Air Force completes A-10 Thunderbolt biofuels flight: first four-engine RJ50 test

Biofuels Digest
March 26, 2010

In Florida, the Air Force successfully tested RJ50 (50 percent renewable jet fuel) in an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft during a 90 minute flight test at Eglin Air Force Base. The aircraft flew on a blend of 50 percent conventional jet fuel and camellia-based biofuels. The Air Force has set a goal of certifying all its aircraft for RJ50 by 2012 and to be able to deploy biofuels systemwide by 2016, although the 2016 target blend percentage is not set for certain at this stage. The A10 test was the first time that biofuels have been used in all four jet engines.

A team from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is overseeing the test program with assistance from the University of Dayton Research Institute.

Read more