Have your flying habits changed due to fuel costs? Solutions

B

BobLewis

Touring the Galaxy
When I bought the Musketeer I was paying 2.20 for fuel. It has now reached 5.70 in my area and 6 bucks in some spots. That means it runs me about 340 bucks to fill up instead of 125 dollars. I now plan my flights. I try to visit a friend and do some approaches while I'm at it. I lean when I can and I tank up at the cheaper places(airnav.com helps) and I don't fill it past the slots in the expensive FBOs unless I need the range. Has It cut into my flying? Yes and NO, I think about doing touch and goes vs a trip. I justify T&Gs as a safety requirement so, I'm good. I have a motorhome that holds the same amount of fuel so, I might leave it parked if I need to adjust my budget for flying ha ha.
What has it done to others?
 
I have changed my flying from cross country to the local airports. We are lucky that we have five to choose from within 30NM. I dont quite understand the leaning proccess so I run mine at 9&1/2 gallons per hour at 24 sq. Iam lucky to have found someone that enjoys flying to help with some of the fuel money. Before that I cut back to flying every other weekend.
 
I've ended up flying with my hangar mate more and alternating which plane we take. We'll go in mine one weekend and his the next and split the gas cost. I do enjoy flying with a more experienced pilot.

I don't find myself flying near as much. I'm WAAY behind on days flown and hours flown this year versus last year.
 
I'm flying about the same amount... just not as fast. :D

2500 rpm or less is about as much throttle as I give it, other than climb. Adds a couple minutes total to most flights, but saves a couple gph. I also don't have to carry as much fuel with me, so the old bird performs better as a result.

The Musketeer costs about what my vehicles do to travel someplace, so I'm still more likely to take the airplane.
 
flying less or not

From (my annual) May 2007 to May 2008 I flew about 2/3 hours what I would normally do. Fuel costs were not the issue. It was overcoming the inertia of going to the airport (30 miles) for a flight by myself. Done that. Still do.

Before you make jokes about "dangerous pilot" the problem is one we all have after all the (4,000 for me) hours and passengers we have flown and entertained.

We've taken hundreds of individuals for "airplane rides" and loved it but the list of candidates grows shorter. And, you'll agree, that the people who beg for a flight seem to always have an excuse when you invite them. They don't know that you've factored in weather, availability etc. to even make the invitation. But still they beg off. Sometimes you stop offering.

Is that not why we all seem to fly with other pilots, eh?

Transfering our love of flight sometimes is work and frustration but we do it over and over and continue even in the face of high fuel costs and low airplane values.

I was up over Prince Edward Island for 2.8 hours today including an hour ago with two visitors form the USA. CAVU and smooth as glass. Beauty beyond description. Fuel $7.50 here and $10.00 in the next province (Newfoundland/Labrador). When did you ever think avgas was cheap? Never, did you? Even when it was cheap!

Go flying before the ecomony goes 100% in the toilet.

Tom Corcoran
Massachusetts and Canada
 
I asked my wife what happens when fuel hits $2.00 per litre AUD. (about $7.56AUD a US gallon) She said we'll simply pay $2.00 per litre!. Nice woman my wife. Helps that she also flies.
So far the rapidly spiraling cost of fuel hasn't changed how much we use Super Mouse, or our plans for a 40+ hour round Australia trip. We might have to start eating oatmeal and growing our own vegetables, maybe even buy some ferrets and go rabbiting for meat but flying is our one true escape. No greedy oil speculators, Saudi Billionaires or crappy government on both sides of the Pacific is going to stop me from enjoying the sky! As an aside wasnt the "War on terror" supposed to help stabilize oil prices!!!!
Right now avgas is $1.85AUD per litre ($6.93AUD per gallon). We fly very conservatively, lean properly and fly at around 65% power most of the time. We go a bit slower than the aeroplane is capable of but the fuel burn is a lot lower. Remember even 100knots in a Mouse is better than 60mph on four wheels!!!!

Mark and Michelle.
VH-DYA Super Custom 111.
 
I've been paying about 1.60 CAD a litre, which amounts to about $315 per fill up, depending on which FBO I'm at in Ontario. I fly the plane to the cottage and back regularly through the summer, with not much in-between flying time. My wife is still training, so we do our part to support OPEC.
 
I am not flying any more or less due to fuel prices. I have begun to fly at reduced manifold pressures which means slower but that just means I amass more flight time!

Fly safely!
Chris
Sierra N5106M
KSLC
 
I'm making judgement calls, not always intelligent ones, on whether I use the plane or not. We just drove from Massachusetts to St. Louis! Took us three days each way but was still cheaper than the $800 of avgas.

Would I have flown anyway? I would...but the cost combined with selling 7.5 hrs each way in a small plane to the Mrs., well... (I can tell you this, 10.5 hours in a Camry, STL to Cleveland, will NOT happen again! :roll: )

Still, as my friend Tom says, flying was never cheap; we just compensate.
 
Anonymous said:
I'm making judgement calls, not always intelligent ones, on whether I use the plane or not.
Click to expand...

That's me above. Why does the site kick me off periodically while I am reading or typing?
 
