Being based at an airport that doesn’t sell fuel?

D

DMD3.

Pre-takeoff checklist
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DMD3.
I know that some people at airports that don’t serve fuel have their own fuel tanks (Nashville GA is one of them and there’s actually a private jet based there), but I’m sure that they’re plenty of owners who simply fly to other airports to fuel. My concern is if I accidentally let the tanks get so low that I didn’t feel safe taking off, would an FBO sell me fuel by adding it to some fuel cans? Of course, I could always go to an unattended airport with self-serve (Adel, GA [15J]] and fill them up. And if I fly an aircraft that can use auto-gasoline, it’s a nobrainer, as I don’t think any airports in my area sell auto-gas. :D

Another question is, are ramp and/or hangar fees any less expensive? And is the wait time any shorter? Most non-fuel airports are pretty small with only a few hangars, so that may offset things, but then again, maybe the undesirability of these airports helps. Does anyone have experience being based at these airports?
 
I think you’re overthinking this. When there is no fuel on the airport, you factor it into your operations. That means being more conservative on your fuel calculations and understanding the 30-min reserve really might mean 10-12 gallons, so you keep a meticulous fuel log and plan accordingly.
 
TCABM said:
I think you’re overthinking this. When there is no fuel on the airport, you factor it into your operations. That means being more conservative on your fuel calculations and understanding the 30-min reserve really might mean 10-12 gallons, so you keep a meticulous fuel log and plan accordingly.
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Indeed, and I would definitely plan ahead. But in the event I did let the fuel level get too low. Perhaps I’m returning from a x-country and plan to stop and top off before hopping over to my home airport. However, sudden bad weather pops up, so I don’t have time to fuel up and then take back off again.
 
DMD3. said:
Indeed, and I would definitely plan ahead. But in the event I did let the fuel level get too low. Perhaps I’m returning from a x-country and plan to stop and top off before hopping over to my home airport. However, sudden bad weather pops up, so I don’t have time to fuel up and then take back off again.
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That’s when you land early and sit it out. Time to spare? Go by air.

If you can’t trust yourself to make the right decision in a simple scenario like this, you shouldn’t be flying.
 
I live on an airport without fuel. In a pinch, it's only 4 NM away. More often that not I hit one about 30 NM away or so because the prices are cheaper and I do it on the way to/form whevever I'm going.

For years I was based at IAD but I was in the fuel club at VKX, so I tanked up at VKX for less than half the price.
 
I bought a couple 20 gallon gas containers and an electric pump from
www.wurxcontainers.com.

WURX Containers

Camp site or job site, garage or farm, WURX 20-gallon fuel And Water containers provide a convenient, portable, space-saving fuel and water transfer solution.
www.wurxcontainers.com. www.wurxcontainers.com.

Not because of no fuel at airport, but expensive. I do try to run mogas.
 
Myself & friends have bought Avgas from a couple of nearby airports in proper fuel containers and never had a concern or a denial ...
 
Dana said:
My home field (SNC) has no problem selling gas to people with classic cars, boats, or gas cans.
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Airport I flew out of for years did the same. They weren’t supposed to. It was a don’t give them hot rodders their lead fix kinda thang. But they rolled the dice and figured ain’t no thang, nobody’s really watching, and so far they’ve won the bet
 
As others have said, you just need to factor this into your fuel planning. Not a big deal. Get fuel on your way in and never land with less than an hour of fuel or whatever your margin calls for based on the nearest fuel source.
 
I've lugged literally hundreds of five gallon cans of AVGAS from various airports to the floatplane (straight floats, not amphib) and never had a problem.
 
I was based at an airport with crazy expensive fuel for a couple years. Never filled there. Had a couple airports within 20 min flying time that were >$2/gal cheaper. It's not a big deal at all to manage.

On the question of whether hangars/tie downs are cheaper with no fuel, there's no way to isolate that as a single factor. Just call the place and find out. Also call whatever your next best alternative would be.
 
