Why are avgas prices still holding near their all-time highs, while automobile gasoline prices continue to free-fall to near last year’s prices?

Are we being gouged by avgas?

Just updated my fuel price service, 100LL.com, part of my Control Vision Anywhere Map subscription.  At my home field, the price of self-serve avgas is $5.28 per gallon.  According to the fuel pricing service, the national average is $5.08 (updated as of 10/23/2008.  Meanwhile, local low grade auto gasoline, mogas, is running about $3.15 a gallon, and some of the cheapest outlets are slipping below the $3 level.  That a 60% difference in price between avgas and mogas.

Ok, I understand all about avgas being a niche product produced in small quantities, needing special handling and shipping because of the lead content, and the price change lag (both up and down) because of fewer flight hours requiring longer to consume supplies bought at higher prices. 

Avweb has an editorial about this, but basically says the FBO business is difficult, so grin and pay the prices.  Nope.  AOPA needs to get involved in this.  

In the meantime, I’ll continue to use 100LL.com to avoid the FBOs who insist on holding the higher prices.

Beautiful weather, and a beautiful location for some formation flying last weekend.  Santa Maria, California (KSMX).  Inland enough that there were no worries about the marine layer coming in to delay the day’s flying.  But close enough to the central California coast to allow some great photo ops.

Formation Flying at Santa Maria, Oct 2008

Fun weekend for the West Coast Hepcats, an informal group of pilots flying Grumman light single aircraft.  Informal, but very serious about our formation flying.  We take this very seriously (with strong focus on safety), following FFI and Grumman formation flying standards. This weekend our training included 2-ship and 4-ship formations (I’m flying slot in the above photo) and even a 6-ship formation with a Delta configuration.  If you are interested in flying formation, PLEASE get the appropriate training.  It is intense, safe, and fun when the participants are properly trained, led, briefed, and can execute (good stick-and-rudder skills).

Here’s another reason to skip the airlines and fly General Aviation.  The next airliner you get on could be damaged and made unairworthy by none other than TSA!  I’ve previously written about the top 10 reasons to skip the airlines and fly yourself on general aviation.  But this new reason may save your life!

Yes, that’s right, TSA is now damaging airliners!  This week, an ignorant TSA inspector damaged and made unairworthy 9 airliners at Chicago O’Hare airport.  Nine aircraft damaged (fortunately this damage was discovered by observant pilots) and over 40 flights delayed while the damaged equipment was replaced.  Why was this done?  To see whether someone could get into the airplanes.  Not by steps and doors…but “spiderman” style. A TSA inspector used aircraft equipment as…monkey bars!…in an attempt to climb into the aircraft.  Keep in mind that TSA did not report the damage they caused, so what might have happened if they damaged equipment that was not discovered before the flight………?

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But of course, TSA was apologetic about this incredibly stupid act, disciplined the inspector, and said this would never happen again…..right?   WRONG!  Instead, they are defending the inspector, blaming the airline for lack of security (because by damaging the planes, they could get access to 7 aircraft).  Worse, although they have supposedly provided some additional training to its inspectors, TSA continues to encourage its inspectors to look for and exploit such “vulnerabilities”.  

So while you worry about the terrorist threat against air carrier travel…you now need to add the ignorant, self-righteous, virtually unregulated staff of the TSA.  Do you know who’s been climbing on and digging through the sensitive equipment on your airliner? 

Fly your own airplane and avoid this madness!  Cheers!

Short post today.  See my other posts from Airventure 2008 at Oshkosh: Find them here, here, here.

The flightline is very active (and the spectator area is very busy at airshow time.) Been here a good part of the week and finally starting to feel I’ve seen a good part of the show.  But there are still surprises, particularly when the shuttle buses take different routes and I discover new areas to visit!  Some of the sights on the flightline:

U-2 Spyplane

V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor

Jam-packed flightline. Weekend will be even more jammed.

Also spent some “quality time” at the Seaplane Base, just south of the main Oshkosh airport.  This lagoon on Lake Winnebago is owned by a local farmer and airplanes only operate there for the week of Airventure. Shady and compact, but quite busy little area.  I highly recommend spending some time there.