I have all but quit flying. Not because of gas prices, but because of the heat. Seems to happen every year about this time. Dunno why? But, the price of gas has been a factor in the decision to not fly here or there this time. I will have to factor in that in my next planned trip to Carson City. Would it be cheaper to fly commercial to Reno for two and rent a car? Or, take the Sierra and rent a car? Believe it or not, I'm leaning toward the airlines. It is a 4 1/2 hour flight with no decent place to stop but LAS. Yes, there will HAVE to be a stop, I'm taking the wife. So, it will mean some time on the ground and a takeoff and climb through 100+ deg temps. Not fun. I also don't want to turn the wife off on flying the Sierra in one "not so nice" trip. So far, her few experiences in the Sierra have been good. But I'm afraid if this one won't be a nice experience AND it costs me plenty at the pump, I may not get any support to keep the Sierra.

Marty Vanover
Phoenix, Az.
 
Well a round trip on the airlines today should just about seal the deal on keeping the Sierra. 41/2 hours in the Sierra, some lucky airline passengers have spent that on the ramp. I would vote for the Sierra at 4 times the cost. I have to fly comercial more often than I want to. And I do not like it.

Sciscoe
 
I agree with that. My work sees me spending a bit of my time riding with the airlines. On a Melbourne-Sydney trip flying on the Boeing I've lost count of the numbers of times a one hour trip has become a 4 to 5 hour nightmare due to aircraft going u/s. Super Mouse does Melbourne to Sydney in about 3.6 hours. Sure it would cost me a bit more if the company I work for let me fly myself but a lot of the time I'd actually save time by shooting the job I need to do and then just jumping in the aircraft and blasting off, as opposed to waiting in the Frequent flyer lounge, sipping coffee and looking at my watch! And dont even get me started about the long country drives and overnight stays I have to do when, if I used the Mouse, I'd be there and back in a morning!
 
Smitty,

Ain't it the truth. My company makes it so difficult to fly your own airplane on company business, it is impossible to get approval. I have tried. I have one frequent trip. PHX to LAS (Phoenix to Las Vegas) that is 3 hours against a strong head wind. But, the cost is still twice as much as an economy ticket, so no savings (or approval) to the company unless there was a second person on board (requireing additional approval). However, they did approve me to rent a car and drive to Victorville, California (about the same road distance). The company? The Boeing Company! Oh well, 70 days......

Marty Vanover
Phoenix, Az.
 
Marty, you really need to fly faster... LAS is only a bit over three hours from AVQ, and that's in put-put mode of 110 ktas in my Musketeer... :D
 
Flying is still the way to go! I went to Lake Tahoe this weekend, (from Bakersfield) and I could not have done the trip in an enjoyable way without flying. It looks like I may have saved some money by flying too! According to mapquest, driving would have taken 6.5 hours one way using 32 gallons of gas: $280 round trip. The Sierra went there and back in 5 hours total and used 44 Gallons: $242.

It is the savings in time that makes these trips even doable. This weekend I was able to take my wife Shell and our two year old son Max. He loves planes and makes zoom zoom zoom sounds when ever he sees one. He even wore his headphones the entire trip! It would be unreasonable to try driving 13+ hours in a car for a three day weekend with a two year old. Gas prices would have to get a lot higher to limit these types of trips in our Sierra.
 
Hifiguy,

Now that makes sense. Your a pilot and own your own aircraft to "live your life" & "give a life, to your family" at a level denied to the masses.

What does not make sense to me is dumping your late model Sierra for $40K like many people are doing, in tradeaplane. We are past a buyers market and into a viking, rape, pillage and burn market. That is easily $20K under the price a short time ago and most probably the price again in the not to distant future. That is panic or poor planning. Never, ever panic. You can buy a lot of gas for $20K.

In the past, some genius from the FAA would step out of his cube, announcing a proposed AD against some model of aircraft, the price/value would drop $10K to $20K as owners dumped their perfectly good aircraft, AOPA would start howling and then the FAA would say, "We were only kidding."

I grant you this is a little more real, but it is only temporary.

I rather doubt many members averaged more than 45 gallons per month before the increase in fuel price, if they did the aircraft would average 5+ hours a month (60+ hours per year). So, at a $2 premium that is $90 a month, at 45 gallons a month, which is much more than most fly.

The mentality today is, "No way, I am not going to stand for $5+ a gallon. I am going to take a $20K hit on my investment!"

Keep the plane. Enjoy your life.

Sciscoe
 
I agree. That was perfectly put.
I also look at it another way a little off topic but still holding to what our aeroplanes are worth. Super Mouse is in for its annual, a touch early than calender. We flew 70 hours on the current maintenance release. We are installing new donuts, new engine mounts, another com and an engine analyzer on top of the annual inspection. All told I don't expect to see much change out of $5,000.00AUD. People ask me "Why bother?" Its a $41,000 aeroplane! Actually it isn't. In the aviation world now we have two choices. Pay $280,000 for a 6 year old 172, pay $500,000 for a used Cirrus or pay $50,000 for a 42 year old Musketeer. Now I can't afford $280,000 for an aeroplane, unless I sold Child bride into slavery and robbed a few banks.
A $280,000 aeroplane will cost me nearly $10,000 per year in insurance. Add the fact that an annual isn't that much cheaper than an old 172..maybe $2500.00 and you can see that spending a $5,000 on Super Mouse isn't such a bad idea. I'm still ahead.
The price of fuel isn't the dominating cost in owning an aeroplane. It's just the one we see more regularly, and therefore feel the most. I still think that at $1.85 per litre, burning 38 litres per hour it's damn site cheaper than therapy with a Psychiatrist and a whole lot more fun!
 
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