Seems like this topic has slowed back down lately, but here is something.

Committee to advise on avgas transition

(AOPA, 02/04/11) FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has signed a charter establishing an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to advise the agency on the move toward an unleaded fuel.The ARC will be a joint government/industry committee tasked with identifying key issues relating to, and providing recommendations for, the development and deployment of an unleaded avgas. The move comes in response to a request by the General Aviation (GA) Avgas Coalition, which includes AOPA, the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), and the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA). “This is a much needed step in the process that will ultimately determine how the aviation industry reaches an unleaded fuel solution,” said Rob Hackman, AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs and liaison to the GA Avgas Coalition. “While the move toward an unleaded aviation fuel has been spurred by an Environmental Protection Agency action, it is the FAA that must approve new fuels, ensuring they provide adequate safety...


Avgas Alternatives

(S.Ells, 2/15/2011, Flying) In April 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency released an announcement that it was proposing to gather data to determine if leaded avgas is an environmental health hazard. The announcement in the form of an advanced notice of proposed rule making (ANPRM) has created reactions that range from a willingness to move forward in the search for the new lead-free avgas to alarm at the idea of government mandated changes and outrage due to what some see as a misguided plan to replace one boutique fuel with another. Regardless, the ANPRM served as a wake-up call to GA that 100LL is on the way out and the aviation community needs to figure out what to do next. Responders to the ANPRM questioned whether the tiny amount of lead in the GA fuel supply, which accounts for one-10th of 1 percent of the transportation fuel used in the country each year, presents a credible threat to health. Some bemoaned that scant attention was being paid to the fact that supplies of ethanol-free premium auto gas — a viable and FAA-approved fuel for more than 150 piston-powered airplane types and approximately 70 percent of the airplanes plying the skies — are rapidly shrinking due to congressional mandates to increase ethanol usage, a state of affairs that actually required more pilots to use 100LL instead of a viable unleaded auto-gas alternative...

A New G.A. Engine From Austro

(AvWeb, 03/03/11, M. Grady) Austro Engine, best known for its work supplying powerplants for Diamond airplanes, announced this week it plans to develop a new 280-hp six-cylinder diesel engine for the general aviation market. Austro will work in partnership with Steyr Motors to develop the engine, based on the Steyr Monoblock Motor M1. That engine features an integral crankcase and cylinder head that has proven robust in marine and special-vehicle applications around the world, according to the company. The new engine is intended to power two Diamond aircraft now in the works: the DA50 Magnum, a single-engine five-seat airplane, and the twin-engine Future Small Aircraft (FSA) intended for personal and utility applications...