RyanB said:
Avgas too?
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Avgas only. I've heard some airports will let you fill a can only if you tell them it's for an airplane, wink wink nudge nudge, but I've never been in that situation. I bring avgas home to run my small engines due to the better storage life, I want to know my generator or snow blower will start when I need it to. A friend of mine brings his classic cars (MG-TD and an old Firebird) to the airport for the last fillup in the fall before putting them away for the winter.

If your home field has no fuel, keep as many 5 gallon cans in the hangar as you need to get to an airport with fuel in case you get stuck.
 
Airports should not be selling Avgas for non-aeronautical purposes. If they get caught, they will get fined. For that reason, I don’t do it. Can I stop Jim from coming after hours and using the self-serve pump and filling his cans up? No, but if I know about it, I will turn them away. Avgas isn’t racing fuel. If folks need an octane booster, the auto parts store sells a variety of such.
 
And proper racing fuels are available. Back when I was a NASCAR official we had one approved fuel and 100LL wasn't it. We'd test the fuel from time to time (mostly for additives, but 100LL would stand out like a sore thumb) and DQ people using it.

STABIL is a whole lot better than whatever 100LL uses if you're storing cars over winter. You certainly don't want to get 100LL anywhere near something with a catalytic converter in it.
 
For off-season storage of snow blower and mower; I like to run the tank dry. Then put in some Stabil, slosh it around, and run a little through the engine. This takes care of getting all the ethanol out or stabilizing it so it does not create a varnish. It does make the first start next year a little annoying but not bad.

Tim
 
DMD3. said:
Indeed, and I would definitely plan ahead. But in the event I did let the fuel level get too low. Perhaps I’m returning from a x-country and plan to stop and top off before hopping over to my home airport. However, sudden bad weather pops up, so I don’t have time to fuel up and then take back off again.
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How is that any different to a diversion to any other airport that doesn't have fuel?

This is just part of flying.
 
Katamarino said:
How is that any different to a diversion to any other airport that doesn't have fuel?

This is just part of flying.
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A very large difference. At the home airport, even if no fuel. You very likely have a vehicle, and you can get a gas container and drive to another airport and get some.
If diverting, I doubt you have the same local resources.

Tim
 
flyingron said:
Back when I was a NASCAR official we had one approved fuel and 100LL wasn't it.
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It took me a number of years to convince racing folks that avgas was NOT a high octane race fuel no matter what. The 100 is a performance octane rating that is completely different than the R+M/2 formula.

Now I will agree that avgas is a stable fuel and is/was readily available at any airport. Also a decent engine builder can build power with most any fuels. Looking at the heavily laden ethanol fuel used by NASCAR today.

But using low octane avgas in a high compression, high revving race engine is not going to beat the same engine running good race gas.
 
RyanB said:
Airports should not be selling Avgas for non-aeronautical purposes. If they get caught, they will get fined. For that reason, I don’t do it. Can I stop Jim from coming after hours and using the self-serve pump and filling his cans up? No, but if I know about it, I will turn them away. Avgas isn’t racing fuel. If folks need an octane booster, the auto parts store sells a variety of such.
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Fined by who?
 
We had 108 Octane leaded and 100 Octane UL for a long time (no ethanol) back then. You're right they use E15 UL 98 now.
 
Just buy 3 or 4 5-gal gas cans, fill them, and keep them in your hangar. If you're ever in a pinch, dump them in the plane and fill them for next time.
At our uncontrolled, no-FBO, self-serve airport, we have a pickup that regularly comes in and fills a tank in the bed for supply of their helicopter tour operation.
 
tspear said:
A very large difference. At the home airport, even if no fuel. You very likely have a vehicle, and you can get a gas container and drive to another airport and get some.
If diverting, I doubt you have the same local resources.

Tim
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Right, so it's even easier.

