AVGAS Prices

planesiscool

planesiscool

New Member
I was wondering if anyone else is being hit hard by the price of AVGAS. The price for 100LL at our flight school is $4.86/gallon. Thankfully my school charges us a wet right and all they do is tack on a $4.50/hour fuel surcharge; this comes to me paying about $130/hour for a 172 and that includes the instructor fee. I went to another flight school and they charge a dry rate and you will pay around 180-200/hr in a cessna 172.
 
Ranges from $4.46-5.46 in the Memphis area. Just for other locations I've flown, in the DFW area it's $4.94-7.00 ($7 is at Love Field) and in Orlando it's $4.50-6.89.

All things considered, it could be worse. Seems like Avgas has been climbing at a slower rate than the price at the auto pump. Probably b/c if it gets any higher, people will just stop flying altogether.
 
I just paid $5.60 for SS at an airport in the middle of nowhere, Georgia. It's most likely because they don't sell much fuel, but it just keeps getting worse!
 
Retail at the FBO the school gets gas from is $5.69. We get a bit of a discount, but over half the rental cost pays the fuel bill.

It hurts. Last summer, it was a big deal when they broke $4.00 a gallon. Man i'd love to have that back now.
 
Its amazing how much of an increase the prices how sustained. I remember when I started working line service, less than 5 years ago, we sold Jet A for $1.68/gallon and Avgas for $2.22/gallon pre tax. I think the GA manufacturers are really going to start taking a hit, as fuel and metal prices shoot up, people find that the cost of buying and taking that Skyhawk out on the weekend are just not worth it anymore.
 
In the KC Metro area it ranges from $3.85 to $6.54. Unless something gives, the cost of fuel (as well as the cost of metals to the manufacturers) is going to kill GA.
 
The highest I've seen 100LL fuel so far is $6.32 per gallon at PDK airport in Atlanta. All I can say is, I'm glad I'm not paying the fuel bill when I get my fuel tanks topped off.
 
planesiscool said:
I was wondering if anyone else is being hit hard by the price of AVGAS. The price for 100LL at our flight school is $4.86/gallon. Thankfully my school charges us a wet right and all they do is tack on a $4.50/hour fuel surcharge; this comes to me paying about $130/hour for a 172 and that includes the instructor fee. I went to another flight school and they charge a dry rate and you will pay around 180-200/hr in a cessna 172.
Click to expand...

Does anyone else see the contradiction here? "Wet rate," but then you pay for 93% of the fuel? $130/hr isn't too bad with the instructor though, assuming said instructor gets paid ground time as well (as in, $130/flight hour + you pay ground the rest of the time he's there).

It's nearing $7 at KAUS. My school broke the $100/hr mark for 172's about 2 months ago. When I started flying 2 years ago I started out paying around $50/hr for a C152 and $70/hr for the same 172 that just broke $100. If this continues, I see the future of aviation consisting of:

1) Military pilots
2) Rich kids that didn't want to take over dad's business.
 
I know it's not Avgas, but we, and by we I mean my boss, paid over $8 a gallon for JetA at BWI the other day. Avagas was in the high 7s.

Alex.
 
I'm looking at a $1000 bill to top the tip tanks, the tip tanks alone, of an MU-2. Something like $8/gal. Luckily, the Fed picks up the tab when you're flying Fed work. I guess they'll probably just print more money.

I agree that the future of GA is looking...brief. I hate to see it go, but to be quite frank, if the economy has to tank, I'm glad there won't be as many pilots with whom to compete. I know, I'm a *#$&*#.
 
I know this doesn't apply to everybody, especially those of you flying bigger engines, but I couldn't care less how much avgas costs. It doesn't make a difference to me.

My plane only burns 5 gallons/hour. That means fuel can jump an entire $1.00/gallon and I'll ony see an operating expense increase of $5/hour.

When I'm already paying say, $55/hour to fly my plane, what's the difference between $55/hr and say, $60/hour? It's a small fraction of my expenses in the whole scheme of things. I could fly a couple hours less per year (say, 90 hours instead of 95) and be back to where I started financially.

So yeah, I wish it were cheaper, but I see the big picture and fuel prices don't truly influence what I decide to do or not do with my plane.

Oh, and as for the original question, I'm paying a hair under $5/gallon for my gas nowadays.
 
Looks like the midwest is the place to be: $4.35 at Valparaiso IN., $4.64 at Kankakee IL., $4.64 at Bloomington Normal Il., $4.60 at Paducah, KY. Louisville is up to $5.05.

Anything east of Louisville is over $5.50 it seems like. $5.65 at Wendell Ford, KY., $5.65 at Winston Salem, NC, and $5.50 at Greensboro triad.

$130 looks great in a 172 with an instructor. You'd be paying at least $150 here in Louisville. Anymore, the 152's are making a comeback because of gas.
 
Last I checked, there are a couple places at Flying Cloud a bit under $4.25. Not sure about other airports in the MSP area.
 
Been paying $4.61 here in OH. That and ALOT of people ask me about the operational cost of the plane as I can pull it back to 8.5 gallons an hour and still make 130kts in cruise.
 
mhcasey said:
Does anyone else see the contradiction here? "Wet rate," but then you pay for 93% of the fuel? $130/hr isn't too bad with the instructor though, assuming said instructor gets paid ground time as well (as in, $130/flight hour + you pay ground the rest of the time he's there).
Click to expand...

he said the surcharge was $4.50 per *hour*, not per gallon.
 
LL = $5.40
A = $5.59

...at the FBO I work at in TOL.

On a tangent, my FBO that I used in my primary training got rid of their last six pack 172 ("cheap" -> $128/hr) and brought on another G1000 172 (for a total of three). The G1000's run $138/hr. Most of the renter's weren't to happy to learn that the six pack is gone. I don't know why an FBO would do that to themselves.... it's like shooting themselves in a foot and then trying to run a marathon.

Thank goodness I found a 150 for $60/hr wet nearby...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top