White Lightning RV-14: Unleaded Avgas Poster Child
While he’s not a climate zealot, Jonathan Sisk admittedly supports responsible ecology by not emitting any amount of toxic lead into the atmosphere from the exhaust of his newly completed Van’s RV-14 “White Lightning” kit aircraft. It’s equipped with a 215-HP Lycoming YIO-390-EXP and before completing the Van’s kit, he did something that he strongly feels more kit builders should do and that’s add GAMI’s G100UL high-octane unleaded avgas to the aircraft’s fuel limitations section of the aircraft’s flight manual. Operators of certified aircraft can add G100UL to the aircraft’s operating limitations via STC, too, which is approved for every spark ignition piston engine and every airframe using a spark ignition piston engine in the FAA’s Type Certificate database.
Like any other STC modification process that has been around for years and years, GAMI’s FAA-awarded AML (Approved Model List) STC in 2022 followed a well-established FAA method to provide expansion of the applicable makes and models of aircraft and engines to use the fuel. Purchase the STC (pricing is based on engine model and horsepower rating) and you get a short Approved Flight Manual Supplement (AFMS) and G100UL placards to be installed around the fuel filler ports on the aircraft, plus one for the engine. There is a short set of routine ICAs (Instructions for Continued Airworthiness) and Installation Instructions for the placards. It’s that straightforward.