AVGAS consumption

[OZBUSDRIVER]

A comment on another thread got me in research mode..dug up the
ABARE Energy Report 2010 (http://www.abareconomics.com/publications_html/energy/energy_10/energyAUS2010.pdf) and came up with some AVGAS consumption figures.

The figures were-(page 18)

90 Ml 2003/04
91 Ml 04/05
86 Ml 05/06
90 Ml 06/07
88 Ml 07/08
96 Ml 08/09

I thought..."This is odd!" I remember a graph used by certain members from a certain members website...
http://www.dicksmithflyer.com.au/hours%20flown%202006e.gif

Very Odd!

So checked further back from ABARE and found

Australian Energy Consumption and Production (http://www.abareconomics.com/publications_html/energy/archive/nrg_consproduction.pdf) (Page 118)

PJ
2.1 73/74 32.3Ml
1.9 76/77 29.2 Ml
3.2 79/80 49.2 Ml
5.2 82/83 80.0 Ml
6.5 85/86 100.0 Ml
7.0 87/88 107.7 Ml
7.5 89/90 115.4 Ml
5.9 90/91 90.8 Ml
4.7 91/92 72.3 Ml
5.8 92/93 89.2 Ml
5.1 93/94 78.5Ml
5.4 94/95 83.1 Ml


Hmmm...the fuel crisis in 76/77 is there when a refinery went arseup for AVGAS production.

Interesting look at how figures can be manipulated and presented...Maybe I have my fuel conversion wrong from PJ back to Ml of AVGAS but...there you go people...even though we all think this industry is dieing...someone is flying and using AVGAS at near 1990 peak levels.

Basic assumption. Hours drop from a 1989/1990 peak to 1994 and then level out and start rising again to near peak levels...that is NOT what the graph shows.

OR...

GA CHTR and AWK increases markedly from 1994 on as private and business flying drops.....maybe the Bureau has picked a very narrow description that fits an assumption....adds food for thought for the $0.0387 per litre excise that goes to the CASA.

[OZBUSDRIVER]

A link from the BITRE (http://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/aviation/avgassales.aspx) site

http://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/images/avgas_sales.gif

Comparing the two sites?????? Is one government department talking to the other departments?

[Ultralights]

one government department talking to the other departments?

do you really have to ask that question?

also, how many avgas bowsers are actually left now? 3 of the regulars i used to use no longer exists withing a short flight from Syd.

[Jabawocky]

More and More MOGAS is being used as the flying is going from small GA to RAA type machines.

And a different government gets those tax dollars?????

[Ultralights]

More and More MOGAS is being used as the flying is going from small GA to RAA type machines.
every time i see the Shell fuel guy around here i ask him when he is installing the Mogas 98 Octane Bowsers... he just laughs.. though about 1/3 of the regulars here run Mogas. the local servo up the road is making a killing from its 98 PULP.

[frigatebird]

The sooner we can get away from high priced, poorly distributed 100LL, and concentrate on 98 PULP and Avtur (and/or avtur interchangable with diesel) in the GA fleet, the better.

[Chimbu chuckles]

G100UL is the answer - or will be.

If you think true 100 octane fuel going away is the answer you're NUTS.

Without it everything over 235hp goes away. No more C210s, C310s, Bonanzas, Barons, Cirrus, RVs, C185s, C195s, Warbirds - the list goes on.

Avgas high priced?

30 cents a liter more than the **** fuel you buy from the local servo is too high a price to pay for high quality 100 octane?

If you think that is what is 'killing' GA, or that 'GA' is in fact dying, you're just ignorant. In areas where its needed charter GA is doing fine - it just isn't needed in the J curve anymore.

Fuel is about 30% of the cost of running a C182, C210, Bonanza etc - if it was 30 cents cheaper/litre that might reduce to 25%. Don't get me wrong we'd all love cheaper fuel but if you think 5% is a deciding factor you're wrong.

The REAL difference in costs between a homebuilt aircraft and a GA piston 4 or 6 seater is govt maintenance regulation and red tape.

Aircraft like Jaba's RV10 cost as much to build as buying a decent 4 seater such as a F33 Bonanza. They burn just as much avgas as any piston single of comparable HP and yet RV numbers are booming. DOCs, insurance, hangarage, IFR enroute charges all very close.

Where they save is labour/maintenance. Annual maintenance costs on an RV10 are probably 10% of a C182.

Cheaper fuel would make not one bit of difference - high quality 100 octane going away would decimate GA. G100UL probably won't be much cheaper than 100LL but it should be lots easier to transport/store and THAT is where the saving is - there is so little TEL in it that there will be virtually no saving there.

[frigatebird]

Nuts..ll?? Ignorant..!!??
By all the Aviation Gods that stung you it seems.
Higher octane aviation fuel go away? The point was that the distribution of Avgas seems to be not worth the return now to many sites, and the costs are much higher for it in comparison with other readily available alternatives for some (albeit lower powered) engines. My older engine ran quite happily on Super when it was available. Had an old Falcon that did too. When the Super was cut out, it survived on unleaded with a head rework and a bit of upper cylinder lubricant. Perhaps older frame GA should embrace the new vaunted technology with new suitable engines at overhaul time for the current and projected distribution. (now THAT would cost you..for a private operation..!!)

[frigatebird]

From the Coral Sun thread

A37575 - the Aztec you saw parked over near the fuel depot was actually ferried from Honiara, where it had been rebuilt, well over 5 or 6 years ago. It ferried via Nauru where it nearly got stuck because no-one had checked to see if there was any avgas available. Eventually some out-of-date stock was found, the Aztec fuelled and got to Tarawa without any further to do. It was owned in the Solomons by the SDA's and did minimal flying in the Kiribati before being parked. That aircraft is now derelict and remains parked where you last saw it.


Working inwards - Kiribati, Nauru, S.I., PNG.. - Australia?

[Cactusjack]

Where is the Townsville Refueller ? Surely he can add some weight to this thread ???

[OZBUSDRIVER]

It isn't so much the amount of AVGAS used it's the bother of sending a full load of fuel out from the refinery and getting rid of the contents economically. This is the problem of supplying an aerodrome. Each semi holds up to 35000litres or more of product. The transport company gets paid cents per litre to deliver the stuff...if the run is either too long to empty a tank or too limited in capacity, its just plain uneconomical to make the delivery. Unless you can or two or three aerodromes in very close proximity can accept a single tanker at a time and get the truck back for another load of something else ASAP then the cents to not stack up...That and AVGAS gets transported in special neoprene sealed tankers that ONLY get used for AVGAS and there is the problem why drums and not tanks.

G100UL could change all that.