Avgas for ferry flight.........any ideas

[Fly_Bug]

Hi All

We trying to deal with the impossible We have to do a job in Gabon for 2wks and need to get a piston aircraft up there and operating................any ideas if Botswana,Zambia,DRC, Angola got any guys still trading in Avgas up there, Im not holding thumbs

[chuks]

I took a Cessna 404 from Libreville to Nairobi way back in 1985, when I had to go to Bangui to refuel for my next stop in Kigali. There was no Avgas in Zaire and that was before the place fell apart.

How about carrying along drums of fuel and a pump to land and refuel from drums?

About the only other option would be to pre-position drums of fuel but that's expensive, of course.

[Fly_Bug]

Thanks, yeah, we only taking a Chieftan, so not much space for taking the avgas with us.....Have thought about transporting fuel up there, but the routes are terrible. and the chances of it arriving on time are minimal...

[WhinerLiner]

Ooo...not easy. Avgas in FYOA but not really anywhere else. Nothing in Luanda, Pointe Noire, Brazza, Kinshasa.

[Fly_Bug]

Pilots dont wanna fly 'em, cant fuel 'em - turbines are the onl way to go up North!

[Propellerpilot]

There are sources of Avgas in Luanda as far as I know - ask Angolan Air services if they can provide, so you could have a fuelstop after FYOA. Take a ferry-tank along and it should work for the route onward.

[birrddog]

Good luck. When I was positioning in Zambia, the fuel was one problem (or though less so as it was Jet-A1 in this case), the biggest problem turned out getting usable drums to store and transport the fuel back in.

Had to pay a huge deposit and promise to return them too!

Other advise I'd give is take your own fuel pump, with spare filter and some cheese cloth (for when the spare filter goes ) .

If you can, get a battery powered pump, will save you a lot of grinding :-)

[VortexGen300]

Depending on your plane?

A friend recently took a C172 to Luanda.

FALA - FAUP - FYKT - FYWE - FYOA - FNLA

I know there was AVGAS in Luanda. He met the guys along the way (from Luderitz and from Luanda) to get fuel. If you talk to BP they can help if they know in advance? It is all depending on your range and budget? He paid R17/l in Keetmanshoop

VG300

[gabon flyer 2]

Avgas in Gabon

As far as i can remember and that was back in 2005....avgas was available from a small local company based in Port gentil FOOG...i m talking about SCD Aviation.(they were flying a 206 and a maule)
My only advise will be to be very carefull as the chief pilot,a belgian guy has absolutely no commun sens and will probably try to sell you very old fuel drums having stay on the ramp for ages! So ask for a receipt and i really mean to condition the deal on the receipt avaibility!

Happy contrails

PS: otherwise you could also try Air Affaire Gabon in FOOL and Malabo but much more expensive

[diegrootwitbeen]

Ferry

Got Balls....call CDC (Cirrus) Lanseria and see if they will part with two 110 gal tanks, get some GAMI injectors while your at it, should get you down to 28 gal/hr, good luck

[safta]

We ferried our Seneca I non-stop from Libreville to Maun two year ago - 11 hours flight time. We had two ferry tanks in the cabin and full mains and landed in Maun with two hours of fuel remaining.

We can lend you a ferry tank if you want to PM us. Jimmy The Gong borrowed the other one but he may not have used it yet and will be returning it.

PM if we can help!

[heliace]

There is avgas in Kigali if pre-arranged, if that helps.

[Auscoaster]

There is AVGAS available in all of the countries you mentioned.
The trick is how to get your hands on it.
Your best bet is to get a handler at each stop to assist you. If arranged in advance, they can secure the amount of AVGAS that you need and have it waiting for you on your arrival. A small price to pay to get rid of a very big headache.