Into the Home Stretch...
It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in the northern hemisphere. Where did the time go? The lateness of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. has really messed with my personal sense of time, so Christmas is REALLY coming up on me unprepared. I am finding that there is truth to the saying "Christmas is for Children". As my nieces are becoming young adults, most of the impetus to 'get in the holiday spirit' has dulled a bit. So this year, at least for me and my house, we shall hold to the adage of "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and keep things a bit more low key.
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What is happening in Baere's world? Moving on to all things aerospace fuel, the beginning of December sees us attending the semester meeting of ASTM D02
Petroleum Products in Houston, Texas, specifically the J0 Aviation Fuels meetings. I have spoken about attending these meetings before, but for the new visitors, ASTM is a consensus standards organization responsible for maintaining such standards as the ASTM D1655 Aviation Turbine Fuel, ASTM D910 Aviation Gasoline, and ASTM D4054 Standard Practice for Evaluating New Aviation Turbine Fuels. ASTM also is the custodian for the test methods such as ASTM D3241 Jet Fuel Thermal Stability and ASTM D56 Flash Point. Members of the organization, such as Melanie meet twice a year to review the standards, discuss any issues which have arisen, and consider offers for new standards and specifications. It is a very full four days and we all leave tired but happy to know we have done what we could to facilitate and protect our industry.
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In other areas, with the government back to work, the FAA PAFI group has been working hard to get the testing effort on unleaded aviation gasoline back on track. People have been questioning the effort; is the FAA going to do anything? Is this fuel going to be the answer? Why is it taking so long? Yes, the FAA is working to power through all the testing (one of the FAA folks did some loose calculations and determined that there are over 20,000 hours of just materials compatibility and functionality testing involved) and do their due diligence to get the best answer. It may not be a perfect answer, but we all want it to be the best we can do. And Baere personnel are doing as much as they can to support and facilitate the effort and keep it as non-biased, and data-driven as they can.
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In the meantime, Baere has programs with no fewer than four major aviation and aerospace companies in all corners of aviation fuel - from research to deployment and all points in between.
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So, as we close out 2025, be safe, be careful, and be kind. Honest, most of us are not being insensitive, we are just doing the best that we can. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.