We in the UK are faced with the prospect of ethanol content in fuel being raised
in September from 5% to 10%. About 10 or so years ago (or was it longer?) this
whole subject got debated to death, with the LAA Light Aircraft Association
taking the position that we should always check each fuel batch for ethanol
before
pouring it into our fuel tanks. The test using a glass test tube with about
1" of water in the bottom, noting its level, then adding about 4 X as much
fuel before shaking well and allowing to settle to see if the water level had
apparently risen, was not particularly accurate and I never saw the water level
rise.
The LAA's understandable position then was "If you find evidence of ethanol in
fuel, then don't use it!" This position is very unlikely to change, which will
mean that Rotax engines should either use avgas or UL91. For those of us living
in god-forsaken northern latitudes, neither of these fuels are available and
it would be economically prohibitive to either import them to our remote
airfields
or to fly to the nearest large airport to refuel, while simultaneously
incurring landing fees and handling charges of 200!
Obviously (at least to me) Europas should cope with 10% ethanol in fuel, because
I believe that at least one, maybe more Europas in Brazil were using fuel with
ethanol having well in ecxess of 20%. Seemingly our "plastic" fuel tanks,
automotive
fuel lines and carburettors are unfased by ethanol.
Please correct me if I'm wrong about Brazil and let me know whether ethanol is
to blame for any fuel tank failures in Europas. Thank you.
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http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=501000#501000
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