Since we *have* to have Ethanol in our auto gas (which is idiotic - burn 1 gallon of fossil fuel to create a gallon of ethanol with lower energy capacity), there are a whole host of aircraft engines that *must* be retired. Those are the old airplanes like mine that are still affordable for non-millionaires. To get my airplane to burn unleaded fuel means one of two paths: convince the oil companies to create unleaded fuel without ethanol or replace my aircraft engine. Those are the only two options. My airplane's worth around 25K. Putting a new engine in it - even if that were possible which at present it isn't since there are only two engines approved for my aircraft and they both burn leaded fuel - would run around 30K. Obviously, the cheaper option is to get ethanol out of the gas (and that's still doable and done for some auto gas - racing, off-road, etc - but they jack the price of it up to around AvGas prices). But if you do that, you have another enormously expensive task you have to perform: You have to rip out all the storage tanks at airports currently used to store AvGas. All the supply lines have to be replaced, all the pumps have to be replaced, all the ground and above ground storage has to be replaced because you cannot ever put unleaded fuel into a system (including delivery trucks) that once contained leaded fuel.
https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754
And that's from the organization trying its best to keep all of us out of the sky. What you'd be accomplishing by banning lead in AvGas is the elimination of the safe use of 167,000 GA aircraft in this country. That's out of an estimated total of around 230,000, or around 70% of all GA aircraft. It will be the *end* of affordable GA. For instance, I fly a 1960 Cessna 172A. Cessna still sells "new" 172's and they haven't changed much. A little lower service ceiling in the new ones, a little bigger engine that yields about another 8-10 knots at cruise, more crap in the cabin so you have less useful load - same number of seats, etc. I paid 24K for mine, but you can buy one like mine today for around 25-30K. A new one with almost identical performance costs $307,000. Sure, the 1% will still be able to fly one, but who else? Nobody.
Why keep using leaded fuel?
First and foremost, the use of leaded fuels is an operational safety issue, because without the additive TEL, the octane levels would be too low for some engines, and use of a lower octane fuel than required could lead to engine failure. As a result, the additive TEL has not been banned from avgas. Aircraft manufacturers, the petroleum industry, and the FAA have worked for over a decade to find alternative fuels that meet the octane requirements of the piston engine aircraft fleet without the additive TEL. However, no operationally safe, suitable replacement for leaded fuel has yet been found to meet the needs of all of the piston engine aircraft fleet. ...
There are approximately 167,000 aircraft in the United States and a total of 230,000 worldwide that rely on 100 low lead avgas for safe operation. It is the only remaining transportation fuel in the United States that contains the addition of TEL.
https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754
And that's from the organization trying its best to keep all of us out of the sky. What you'd be accomplishing by banning lead in AvGas is the elimination of the safe use of 167,000 GA aircraft in this country. That's out of an estimated total of around 230,000, or around 70% of all GA aircraft. It will be the *end* of affordable GA. For instance, I fly a 1960 Cessna 172A. Cessna still sells "new" 172's and they haven't changed much. A little lower service ceiling in the new ones, a little bigger engine that yields about another 8-10 knots at cruise, more crap in the cabin so you have less useful load - same number of seats, etc. I paid 24K for mine, but you can buy one like mine today for around 25-30K. A new one with almost identical performance costs $307,000. Sure, the 1% will still be able to fly one, but who else? Nobody.