The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I just read an old post (2002) where someone was complaining about paying $2.50 per gallon for 100LL. It made me chuckle, considering I paid $4.69 tonight for gas produced right in my back yard. Of course they sell it cheaper in Anchorage AFTER shipping it 350 miles by train.

I feel the pinch here in Bethel 100LL is something like $5.75 gallon I quit looking at the recipts, Heating fuel here is over $4.50 gallon, heck milk is $8.00 gallon good thing my plane isn't burning milk.

Just checked today at the self serve pump on Lake Hood strip in Anchorage. $4.72.
Gary

tunraflyer wrote:I feel the pinch here in Bethel 100LL is something like $5.75 gallon I quit looking at the recipts, Heating fuel here is over $4.50 gallon, heck milk is $8.00 gallon good thing my plane isn't burning milk.

It's a good think they don't burn water, too. A 12 oz. bottle of water is $1. That's about $12 per gallon.

People do funny things when the price of fuel goes up. A little airport 30 minutes away from my home airport sells fuel for about 49 cents less per gallon. So, without thinking much about it, I hop in my C-170 and fly to the little airport to save money on fuel. Of course after returning home with full tanks and then out of curiosity doing the math, taking into consideration the cost of fuel burned to and from the little airport, I discovered I actually wound up paying more per gallon than if I had just filled up at home.

Robert Eilers wrote:So, without thinking much about it, I hop in my C-170 and fly to the little airport to save money on fuel.

Don't forget the price of your hamburger...... We really know that you just wanted an excuse to fly..... And since you are already flying, you actually did save money.

Robert Eilers wrote:People do funny things when the price of fuel goes up. A little airport 30 minutes away from my home airport sells fuel for about 49 cents less per gallon. So, without thinking much about it, I hop in my C-170 and fly to the little airport to save money on fuel. Of course after returning home with full tanks and then out of curiosity doing the math, taking into consideration the cost of fuel burned to and from the little airport, I discovered I actually wound up paying more per gallon than if I had just filled up at home.

I came to that realization about ten years ago when I flew 12 miles NorthWest (to buy cheaper fuel) prepratory to the next day's trip SouthEast to a family event. When I purchased fuel at the SouthEast destination I noticed the obvious idiocy of the excersize due to the extra fuel it took to fill up again.

If one burns 4 gallons of $4 fuel to buy cheaper fuel, ... it will require a .43 cent savings just to break even on the fuel alone. (over a 37 gallon useable amount such as our 170's.) It does not consider the half-hour of operating expenses (due to wear and tear) on our planes. (If that were considered it would become obvious that no ferry-flight for fuel only can ever be justified. It rarely makes sense to operate purely for purposes of buying fuel. Real fuel savings only occur if less expensive fuel is purchased at locations already lying along an intended flight path.)

But of course, when flying our planes, like a teen-ager with the parent's car, we have little appreciation for the excape-from-reality vehicle's actual operating expenses when the object was simply to escape.

(This reminds me of the times I convince Jamie I need another odd piece of hardware, or a car part, or whatever for some project of which she approves ... and must drive 20 miles round-trip to the nearest town to obtain that item. The fact that I also picked up a six-pack of Beck's is coincidental to that drive and not really to be considered an added expense. Never mind it having anything to do with the actual purpose of the trip.)

I don't fly anywhere just to buy fuel but every place I land I check the price and if I need at least 10 Gallons I'll top off.

We MOGAS users don't have those worrisome thoughts!

blueldr wrote:We MOGAS users don't have those worrisome thoughts!

No. You Mogas users will be worrying about how you're gonna repair your Precison carburetors now that they've quit making them and no longer shipping parts.

Two years ago Avgas cost twice as much as mogas. These days it only costs 25% more. I see more and more mogas users switching to the correct stuff.

(Nomex suit on....down in the bunker....standing by for incoming...)

We MOGAS users don't have those worrisome thoughts!

All I used in my C140, for the 8 years I flew it, was mogas. Until they started putting ethanol in the fuel here that's what I used in the 170.

Why in the world would I want to repair my "Precision" carburetor?

Is mogas going to wear it out?

Actually, I have a "Marvel Schebler" with some precision parts. It seems to thrive on Mogas laced with ethanol. In fact it works so good with the 5% ethanol fuel sold here, I looking for fuel that runs more whiskey. It's good for the enviornment too, you know.

I also run MOGAS occasionally (when I'm at an airport that has it....which really means I'm mixing 100LL and MOGAS) and was under the impression that the FAA auto-fuel STC did not allow the use of ethanol fuel in production aircraft. Am I mistaken??? For that matter, I have never seen MOGAS containing ethanol at any of the airports around VA/NC.........are you running regular auto gas?

If I buy bulk it is delivered in 100 gallon loads for 5.24 including taxes. At the cardtrol pump near Frontier it must be close to 6.00. Milk is 10.00 a gallon and eggs are 6.79 an 18 pack. If I want to fly I don't worry about the gas price. Milk...well the probability of bringing a cow to Galena just won't pencil out. I have a friend that has egg laying hens and I may consider that sometime in the furture. The extra price is worth the freedom we have in the bush however. Oh yeah I think electricity is .45-.51 cents a kilowatt. Still waiting for the Nuclear Reactor from across the Pacific from Toshiba. There were talks of an Interior/Coastal fly-in. Any thoughts about doing on this spring somewhere?

Hawkeyenfo wrote:I also run MOGAS occasionally (when I'm at an airport that has it....which really means I'm mixing 100LL and MOGAS) and was under the impression that the FAA auto-fuel STC did not allow the use of ethanol fuel in production aircraft. Am I mistaken??? For that matter, I have never seen MOGAS containing ethanol at any of the airports around VA/NC.........are you running regular auto gas?

And you won't see ethanol in the fuel at airports either because any more that trace amounts are not allowed by either STC available. I don't recall the exact amount but think the allowed amount is about 1%. All fuel delivered in my area has at least 5% and most 10% ethanol. MOGAS is mandated by law to be oxygenated and the only oxygenater available today is ethanol. NO airports is my area offer MOGAS or I'd be using it.