Why do airplanes need high octane fuel?

High compression, high displacement engines, such as those found in many high performance, piston engine aircraft, require high octane fuels so that detonation, which is the uncontrolled ignition of the fuel in the combustion chamber, does not damage pistons and other engine components and result in engine failure.

What fuel do piston planes use?

jet fuel
Avgas is fuel for small piston engine powered aircraft, while jet fuel is more like kerosene and is used to power turbine engine aircraft.

Can piston engine run on jet fuel?

While most commercial turbine engines can run on avgas within certain limitations, piston engines cannot run on jet fuel. With its extremely high flash point, jet fuel, in essence, creates a detonation that will cause a gas-based engine to misfire and eventually fail.

Why do airplanes not use gasoline?

Kerosene has a lower viscosity rating during flight operation than gasoline, meaning it’s more watery and not as thick or “gummy” as gasoline. This is important because highly viscous fuels can clog up internal channels in an airplane’s engine.

What is the octane of aviation fuel?

The most common avgas is 100 octane, which is a measure of the fuel’s ability to resist premature detonation or “knock.” Avgas is also available at other octanes such as 87 and 130, but they are rare today.

What is the octane of aviation gas?

What is octane fuel used for?

In broad terms, fuels with a higher octane rating are used in higher-compression gasoline engines, which may yield higher power. Such higher power comes from the fuel’s higher compression by the engine design, and not directly from the gasoline.

Why is lead in aviation fuel?

Lead is added to avgas in the form of tetraethyl lead (TEL) because it raises fuel octane and prevents engine knock and other wear in high-performance engines.

What is octane in aviation?

The other more significant problem with unleaded fuels is that of Octane rating. Octane rating is a measure of how resistant a fuel is to detonation or “pinking”; the higher the Octane rating, the more the fuel / air mixture can be compressed without detonation happening.

What is the difference between high octane and regular gasoline?

What is the difference in octane levels? Octane is how much compression a fuel can withstand before igniting, or rather it’s a measurement of a fuel’s ability to avoid knock. Typically “regular” gas is 87 octane, “midgrade” is 89 octane and over 91 octane is “premium” gasoline.

What kind of fuel does a piston plane use?

Piston-powered aircraft most commonly use 100 octane low-leaded fuel and fly at altitudes below 15,000 feet. The inside of a typical piston aircraft seats 1-6 passengers is configured similar to the interior of a small car.

Should new airplanes use diesel or gasoline?

If we consider that jet fuel can be 50\% to 60\% cheaper and some engines are 30\% to 40\% more efficient than avgas engines, it merits for new airplanes to consider the use of diesel and abandon the close to the 100-year obsolete technology of the avgas engines.

What was the purpose of high octane gasoline in WWII planes?

High octane gasoline allowed higher supercharging ratios without blowing up the piston engine, allowing more horsepower for the same weight which meant that your plane was more likely to shoot down the other guy (and not have its engine blow up which a great many did because the engines were always being pushed to the edge.)

How far can you Fly on a piston airplane?

Piston aircraft used for business typically fly relatively short missions of 300-400 miles, using very small general aviation airports that are often without air traffic control towers. Manufacturers of piston-driven airplanes include the following companies: