Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Monday, October 6, 2008

Sport Aviation

Things are really slowing down in general aviation. The price of aviation gasoline has not, unlike automotive gasoline, dropped from its peak. On my last trip two weeks ago, I had to refuel at an away airport and paid $6.35 a gallon for the gas. My home airport is $5.65.

If you have a two-seat airplane, you'll burn between 3.5 and 5.5 gallons an hour. A four seater will burn 8 gallons an hour for a slowish one, faster ones burn 15 gallons an hour or more. If you have places to go, a fast four seater burning 18 gallons an hour to get you there at 180mph is a nice way to travel, but if you're just flying for fun, the idea that you are going to drop a C-note or better at the pumps is a real motivation for not flying as often.

The new light sport airplanes are a lot better on gas, true. But for most pilots, spending $80,000 or more for an airplane in order to save at the gas pumps is a pretty stupid way to economise.

So what happens is people start getting out, because the cost of insurance, of the annual inspection and for a tie-down or hangar becomes a larger component of each flight. That depresses the market for used airplanes. And then you can go to a small airport and see them rotting away at the tiedowns.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, a little bright side: You can also go make a good deal for that J-3 you have our heart set on.

The unfortunate reality is that the economy hasn't really grown since 2000. We are now seeing a return to the "correct" state of the market. It's very painful, but in the ling run, I think it's better than dragging the pain out over several years.

I enjoy your site. and your links!

Best

John

Comrade Misfit said...

J-3s are pricey. You can buy a Champ for $8,000 less or so. T-Carts and Luscombes tend to run somewhere in between, because they are faster.

Still, if you are a full-sized adult and you want to be able to take another adult up with you and fill the tanks, you pretty much need to look at 4-place birds.