My point was, why would it be any more likely that you end up stuck without fuel at home base then at another airport. I can't see the point of the original question at all.
 
donjohnston said:
I would have to agree. You’re overthinking this.
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I disagree that he is "OVER"thinking it. I feel more like he is trying to think through things he is not familiar with. That is a good thing for pilots to do. Saying he just needs to plan in advance and not screw up is sort of like saying you will never have a gear up if you just always remember to raise your gear before you land.
 
flyingron said:
Fuel does not belong in hangars outside of aircraft fuel tanks. If you're talking about your own structure, that's one thing, but if you're in a bank of T-hangars or whatever, that's foolhardy.
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My hangar is on land leased by the state, and they inspect the premises frequently for compliance with the regulations, one of which that you're not supposed to store any flammable liquids there. I've always had a few containers of fuel (both AVGAS and non-ethanol) kept in mine and they've never said anything about it.
 
JOhnH said:
Saying he just needs to plan in advance and not screw up is sort of like saying you will never have a gear up if you just always remember to raise your gear before you land.
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Sure about that? Raising the gear before landing will guarantee at least one gear up! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
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JOhnH said:
I disagree that he is "OVER"thinking it. I feel more like he is trying to think through things he is not familiar with. That is a good thing for pilots to do. Saying he just needs to plan in advance and not screw up is sort of like saying you will never have a gear up if you just always remember to raise your gear before you land.
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After Michael, my home field didn't have fuel for quite a while. It was a total non-issue. I just always landed with about 2 hours fuel onboard.

It ain't rocket science.
 
The problem is easily solved by gas cans. If you tie down at an airport with FBO ,you don’t have that option,they frown on self fueling.
 
RyanB said:
Airports should not be selling Avgas for non-aeronautical purposes. If they get caught, they will get fined. For that reason, I don’t do it. Can I stop Jim from coming after hours and using the self-serve pump and filling his cans up? No, but if I know about it, I will turn them away. Avgas isn’t racing fuel. If folks need an octane booster, the auto parts store sells a variety of such.
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At the self-serve pump I’ve been to, it asks you to type in the ‘N’ number for the aircraft being fueled. I’ve never heard of anyone getting aircraft fuel for non aviation purposes.
 
DMD3. said:
At the self-serve pump I’ve been to, it asks you to type in the ‘N’ number for the aircraft being fueled. I’ve never heard of anyone getting aircraft fuel for non aviation purposes.
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I would be tempted to enter the N number of a jet (partly to see if anyone notices)
 
jimhorner said:
Sure about that? Raising the gear before landing will guarantee at least one gear up! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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Oops. Just goes to show, we all screw up at times. The thing to worry about is how we deal with it. Which prove my point.
 
I was based at an airport with no fuel a few years ago. My plane was able to use MoGas which is what I used. I just had several jerry cans I filled up on the way to the airport. Hangar rent was way cheaper than any hangar rent I've paid after I left that airport. I now pay more for ramp tie downs than for hangar space at my current airport lol. But, long story short, I hated fuelling up the plane with jerry cans. It was a high wing, those cans are heavy, you have to climb on a stool, I didn't like it. I'm lazy when it comes to those things. When I'm at an airport that has both fuel service fuel and self serve fuel, I usually opt to pay a little extra and get the staff to fill up the tanks. The airport I'm based out of now only has full service fuel so I don't even have to make that decision.
 
DMD3. said:
At the self-serve pump I’ve been to, it asks you to type in the ‘N’ number for the aircraft being fueled. I’ve never heard of anyone getting aircraft fuel for non aviation purposes.
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Boats, Jetskis, Race cars. We saw it all the time at our SS pump.

The placard for "off-road use only" was there. I can't fathom why we'd ever object to that usage, as long as they didn't park the boat and go into the restuarant blocking aircraft access. :)
 
Half Fast said:
Do you also worry about keeping your car at home in your garage because there isn’t a filling station next to your driveway?
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:yeahthat:

The person who gets "stuck" at their home field without enough fuel is the same type of person who runs out of fuel before getting to their destination.
 
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