Avgas Prices

Skymac

Skymac

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Kentucky
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Justin
Surprised to not see a post about this!

Anyone taking any guesses as to when the madness stops on the price increases and where it levels off at? Starting to see prices towards $9 and higher at the smaller airports getting new loads.
 
It was $3.75 gal when I started flying in 2017. Gone up ever since. Was 5.73 I think ? last month at my airport, then 6.08 and now 6.73.

Our airport manager is a great guy and try's to give us a heads up where it's heading in the short term. Says it will be 1.50 more when he orders gas here in the near future if things don't change.
 
FBO’s are really playing the market game. They’re definitely changing prices more than once per load and taking full advantage of the situation.

I recall during the height of COVID in 2020, I could get AvGas for $2.99/gal around here. Hard to imagine now…
 
RyanB said:
FBO’s are really playing the market game. They’re definitely changing prices more than once per load and taking full advantage of the situation.

I recall during the height of COVID in 2020, I could get AvGas for $2.99/gal around here. Hard to imagine now…
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Should have stocked up. Does avgas go bad as quickly as pump gas
 
It's basic supply and demand. When supply catches up with demand, prices will fall. The Ukraine situation has created global supply issues of crude, while demand is increasing. (Demand for Jet-A at our airport is through the roof compared to last year, I mean like 200-300% increase.) Avgas is a bit of a strange bird, because it is refined infrequently. Current avgas was probably refined 6 months ago. But prices still fluctuate to forestall potential future supply issues. Fortunately, at my airport, prices don't change until the next load. We are still working on the last load, so prices are still under $7.00, and NY just relieved all state fuel taxes until December 31. But airports are at the mercy of their wholesalers. We are not at our airport trying to gouge our local pilots. We take a fixed profit above what our wholesaler is charging us.
 
Come out to Long Island NY, average is $9 a gallon now.
 
We are about to be averaging near $8 or around in KY if it keeps up as loads get ordered. I agree FBO’s are playing the gas station game now.
 
Skymac said:
I agree FBO’s are playing the gas station game now.
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Maybe some FBOs are but municipal airports that sell gas probably aren't. Some tend to have a fixed mark up in dollars/gallon not percentage of their cost. The return on their investment goes down as their cost goes up.

I think their budgets are going to take a real bruising from lower fuel sales. We'll see as the year goes on.
 
One problem is the price is still rising ,so when gas prices start down,prices won’t adjust until the get rid of the fuel in the ground. Prices are running between 6.50 and 8.80 ,the hundred dollar hamburger run just got more expensive.
 
Racerx said:
Should have stocked up. Does avgas go bad as quickly as pump gas
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No. Our jobber quoted "6 months" as max shelf life, but they were selling us the stuff, so our mutual interests weren't really aligned.

I've never heard of 100LL going bad outside of contamination.
 
Paid $5.45 this evening and wish my tanks were bigger…war on fossil fuels really needs to end.
 
$2.20 per litre up here. That's like what, about $8 per gallon. But Canadian Dollars which is something like $6 real dollars per gallon. Not too bad when I see what some of you are paying right now. But then again, just a few months ago, I filled up in Arkansas for less than $4 per gallon so still sucks.
 
Skymac said:
Surprised to not see a post about this!

Anyone taking any guesses as to when the madness stops on the price increases and where it levels off at? Starting to see prices towards $9 and higher at the smaller airports getting new loads.
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Which madness are you talking about? There is no shortage of crude for refineries in the US. Gasoline demand and production continues to increase at these prices. In other words, demand remains very high and the consumer is not reducing consumption - most are just complaining about the price.

The only madness I see is Congress is not banning US crude exports, which would slash crude prices in the US overnight.
 
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IMO 100LL will store much longer than 6 months. I have in a old car in my hangar that I start every month or 2 and the 100LL is at least 3 years old now. It is great gas to store an old car with.

I stored the same car in my home garage with 110 octane leaded sunoco racing gas for 19 years. 1983-2002. I started it only 2-3 times per year. I refilled the gas tank to keep it full and replaced battery's as needed. Then I stated driving the car for close to 20K miles from 2002 -2015 with the same gas tank, fuel lines and carb. I still drive it just not as much and it now resides in my hangar and I am using 100LL in it now.
IMG_1460.JPG
 
Gary Ward said:
IMO 100LL will store much longer than 6 months. I have in a old car in my hangar that I start every month or 2 and the 100LL is at least 3 years old now. It is great gas to store an old car with.

