Ethanol in mogas now in effect 

Here is a reminder, not only for Ontario members who use mogas in their aircraft, but to everyone who uses mogas for aviation, that they should be carefully checking their fuel source to ensure that it does not contain ethanol.

The reason being, under the Ontario province’s new regulation, which goes into effect January 2007, where all automotive gasoline must contain 5% ethanol, there is no requirement to post that fuel contains ethanol if the percentage is 5% or less, so members should be testing every batch they use.

When the Ontario government announced they will mandate ethanol in all auto fuel, more than a year ago, COPA fired off a letter to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty with our concerns about his plan.

We explained to the premier that many aircraft are permitted to use automotive fuel under Transport Canada approvals and Aircraft Supplementary Type Certificates (STCs). And that in all cases both Transport Canada and the STC documents prohibit the use of automotive fuel that contains ethanol.

This is due to the fact ethanol was shown in research studies to cause engine corrosion, deterioration of fuel system components and vapour locking of fuel systems at altitude resulting in engine failure. Therefore, the use of fuel containing ethanol in aircraft is prohibited by Transport Canada.

McGuinty’s response made it clear that the provincial government is going to pursue this ill-thought out policy, regardless of the economical cost to aviation users.

Therefore we have no political support for retention of non-ethanol fuel, other than of course 100LL.

For more information about the Ethanol in Gasoline regulation visit the Ministry of the Environment’s website.