Swift Fuels is now collaborating with the William J. Hughes Technical Center on engine testing to secure approval from the FAA for the company’s 100R unleaded aviation gasoline.

While Swift Fuels already has FAA certification via STC/AML for:

• 1,200+ piston engine models
• 1,600 airframe models

Under these approvals, Swift Fuels STCs can use 100R unleaded avgas, which is ASTM International compliant and already in the market.

The additional testing planned with FAA fuel testing experts at the Tech Center is now adding new testing criteria focused on higher-compression engines.

Representatives from Swift Fuels say, “Swift Fuels has privately tested many of these same engines with positive results—however, we now believe joining the FAA Tech Center in this process is the best and fastest way for all parties to align in a strong comparative basis to evaluate 100R’s performance results using the same FAA engine protocols (so called “Apples-to-Apples”).”

The EAGLE/FAA Tech Center apples-to-apples evaluation involves several specific parameters, such as:

• All fuels must comply with ASTM International fuel standards.
• All unresolved R&D on fuel must be finalized and fuels deemed as market ready.

Once the comparative testing program commences, industry stakeholders from EAGLE and the FAA are planning to collaborate further with Swift Fuels.

The engines that Swift and the FAA are preparing to test at the FAA Tech Center include:

• Continental IO-550D
• Continental TSIO-520-VB
• Continental O-470-U
• Continental W670-6N
• Lycoming IO-540-K1A5
• Lycoming TIO-540-J2B
• Lycoming TIO-540-AJ1A

The teams involved in testing also plan to take extra care to avoid significant alterations to FAA Type Designs. As Swift Fuels’s STC/AML results are conforming, they derive from engine and airframe data on Type Design, which means no major alterations are necessary for testing.

According to data from Swift Fuels, “55% of the FAA-certificated US piston fleet that is currently approved for 100LL is compatible with 100R’s AML with no aircraft or engine changes.”

The research continues, “Furthermore, we believe because of our proprietary fuel design, we will have fewest of any potential adjustments to achieve fleetwide success vs competitive (ASTM compliant) fuels.”

“Thus, the FAA Tech Center and Industry comparison as part of EAGLE is being pursued by Swift Fuels precisely to highlight these expected outcomes in the coming months,” adds Swift Fuels.