Almost three years after the County of Santa Clara implemented a ban on the sale of toxic leaded aviation fuel at the airports it operates, county-run Reid-Hillview airport is offering a lead-free alternative that works in all piston-powered general aviation aircraft: GAMI 100 octane unleaded Avgas.

The county has begun selling the fuel, signifying the start of a migration to the unleaded formula, as has already occurred in the automotive sector. The county's actions to remove lead from fuel at its facilities and provide an alternative as soon as possible began after a study found elevated lead exposure in 13,000 children living near the airport.

“This is a victory for the children and families on the East Side who have been historically marginalised and whose voices and legitimate health concerns have been disregarded for too long,” says supervisor Cindy Chavez, whose district includes the East Side neighbourhood of San José, California where the airport is located. “My deepest hope is that leaded aviation fuel is phased out of every general aviation airport in the US.”

Santa Clara County replaced the typical leaded Avgas, 100 low lead or 100LL, in January 2022 with Swift UL94, a 94-octane unleaded Avgas. UL94 is FAA-certified for use in approximately 68 per cent of the piston-powered aircraft of the type that use Reid-Hillview and San Martin airports. G100UL provides an alternative to 100LL for the general aviation fleets that could not utilise UL94, including high-performance aircraft.

“With the availability of this unleaded aviation fuel, there's clearly no reason to continue using a product that is the single greatest source of airborne lead pollution,” says county executive James R. Williams. “We know that there's no safe level of lead exposure, and we know that neighbourhoods surrounding airports are usually low-income with large minority populations. Removing this health risk is a matter of environmental justice, and we hope to see other airports across the nation embrace this new alternative.”

The new fuel has been delivered to Reid-Hillview airport, and full-service truck-to-aircraft fuelling has commenced. With the addition of G100UL, the county now offers aircraft operators two choices in unleaded avgas: G100UL and UL94.

“Offering G100UL to our airport users has been years in the making,” remarks Eric Peterson, director of County Airports. “This fuelling alternative positions RHV as the first airport in the nation to offer unleaded aviation fuel for the entire general aviation community, and we are pretty excited about that.”