Seaplane Base at Oshkosh

One of the latest things at Oshkosh is the “Fly-In Theater” where they are playing aviation-themed movies every night (tonight is “Broken Arrow“, starring (and the film introduced by) John Travolta.  I’ll avoid DMCA concerns and only show the 5-story inflatable screen they use for the movies.  Very cool, actually.  Even free popcorn!

Cheers!

Lots of time (and miles) in the last couple of days looking at planes at Airventure 2008 at Oshkosh.  I can believe there are 10,000 planes here.

First two Airventure 2008 installments are here and here.

Here’s a TINY sample of what I saw that struck my eye, anyway.

RVs.  Not recreation vehicles, but homebuilt aircraft from kits by Vans Aircraft.  Hundreds, maybe a thousand of them!  The largest is the RV-10 a relatively new 4-seater.  And there were rows and rows of just RV-10s; some unpainted and looking like they just finished the last rivet, and others looking pristine in perfect paint, avionics and interiors.

Yeah, there are a huge number of the other kind of RVs (land-yachts) at Airventure too. But you can see them anywhere.

How about the Boeing Dreamlifter.  This is one big damn airplane, filling Aeroshell Square the days it was at the show.

The Red Bull Helicopter, used on the worldwide circuit of the Red Bull Airraces, putting on amazing displays of aerobatics that virtually no other copter can attempt.

Rows and rows of virtually any kind of airplane. From warbirds like P-51s.  More than you could imagine. And civilian aircraft; not just current planes, but classics like the Cessna 195.  Again, rows and rows of them.  Almost all in pristine condition too. 

How about your own personal Jetson jetpack?  That is, a Martin Jet Pack.  Flew for a couple of minutes (up to 6 ft high, and tethered per FAA requirements). Only $100K for your very own.

More weird stuff. And haven’t even gotten to the Fly Market yet!  Saw this PETA nightmare of a prop cover. The vendor was selling airplane floats, but the “prop-pelts” sure drew some attention.

Finally, tons of formation flying (interested in this because I’ve started formation training, maybe to participate at OSH next year).  Lots of formations.  Warbirds (US and overseas aircraft) and warbird wannabees (apparently RVs love formation flying…)  Some better than others.  So much formation flying (good and not-so-good) that it would fill its own DVD.  

More soon.  Cheers!

Hi Grumman owners, pilots, and fans!  At Airventure 2008 (Oshkosh) today, there was a forum for Grumman owners hosted by Greg Erikson, that included an update from Kevin Lancaster of True Flight Aerospace and a maintenance presentation led by John Sjaardema of Excel-Air Services.  Also an update on a couple of Grumman STC projects such as his new cowling by Gary Vogt of AUCounty Aviation. 

Kevin was able to get an exhibit spot at Oshkosh (#52) so be sure and visit if you are planning to attend Airventure.  He provided an update on Tiger production, with installation of production lines into their building scheduled to start in a couple of weeks.

True Flight Aerospace at Airventure 2008

After discussing some serious potential maintenance issues with our aging Grumman airplanes, John displayed a couple of new items related to the front air vents (where you currently have those vintage, usually broken, automobile design louvered vent openings). He has a replacement vent insert that includes 2 eyeball vents that pop right into existing opening. John said the price was about $80 for a set of pilot and copilot sides.  Contact him if you want them.

More interesting is a prototype John has developed that replaces the entire air vent plenum box on each side below the instrument panel.  This is still a prototype and John wants to know if there is interest among Grumman owners to purchase these replacement vent boxes.  Here’s a shot of the prototype hot off the Oshkosh forum today:

What is pictured is a right-hand side vent with the narrow end that matches up with the ventilation opening in the fuselage.  It will have two eyeball vents as shown that close tightly (for you cold-weather pilots).  This lightweight design will just snap into place beneath the outer edges of the instrument panel. And it opens up the area below the instrument panel for more leg room or for you and your A&P to install a supplemental panel for switches or instruments that people are now installing in the air plemun boxes (and subject to dirt and moisture).  If you are interested in these new boxes, contact John directly at his website above, or leave a message on the AYA Maintenance Forum, or use the Grumman Gang email system to make your thoughts known.

Thanks, John for this innovation.  Also thanks to Kevin, Gary, Erik, and all the folks who participated in the forum today.

Airventure 2008 at Oshkosh - Day 2. First day of the “show”, and only one word fits: OVERWHELMING. Wandered the field to regain my bearings once again and identify targets of interest for closer exploration later this week.

Aeroshell Square early in the day, before many of the other star attractions arrive. But there is already one plane drawing a crowd. “Terrafugia” - a convertible plane-automobile!  Hasn’t flown yet, but it’s here and getting lots of attention.  This is apparently one of those innovative ideas that has many lives.  I remember as a kid watching grainy 16mm film footage of a similar “Air-Car” with detachable wings.

Of course, this is OSHKOSH, so there is not just one, but several manufacturers of these convertible airplane-automobiles at the show, with front and center placement and coverage. Wonder what the mileage is on these bad boys?

A bit of nostalgia for long-time Oshkosh visitors, seeing the old FAA ControlTower for the last time.  The new control tower is operational, and the daily Airventure news says the old one will be demolished sometime after the show ends.

Dumbest exhibit at Airventure?  There are many strong candidates (and haven’t visited the Fly Market yet where there are sure to be contenders.  But my vote goes to FORD.  Specifically, the silly-ass mechanical bull riding exhibit right on the main drag between the main gate and Aeroshell Square.  Bull riding? This is an airshow!  Can you please let “Urban Cowboy” rest in peace in Netflix?  Maybe they think they can attract John Travolta to their exhibit.

Things that work: The trams. Powered by good ol’ John Deere tractors, these trams give you a break, some shade, and quick transportation across the miles of exhibits and themed aircraft parking areas.

Things that don’t work so well: the EAA buses to the dorms.  Waited an hour yesterday for a bus that’s supposed to run every 1/2 hour.  And the last bus leaves for the dorms BEFORE the movie is over at the Fly-In Theater. Duh. Please fix this, EAA.

But Airventure-Oshkosh is about planes and people, and there are both in overwhelming numbers.  Each theme area (homebuilts, vintage, warbirds, etc) are larger than any other airshow I’ve experienced. Just scratched the surface here. How about not just one, but rows of Cessna Caravans as RVs?  Red Bull helicopter doing loops and rolls!  Lots more to see this week.

Oh, remember, I call this series “Hog Wild for Flying” for a reason, comparing flying to the motorcycle culture.  Seems Harley understands the connection, too.  They have a nice exhibit at Airventure to make sure any hunger for ground-based excitement can be satisfied.

Finally today:  Dorm life.  Like college, but with a 401K plan and somewhat older crowd.  But they are creative!  Some of our enterprising “dormies” set up an impromptu movie theater in the lounge area on my floor.  Laptop, LCD projector, bedsheet for a screen, and mixture of YouTube and DVDs.  Very cool way to pass the evening.

Cheers from Airventure!  More next time.

Arrival day at AIRVENTURE 2008, Sunday July 27!!  Or, simply, “Oshkosh”.  Thank you, EAA! This truly is the spirit of “Hog Wild for Flying!  500,000 people and 10,000 airplanes in one week at one airport. Awesome!

Airventure 2008 at Oshkosh!

More after the break:

Tanked up on fuel at Dubuque, Iowa to make sure I had plenty in case I had to hold on the way in.  There were a bunch of warbirds staging and practicing at Dubuque for a mass arrival tomorrow (Monday).

Warbirds at Dubuque

But the arrival was smooth.  Weaved through thunderstoms from Arizona to Missouri.  Then the legendary arrival procedures (30+ page instructions!) Busy, way too busy to even think about shooting pictures on the approach (head on a swivel the whole time).  Last minute change from Runway 27 to Runway 36 Left.  “Land on or beyond the Green Dot.”  An Oshkosh exclusive procedure, but no problem!  Taxi in and tie down with, oh, maybe 10,000 other planes this week!

Tied down at Oshkosh, Airventure 2008

Top drawer accommodations.  Dorm room at UW, Oshkosh.  No A/C, fourth floor room, men’s rest rooms on the 3rd floor.  Paradise!

