This year Manuel “Manny” Romero-Vargas is celebrating his 50th year in aviation. To legions of business aircraft operators who have flown to Mexico and ranged through the country, the septuagenarian handler is known simply (and affectionately) as Manny, the personification of business aviation in Mexico.

A new fuel specification or amendment to an existing one begins with a comprehensive research report submitted as an argument for consideration to members of ASTM International (formerly, the American Society for Testing and Materials), who subsequently vote for or against its inclusion in the appropriate spec. The ASTM technical body reviews the research report to determine if it is technically sound and provides reasonable substantiation for the approval of the fuel under consideration.

No organic fuel discovered so far is as “dense” with hydrocarbons as petroleum, which is why it has represented the fuel of choice in internal combustion engines for more than a century. While biofuels come close to replicating the characteristics of petroleum, the one area where they fall short is density.