Explain To Me "Inflation" Again?

M

MFT1Air

Well-Known Member
No, it's not political. For most everyone here, way back when virtually ALL of us paid for gasoline? Ever since we got that license, the price of gas was significant.

Reflect? Dry or wet? Anyone remember how much they paid for 100LL for that Piper or Cessna? What WERE aviation fuel prices when one started flight training?

I'll be honest. I'm clueless. Gas prices? Yes. Aviation fuel prices? <crickets here>
 

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Cessna 152 at $32 wet, is what it was when I started on my PPL in 1987.

100LL? Ha! Back then it was 80/87 Octane (Red), 91/96 octane (Brown), 100/130 Octane (green), and 115/145 Octane (purple). 100LL (blue) came out later.

:/Story Time for kids.
 
MFT1Air said:
Reflect? Dry or wet? Anyone remember how much they paid for 100LL for that Piper or Cessna? What WERE aviation fuel prices when one started flight training?
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I remember it being somewhere under $1.50 when I stared flying in the 90's, regular gas was less than $1. I was also paying $31 wet for a Cessna then, and thought the $1,200 for a multi add-on seemed kind of pricey. The $18/hr I was making back then wasn't so bad in hindsight.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
I remember it being somewhere under $1.50 when I stared flying in the 90's, regular gas was less than $1. I was also paying $31 wet for a Cessna then, and thought the $1,200 for a multi add-on seemed kind of pricey. The $18/hr I was making back then wasn't so bad in hindsight.
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Traumahawk wet was $55 for me back in 2005. never EVER looked at the gas price. Ugh.
 
JordanD said:
Going to sound like a “damn kid” but I think almost 20 years is enough. But I remember in 2005 in Kentucky 100LL being somewhere around the $5/gallon mark, I was actually shocked to see it roughly still the same price if not within a couple dollars.
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I'm paying anywhere between $4 and $9.50 right now. The only good thing about Covid? Paying $2.04/gal for avgas 4 years ago. Miss that, don't think it will happen again.
 
$7.50 a gallon for my club plane in 2010
went back to 6.50ish for the rest of my training and basically stayed there.

people really dont like inflation at the gas pump for some reason, we’ve accepted it in every other part of our lives but energy needs to get cheaper. I remember when 93 was $4.75 a gallon in 2011ish when I was daily driving my avatar that got 11mpg
 
$29 and change for a 152 in 1987. Found some old receipts from fueling up, and 100LL was about $1.25 or so.

Oil can be deceptive due to the various boom and bust cycles. Late 80s, OPEC had a falling out, so the spigots were open. I remember seeing premium gas for 0.89/gal.

More than 12 years later, I was paying $13 for filling up my Subaru and it had a 13 gallon tank.

Aviation, especially GA, has been nothing but bust cycles. Yea, the price of AVGAS gets blamed for that, but over the long term, the price tracks inflation more often than not. I owned an airplane for 10 years, and fuel was always right around $4-5.

There are many problems with GA, enough for several PHD dissertations. But what has affected them is what affects all small business, but because of the low volume/low yield, affects them more.

As an example, after 9/11, business insurance (not just for aviation) got really, really squirrely. Went to the moon and never came back down.
 
Just for comparison's sake, when I started taking lessons at the Rome Aeroclub in Italy, a 152 was €140/hr, €160 for the Partenavia, or you could be fancy and pay €180 for the 172. Avgas was €2/ltr and already not every airport carried it. These are basically the prices in most of the US now, made even worse by the fact that it's even hard to find schools that offer training in a 152. Most are trying to push you into a G1000 Archer or 172 for $200/hr.
 
Richman said:
$29 and change for a 152 in 1987. Found some old receipts from fueling up, and 100LL was about $1.25 or so.

Oil can be deceptive due to the various boom and bust cycles. Late 80s, OPEC had a falling out, so the spigots were open. I remember seeing premium gas for 0.89/gal.

More than 12 years later, I was paying $13 for filling up my Subaru and it had a 13 gallon tank.

Aviation, especially GA, has been nothing but bust cycles. Yea, the price of AVGAS gets blamed for that, but over the long term, the price tracks inflation more often than not. I owned an airplane for 10 years, and fuel was always right around $4-5.

There are many problems with GA, enough for several PHD dissertations. But what has affected them is what affects all small business, but because of the low volume/low yield, affects them more.

As an example, after 9/11, business insurance (not just for aviation) got really, really squirrely. Went to the moon and never came back down.
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13.4 gallon tank in my Chevrolet Beretta, $10-ish dollar fill-up when it was almost on “E”.

But that was so long ago when taking a date to the Sizzler on Iron Springs Road was appropriate. “Get ALL the shrimp you want, Joann, we’re headed to The Palace for dollar drink night so you shouldn’t go on an empty stomach”

Yeah, I’m a dork.
 
derg said:
13.4 gallon tank in my Chevrolet Beretta, $10-ish dollar fill-up when it was almost on “E”.

But that was so long ago when taking a date to the Sizzler on Iron Springs Road was appropriate. “Get ALL the shrimp you want, Joann, we’re headed to The Palace for dollar drink night so you shouldn’t go on an empty stomach”

Yeah, I’m a dork.
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Mmmmm, Sizzler.

A Super Bird and a bowl of vegetable beef from Denny's is also a fine meal.
 
High gas prices aren’t going to be the problem.

Access to lithium and electricity production…. Is. And I’m not talking about EV’s either.
 
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