The reason is that several civilian-owned lightweight propeller aircraft like those produced by Cessna have engines that are still designed to run on leaded gasoline and nothing else, because engine knock (mistimed fuel ignition in the cylinder, and the original reason for leaded gasoline) damages the engine and can cause it to fail mid-flight.
Most commercial and military aircraft used today run on jet fuel instead.
Which is the reason I assumed, but at the same time it doesn't answer the question of why those aircraft were exempted when we were able to ban leaded gas for every car.
there's also G100UL, an unleaded aviation fuel going through the certification procedures as a drop-in replacement of 100LL, the most common leaded fuel used in general aviation. ("LL" stands for low lead, and "UL" stands for unleaded. 100LL is already a major improvement compared to the avgas 100 those engines were built for.) like there are active efforts to eliminate lead use there too, it's just taking a while to do safely.
also, these aren't your private jets or something, these are small propeller aircraft people use for pilot training and recreation. they're an extremely important part of the food chain, but also nowhere large enough in volume to wreak havoc on the environment. banning lead for them would have been a massive blow to the health of general aviation as a whole for a minuscule environmental improvement.
Right, no, I already got that in vibes if not in facts and numbers, but...
Okay, full disclosure, my interest in this is rather personal and likely, I hope, very tinfoil hat thumbtacks and string theory-ish. My family is really big into aviation, have been since before WWII. Practically everyone on my dad's side either flies, or is immediately related to someone who does. That's also the side of the family that's the more conservative. Given that we've known for decades that any amount of lead exposure produces symptoms like increased aggression, decreased empathy, lowered cognitive function, etc. Which are also the hallmarks of conservatism to a degree...
Well, again, the tinfoil hat is currently firmly on my head, but it's frustrating to me that so many of my family's votes for someone who wants to strip my rights might have been influenced by something that is so ingrained in our lives simply because "it wasn't that important" to take care of and won't be until 2030.
I was in the "systemic lead poisoning is a conspiracy" boat, too.
Eventually, after taking some steps back, I've come to realize that a lot of what seems like conspiracy is really shortsighted decisions and a lot of kicking the can down the road for someone else to deal with.
Like, if there's one thing that legislators and upper management have in common, it's being too lazy to fix obvious problems because they aren't enough of a problem.
I may have worded that a bit too strongly, I don't think it's an actual conspiracy, but at the same time there seems to be a tantalizing correlation that makes it so damned frustrating to hear that something isn't "enough of a problem" to fix. Sorry a lot of this was just venting. I haven't had a terribly good week...
Again, short-sightedness and laziness. It's not enough of a problem for them if your family is lead-poisoned.
It's frustrating. The only way that they'll actually do anything is if enough people in the industry actually make it a big enough problem, which is what union strikes and class-action lawsuits are for.
Unfortunately, that requires that said people in the industry actually recognize that it's a problem.
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u/TransLunarTrekkie 2d ago
Friendly reminder that leaded gas is banned in the US EXCEPT, for some reason, in aviation use.
Use this information how you will.