I stored the same car in my home garage with 110 octane leaded sunoco racing gas for 19 years. 1983-2002. I started it only 2-3 times per year. I refilled the gas tank to keep it full and replaced battery's as needed. Then I stated driving the car for close to 20K miles from 2002 -2015 with the same gas tank, fuel lines and carb. I still drive it just not as much and it now resides in my hangar and I am using 100LL in it now.
IMG_1460.JPG
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IS THAT AN AMX???

Either way, very, very cool car. My classic trucks woudl run fine on 100LL, the problem is I actually use them daily, so I just use pump gas (I've replaced all the fuel lines and the carbs are new, so the ethanol gas shouldn't hurt anything, but I sure wouldn't store it for more than 3 months without Stabil in it. Even then, a year on pump gas is my max.
 
Lowflynjack said:
My friend caused this. A few weeks ago, AvGas was $4.60/gal at most airports around us. He decided to switch to auto fuel to save some money... now auto fuel is $4.60/gal. Coincidence? I don't think so.
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I'd love that $4.60. Just paid $5.25 in Cincinnati.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
I'd love that $4.60. Just paid $5.25 in Cincinnati.
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Where did you find gas for 5.25?

I got some in Palio Ind couple weeks ago for 5.00 gal.
Car is a Dodge Challenger, not a charger! I have had a challenger of one sort or another since 1976 when I was 16. Thanks
 
Payed $9.78 yesterday here in Juneau. That's up about $3.00 from 6 months ago....:(
 
I filled up a KHAE for $4.90 last week. My home airport if KUIN is advertising at $8.19 though.

there do seem to be plenty of airports still in the $5 range if one looks.
 
Here at KRYY (Atlanta area) on June 17. It will probably settle at $11.00? Safe bet it's not going down anytime soon.
fuel.JPG
 
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100LL = 7.45
Car gas = $6.29

Not sure how much of that is market vs. WA state taxes because those are pretty high.
 
Okeechobee, in central FL (KOBE) is $6.29 self serve 100LL. Arcadia, FL (X06] is $6.11. Ft. Pierce (KFPR) is $7.10. OBE is only a 20 minute flight from FPR.

By the way, the restaurant at Okeechobee is closed until July 1.
 
$8.50 for Full Service here at Casper, WY. One of the airports that I frequent down in eastern Colorado (2V6) still has it for $4.99, but that will be coming to an end as a new load of fuel will be arriving there soon...
 
"When gas hits $1.50 a gallon, I'm out!"
Later..."When gas hits $2.00, no more."
much later, "$3.00 is when I sell"
etc etc.

The motivation to fly seems to transcend almost all gas price increases. I suppose at each higher level, we lose some pilots.
 
I think it would take a lot for people to stop flying because of gas prices for two reasons.

Number 1, cost of gas is probably the smallest expense of aircraft ownership. Let's take the average 50 hours per year private pilot. What's the difference between $5/gal vs. $8/gal... Maybe $1,500 extra? That's nothing compared to the cost of annuals, hangar space, upgrades, maintenance, etc. I'm paying nearly $6,000 per year for hangar space alone. Before I quit flying, I would probably try to find a cheaper hangar solution first, if I'd really have to recoup the $1,500 I'm paying extra for gas.

Number 2, income. This may not apply to all of us, but I would bet it applies to most of us here on the forum. Spending an extra $1,500 a year on something we very much enjoy isn't going to break the bank. Most of us could shake loose that budget from other hobbies we enjoy less, or put in 10 extra hours of work this year and make up for it. I would also argue that overall (again, doesn't apply to everyone, but I'm almost certain to most of us), we have more disposal income today than we did 5 or 10 years ago. When I started flying a few years ago, I probably couldn't really afford it but in those three years, I more than doubled my income (I would say, partially motivated by my new flying hobby) while cost of living did not double... Sure, it went up, but not 2X.
 
Looking at the numbers a different way. 182 burns 13 gal / hour. (Fly something else like a Cirrus? Even more) Price was $5, now will soon be $10. 100 hours a year flying. That's an addition $6500 per year, or $542 per month. ON TOP of everything else you pay for owning a plane.

Can't look at plane costs in isolation. ON TOP of the airplane expenses now have to deal with ridiculous prices to fill your car, buy groceries, and everything else. You doubled your income, and should be congratulated. The rest of the world didn't, and in fact saw the net worth (IRA's) drop by 25% - and still dropping.

So yes, IMHO the price of fuel is crimping and will crimp further hours flown in GA. My guess - we will see if that is the case in a few months.
 
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