VERY BUSY on the airshow grounds, considering the show doesn’t really start till tomorrow! Lots of visitors mixed in with trucks, forklifts, and workers setting up the acres and acres of exhibits.

More to come.  This place is absolutely Hog Wild for Flying!

Have to fly the airlines to get to your work destination?  Or perhaps to a vacation spot?  Well, prepare yourself for a system that has steadily become one of the worst experiences imaginable. 

But there is an option. General Aviation. Smaller planes that you can fly yourself or hire as a charter.  This isn’t just for the corporate elite or the rich and famous.  Ironically, the changes in the airline industry are making General Aviation more and more an attractive option.

“GA Serving America” describes some advantages of using GA aircraft compared to the airlines.  With the changes in the economy and the airline system, we can update this.  Here are my top 10 reasons for skipping the airlines and flying by general aviation.

10.  You are responsible for your flight (or work with a motivated charter crew). You have control over the flight, even if just working with a polite, responsive charter crew. No pilots cancelling flights because they are “too upset to fly”. No surly airline flight and cabin crew. You have to feel for them, though. They are suffering through reduced salaries and benefits, loss of job security, and overloaded flights full of delayed, abused, and frustrated passengers. 

9.  Best seats on the plane.  Usually every seat is a window seat and as the pilot, you have the very best seat on the house, with a grand view of the entire flight.  Fly a charter and you not be subjected to a middle seat.  As part of the growing ala-carte (lack of) service program, airlines are going to charge you a premium for aisle and window seats; up to $15 (so far…) over your base ticket price! And cell phones on flights may be in the future if the airlines can find a way to charge to use them!  Avoid this nonsense by flying yourself.

8.  You make the rules.  No idiotic “3-1-1″ rule limiting your toiletries.  No limits (or fees) on your baggage.  With airlines charging $15 and $25 per bag, the aircraft loading process will be a nightmare with overloaded overhead compartments and angry passengers who have to pay to check bags.  Skip it. Pack what you want, particularly if you are the pilot.  As long as you meet weight and balance requirements, you are good to go.

7.  You set the schedule.  Airlines are now moving to minimum overnight and weekend stays, which will severely impact the business community, not to mention the leisure traveler.  And the airlines are “cutting capacity”.  This means fewer flights to fewer destinations, and more dead time waiting for your flights or connections (and there will be connections as airlines slash direct flights).  Small GA aircraft may fly slower than airliners, but by the time you factor in the delays for security screening, flight delays, baggage and ground transportation delays, as well the new overnight stay requirements, you will find that GA saves you time and money.

6.  You pick the destination; from 20,000 GA airports and heliports, versus 30 big hub airline airports and a few hundred US airports with airline service. You have many more options. Depart closer to home.  Land closer to your destination.  Smaller airport provide faster, more personalized services.  Some still even offer a free ”crew car” to visiting pilots, where you just put some gas in it when you’re done for the next guy!

5.  Much more control over cost.  By flying GA aircraft, you have much more control over the cost of your flight.  You know the fixed cost of owning or renting the plane.  The rising price of fuel is affecting all of US transportation, and you have the flexibility to seek airports with lower cost fuel.  Most importantly, you avoid the wildly varying flight costs and surcharges that go into the ”profit” calculations used by the enormous airline industry. 

4.  An exciting journey, not a gauntlet.  Especially if you are flying yourself, you are able to experience all of the exciting and challenging aspects of planning and executing that perfect flight.  You can mold the flight times, destinations, aircraft used, and routing to your tastes.  Maybe take an interesting side-trip or visit friends or relatives.  Maybe introduce them to GA!  Flying the airlines is a mind-numbing gauntlet that must be survived to get where you are going.  Time otherwise wasted.  Where you seek a book, magazine, movie or work (if you have room to even get the laptop opened), just to get through it; to just get the flight over...

3.  You are the highest priority.  As the pilot in command of your own plane or valued charter customer, the consideration of your needs is entirely different from the airlines.  You are priority Number One (with appropriate safety considerations, of course). The airlines may say that passengers are their top priority, but the reality is we are treated as “self-loading cargo” to be closely controlled and we represent a cost that must be minimized.  We are herded onto, strapped in, and herded off the airliners under the constant threat of federal offenses for any variance from the flight crew’s orders.  And all semblance of the joy of early era airline flight has disappeared because the airlines don’t know how to set reasonable prices; rather they engage in unsustainable and predatory pricing to desperately discourage new competition.

