Fuel Prices and their Effect on Your Flying

"Newps" wrote
... I sold my 182 and got a Bonanza. I'm burning a lot less gas, approx
40%, than when I had my 182.

Wow! Is that at the same air speed?

Newps wrote:
Or just buy a more efficient plane. I sold my 182 and got a Bonanza.
I'm burning a lot less gas, approx 40%, than when I had my 182.

Amen.

Would you mind talking some sense into my partner? We have a perfect
opportunity to buy a F33 from a friend in the next hangar over.
Pristine aircraft, casual sale (so no tax liability here in NJ), just
needs some avionics work. It does 178KTAS on ~15GPH, while we burn
11GPH in the 172/180HP doing 115KTAS on a good day. Ugh. My kingdom
for a little common sense.

-Doug

--------------------
Doug Vetter, ATP/CFI

http://www.dvatp.com
--------------------

In article , Doug Vetter wrote:

Would you mind talking some sense into my partner? We have a perfect
opportunity to buy a F33 from a friend in the next hangar over.
Pristine aircraft, casual sale (so no tax liability here in NJ), just
needs some avionics work. It does 178KTAS on ~15GPH, while we burn
11GPH in the 172/180HP doing 115KTAS on a good day. Ugh. My kingdom
for a little common sense.

However, what would the difference in maintenance costs be between the
172 and the F33, and insurance...?

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

From 172 to 133 is really quite a jump. However in the same class as
172 you can get a Grumman AA5/5A. My 75 AA5 can easily do 127 KTAS on
9GPH, or 115 KTAS on 7GPH. On local flights I power back and do 98
KTAS on 5.9GPH. Last week I had a 420nm trip burning 27.58gal autogas.

The maintenance and the insurance costs are be very comparable to a
172.

Bob Noel wrote:
In article , Doug Vetter wrote:

Would you mind talking some sense into my partner? We have a perfect
opportunity to buy a F33 from a friend in the next hangar over.
Pristine aircraft, casual sale (so no tax liability here in NJ), just
needs some avionics work. It does 178KTAS on ~15GPH, while we burn
11GPH in the 172/180HP doing 115KTAS on a good day. Ugh. My kingdom
for a little common sense.

However, what would the difference in maintenance costs be between the
172 and the F33, and insurance...?

"Jon Kraus" wrote:

Have higher fuel prices forced you to adjust your operations? I'm sure
that over the years when fuel prices have peaked, folks have made changes,
but since I am a new owner (working on our second year) it is my first
experience at spiking prices. So what say you?

High fuel costs were one factor in my decision to abandon plans to sell my
Cutlass RG and get a 210 or an A36.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

M wrote:

The best "mod" you can get to make fuel cost more bearable is the
autogas STC, if you're lucky enough to own a model that can get the
STC, and you can get ethanol free autogas.


How great is that mod when you need to get 30-40 gallons into the plane?

Do you land at a gas station? G

Even 20 is a lot to carry around in portable containers.

Montblack wrote:
("Newps" wrote)

Or just buy a more efficient plane. I sold my 182 and got a Bonanza.
I'm burning a lot less gas, approx 40%, than when I had my 182.



What are the two engines?
Your normal cruise speeds between the two?

Curious? I wouldn't have thought that the case.

Most of my flying is the local $100 hamburger run. In the 182 with the
standard O-470R I usually ran top of the green, 23"/2450. That gave me
about 135-140 mph indicated and burned about 12.5-13. In the Bo with
the standard IO-520 I run 45% in the local area at 19"/2100 at 50 lean
of peak. That will give me 150 mph indicated and burn 8 gph, so
nowadays I'm burning 4.5-5 gph less and when I need or want to I can
tear up the sky at 185-190 mph indicated at 15 gph.

Jon Woellhaf wrote:

"Newps" wrote

... I sold my 182 and got a Bonanza. I'm burning a lot less gas, approx
40%, than when I had my 182.


Wow! Is that at the same air speed?

About 10 mph faster.

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
.. .
Third I am now learning and practicing everything I can about Lean of Peak
(LOP) operations in order to save money on fuel.

http://www.advancedpilot.com/index.html - expensive ($1000), but worth every
penny Save gas, but more importantly, your engine. (see below)

I have found that in cruise I can save many gallons-per-hour by twisting
the red knob until the EGT's peak and then get to 10-20 degrees on the
other side of peak temperatures. I know that this will not work for
everyone but for my IO-360 it gives me a cool, smooth running engine that
is only drinking 9.5 GPH.

At what MP? Throttle setting? Altitude?

http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/182045-1.html

Yes, cool and smooth...but possibly with excessive internal pressure.

Red Box = No Fly Zone
At and below about 60% power, there is no red box.
At about 65% power, 100ºF ROP to Peak.
At about 70%, 125ºF ROP to 25ºF LOP.
At about 75%, 180ºF ROP to 40ºF LOP.
At about 80%, 200ºF ROP to 60ºF LOP


http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/182084-1.html


Have higher fuel prices forced you to adjust your operations?

Fuel here is $4.15, up from $3.45 so it translates to about $11 more an
hour. Considering our hourly DOC & Reserve is around $135 an hour, $11 is
minor.

We did cancel a optional trip to the "Big City" for shopping.

I'm sure that over the years when fuel prices have peaked, folks have made
changes, but since I am a new owner (working on our second year) it is my
first experience at spiking prices. So what say you?

LOP is your best bet. IIRC, the Mooney is running a TCM? If so, GAMIjectors.

--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"Jon Kraus" wrote:

Have higher fuel prices forced you to adjust your operations? I'm sure
that over the years when fuel prices have peaked, folks have made
changes, but since I am a new owner (working on our second year) it is my
first experience at spiking prices. So what say you?

High fuel costs were one factor in my decision to abandon plans to sell my
Cutlass RG and get a 210 or an A36.


What's your fuel burn now?