Avgas price and the light plane ownership

On 1-Jul-2005, "M" wrote:

Anyone worries about what the rising avgas price to the light plane
ownership in the U.S? I have absolutely no doubt that the average
avgas price will surpass $5/gallon in about 5 years. We'll probably
see a significant drop of GA flying, along with a big drop of the value
of used airplanes. It's really depressing just to think about it.


Despite the anti-market shenanigans of OPEC, the price of oil and its
derivatives is classically governed by supply and demand. And even with
China's exploding economy and our faltering one, US consumption --
particularly gasoline for private automobiles -- still dominates demand. At
some point on the price scale people are going to stop buying gas-hog SUVs
and start driving much more fuel-efficient cars. That will have a huge
impact on demand and will probably slow crude oil price increases

SUV sales are already slumping, the dominant reason for financial
difficulties at Ford and GM. If auto gas prices go much higher, sales of
gas-guzzlers will probably tank completely.

In the meantime, the relative efficiency of my Arrow, compared to a
comparably performing C-182 -- is looking better all the time.

--
-Elliott Drucker

You might want to ask Canada if the're interested in this scheme... huh?
Last time I checked, we were an independent country. Progressive... maybe,
but independant.

Maybe looking inward would be more useful mon ami? I know it's hard as an
American, but humour the rest of us.


:-) With global warming, we can turn Canada into a giant corn field.

M wrote:
Anyone worries about what the rising avgas price to the light plane
ownership in the U.S? I have absolutely no doubt that the average
avgas price will surpass $5/gallon in about 5 years. We'll probably
see a significant drop of GA flying, along with a big drop of the value
of used airplanes. It's really depressing just to think about it.

I have another take on all this. High AVGAS prices mean high mo-gas
prices also. When you look at the time wasted and fuel burned
driving long distances on clogged roads these days, airplanes start
looking pretty good in comarison.

Personally I hate driving and don't mind paying a premium over mogas
to get there direct in 1/3 of the time. Driving (to me) is frustrating
where flying is not at all. There will always be people out there
that want to travel quickly and escape the masses on the highways.

"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
. com...

Anyone worries about what the rising avgas price to the light plane
ownership in the U.S? I have absolutely no doubt that the average
avgas price will surpass $5/gallon in about 5 years. We'll probably
see a significant drop of GA flying, along with a big drop of the value
of used airplanes. It's really depressing just to think about it.

I suspect people said the same thing when av gas went past $.50 a gallon.
The price of gasoline is still well behind the inflation curve.


Quite!

http://txfx.net/2005/06/22/oil-prices-peak-well-no/

http://www.fintrend.com/ftf/images/c...n_20050404.gif


Matt
--
"The American people will never knowingly
adopt socialism, but under the name of
liberalism they will adopt every fragment of
the socialist program until one day America
will be a socialist nation without ever knowing
how it happened." -- Norman Thomas, six-time
Socialist Party presidential candidate and
one of the founders of the ACLU.

Anyone worries about what the rising avgas price to the light plane
ownership in the U.S? I have absolutely no doubt that the average

I think the real threat to aviation is once again insurance. Let's not
forget that in the 80's many of the major single-engine manufacturers
stopped producing aircraft due to liability costs.

The cost of insuring an aircraft has skyrocketed at a rate greater than fuel
costs.

They stopped producing single engine aircraft because due to their own
stupidity their product liability insurance premiums became outrageous
and more importantly, it became obvious that corporate jets were
radically more profitable to build with their cheap Wichita floor space
and Kansas scab state labor.

The solution to me is simple, although far from obvious....outlaw
product liability insurance. When it's fight or die, they will build a
defensible airplane (they do for ag pilots) and never, never, never
settle out of court. Trial lawyers will quit taking small aircraft
cases on contingent fee arrangements and the problem will stop-what
attorney wants to be handed the keys to a cheesily built plant in
central Kansas???

"M" wrote in message
oups.com...

Anyone worries about what the rising avgas price to the light plane
ownership in the U.S?

It would take some major, major changes in our collective psyche to
seriously worry about the cost of fuel. For every one of us that drops off
the bottom because we can no longer afford aviation, its just a
re-evaluation of our priorities.... I am sure that a new millionaire will be
created at the top to take over.

How could we possible be *worried* about fuel? The most popular weekend
sport on the continent (me, too) is watching 43 cars burn something like
4,000 gallons of gas in a few hours.... going nowhere special, and using
outdated pollution-contributing carburetor technology to do it with, no
less.

That would run my full-size fuel-injected Chevrolet for nearly 100,000
miles.

There are many threats to GA, but fuel-prices is one of the lesser ones,
IMHO.

demonstrated total ignorance about product liability
(as well as punctuation and grammar)...
They stopped producing single engine aircraft because due to their own
stupidity their product liability insurance premiums became outrageous
and more importantly, it became obvious that corporate jets were
radically more profitable to build with their cheap Wichita floor space
and Kansas scab state labor.

The solution to me is simple, although far from obvious....outlaw
product liability insurance. When it's fight or die, they will build a
defensible airplane (they do for ag pilots) and never, never, never
settle out of court. Trial lawyers will quit taking small aircraft
cases on contingent fee arrangements and the problem will stop-what
attorney wants to be handed the keys to a cheesily built plant in
central Kansas???

What planet are you on?

"Charles Oppermann" wrote in message
...
Anyone worries about what the rising avgas price to the light plane
ownership in the U.S? I have absolutely no doubt that the average

I think the real threat to aviation is once again insurance. Let's not
forget that in the 80's many of the major single-engine manufacturers
stopped producing aircraft due to liability costs.

The cost of insuring an aircraft has skyrocketed at a rate greater than
fuel
costs.


My full coverage insurance is an insignificant speck compared to the total
cost of owning.

So you wonder what's going to happen to general aviation because of the
high prices of avgas? Acquire yourself an aircraft which will fly on
auto fuel.

I have a lovely 172G with autogas STC and will sell it to you for a
reasonable price.