2.  General Aviation provides actual higher security.  As the pilot, you know who is on your flight (maybe just you).  If you have passengers, they are family, friends, or colleagues.  Your aircraft (usually a small piston engine GA aircraft) is proven to not have the potential for damage or terror compared with an airliner. GA airports and aircraft are secured by motivated, dedicated owners, operators, renters, and workers at the airport.  The biggest GA ”terror threat” today seems to be network television producers who insist on creating sensationalized ”news” by staging attempts to fool airport staff and sneak aboard general aviation aircraft.  Hopefully these idiots are prosecuted and punished as real terrorists! 

And #1.   No TSA “security theater”.  Much has already been written, including in a prior post on this blog, about the farce that is TSA and the current airline security kabuki theater. Grandmothers and infants detained and unreasonably searched.  Medal-winning military personnel (in uniform and with IDs) not allowed to keep their medals for the flight.  Lawmakers who cannot get off terrorist watch lists. Pictured items on teeshirts and tiny doll-sized plastic toys considered “security threats” and not allowed on flights.  Pierced nipples?  Come on!  Now it gets worse.  ID’s required for boarding (”Where are your travel papers…?”) or else you are subjected to secondary inspection.  And TSA personnel are now playing dress-up with new police-style uniforms, including a little tin badge “to convey authority and increase respect”.  Legitimate police are understandably concerned with this confusing and rife-for-abuse new uniform.   If TSA wants respect, fix your business, don’t just masquerade as law enforcement personnel.  Thankfully, when you fly your own airplane, you avoid this.  You unlock your aircraft, load your belongings and your passengers, fuel the aircraft, and fly away.  Relatively speaking..bliss!

Any other reasons I’m forgetting?

How do we grow General Aviation, making more people “Hog Wild for Flying“?  A local billboard advertisement got me thinking about how we promote Flying versus other activities. 

Here’s a perfect opportunity to share the excitement of General Aviation.  But will that happen?

The Red Bull Air Race World Series is coming back to San Diego in May.  Last year the air races attracted about 50,000 people in San Diego.  Likely more will come this year.  Lots of media covering the event.  Lots of attractive young people promoting the title sponsor beverage.

So where will General Aviation be at this event?  Of course these are GA aerobatic planes, but I mean our kind of GA.  Plane manufacturers, equipment and suppliers, FBOs, Schools, Clubs, Organizations.  Are any of you planning to be there…to get exposure to 50,000+ people who want to see fast planes?  I don’t recall seeing any GA presence at the air races in 2007. 

Nor is there a GA promotion presence at the MCAS Miramar Air Show every October, where the 3-day attendance is on the order of half a million people. Ok, maybe one local flying club C-172 on static display, with a couple of sunburned volunteers braving the roasting windswept distant transient ramp. But no real effort to promote GA.

Now, contrast this with NASCAR. 

Say what you will about the “good ol’ boy” atmosphere of the participants, fans, and most everything else about NASCAR.  They DO bring in the people, media and the automotive industry.  Plus a whole lot of other industries that love the exposure, starting with the colorful logos plastered all over the cars and drivers.

Every major vehicle manufacturer is there. Every major supplier.  Racing schools. Most anything that has wheels finds a way to get there.  Oh yeah, how about home improvement, candy, and cereal to name a few other prominent products.  And this excitement breeds excitement by the fans.  They love their cars, drivers, and all the logo apparel and paraphenalia that goes with the NASCAR culture.  It’s a COMMUNITY, carefully nurtured to the benefit of the sponsors as well as the fans.  And the media and entertainment industry eat this up, with all kinds of shows built around racing.  All this excitement brings many new fans and sponsors every year.  It’s not perfect and there are other issues that limit NASCAR’s growth, but there is a core strength in the COMMUNITY. 

There are lessons to be learned here, GA.  It’s all about the excitement of a vibrant community.  Rewarding for the participants, and enticing for newcomers. 

What should our community look like?

More to come…