Auto fuel STC for Cruisemasters

M

Manus

New member
Hello everybody,

Flying a Cruisemaster in Europe is an expensive pastime. Avgas over here is approx 4 times more expensive than in the US.
Therefore, I am investigating the possibillity of obtaining an auto fuel STC for the Cruisemaster.
I know it is no problem for the O-470 engine, but if ever someone had the airframe and engine combination approved, I don't know.
I already contacted Petersen Aviation, who hold many auto fuel STC's, but no reply from them.

Is there anybody out there who has this STC, or knows somebody who has one? Or how to get it?

Thanks,

Herman Noort
Lelystad, Netherlands, Europe
 
Pay the price Auto gas sucks. I refuse to annual any plane that uses Auto gas! Believe me it is more trouble than it is worth. If you want airplane trouble----go ahead use auto gas---as if you know what the hell they put in it. LYNN N9818B :evil:
 
When those autogas, or mogas (as in, what do you need when you're out of gas) STCs were created the practice was perfectly safe. Some FBOs even offered what they called Mogas...some may do so still. Plenty of folks did well using the stuff, particularly those flying behind small Continentals.

Nowadays it's become impossible, for all practical purposes, to find auto fuel without additives. Alcohol (e.g. Ethanol) will rot our fuel lines and do bad things to anything with rubber in it. When this started fuel testers that were looking for alcohol alone became moot instruments.

This is likely the reason behind Lynn's stance on the subject. Fact is the O-470 needs 12 gallons an hour, costs plenty to overhaul, and is not a good platform for fuel experimentation, alas.

Jonathan
 
I have owned N7600E for 15 years, and for all the reasons Lynn is mentioning I have refrained from trying to use auto gas.
I can imagine that people in the US have had bad experiences using auto gas in GA-aircraft.

But please bear in mind that auto gas in the US is not the same as auto gas in Europe. Environmental laws are quite different here and auto gas is still more or less like it was in the US many years ago, albeit without lead. Over here we don't have ethanol added to auto gas. Of course I don't know precisely what they put in it, but I can say that for avgas as well.
All I know is that many vintage aircraft have been using auto gas for years without any particular problems.

Over here avgas is costing $ 13 per gallon and auto gas around $ 7 per gallon. Burning 12 gallons/hr, a saving of $ 72 an hour is certainly worthwhile just LOOKING into possibilities. So don't be angry with me Lynn, just thinking about it.javascript:emoticon(':roll:')

Thanks anyway for sharing your views on the subject. In the mean time I have gathered that no low wing Bellanca airframe/engine combinations were ever STC'ed for using auto gas, so I'll just forget about the idea.

Herman Noort
Lelystad, Netherlands, Europe
 
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