formula owners were asking too much in licensing fees as well as being too combative to do a deal with anybody let alone the FAA 
From here
Peter wrote:
There is a rumour going around some UK social media that the REACH regulation is going to result in a ban on 100LL in 2021.
Specifically 100LL or more general lead/TEL content?
Swift Fuels has announced a $100 FOREVER STC for Canada/US and for Europe in about 90 days, to cover 100-octane unleaded avgas once approved, with an expectation it will replace 100LL globally within 3-5 years. They seem to feel confident that FAA-approval will come quite “soon”.
Swift FOREVER STC announced
Hard to say. It has been rumoured that TEL may disappear but I don’t believe that. Warter Fuels have said the 100LL market is worth a few hundred million € just in Europe. But TEL is intimately tied in with 100LL, obviously. It would be TEL which would be banned, if anything.
The EU is constantly threatening this and that – I get that at work all the time. They were constantly threatening to terminate the various ROHS exemptions which many small electronics companies have been relying on.
I think this rumour is nonsense but wonder if anyone else has heard it.
The Swift STC is interesting. Let’s hope they get there.
Agreed. If the Europe market for 100LL is a few hundred million €, then the US market must be at least 10x that. If Swift is successful in the US, then certainly it will overflow to the Europe market, even if TEL is not (yet) banned. US success is likely to hinge on price; that is, price being no more than 100LL, and being able to reuse most if not all the existing 100LL delivery infrastructure.
In their FAQ Swift claim that: “Our 100-octane unleaded avgas will be fully commingable with 100LL. This means that it can be stored in the same airport tank as 100LL and commingled into the aircraft fuel tanks with 100LL at any ratio.”
One has to (?) wonder why a STC will be needed then…
Because those aircraft without the STC won’t be able to use those tanks/facilities with mixed fuel and the Swift fuel will need to be delivered via a separate delivery chain. This will still be a challenge as long an STC is not needed and the fuel is not approved for use in all aircraft approved for 100LL.
Quite amazing it can be mixed with 100LL.
Having read a lot about this over the years, it seemed that the only way to replace the octane rating if TEL is removed is by introducing some fairly nasty (nasty to fuel system seals) chemicals.
