$6 avgas letter

[Bill Greenwood]

As for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, there was a moratorium in place after the BP explosion and oil spill, but it was lifted.

Just yesterday, 12-31, the newspaper reports that there are now More drilling permits for that area than there were just before the BP explosion. It also says some of this new drilling is already underway and in water 2 miles deep.

Reports are also that the US is actually not short of gasoline or jet fuel, and for the first time in 60 years is Exporting both of these.
It is a matter of where and who is willing and able to pay the highest prices, it is not just a question of domestic supply. Refiners were running at about 89% capacity.

We still have 100 LL avgas, thankfully, because even though it is a small part of the market, it is a profitable one for the refiners with a good markup margin.
And I know some people will say we don't need 100 octane and tout some electric or low powered airplane that can run on less, but many of the best planes, the B-17s, P-51s etc. need that fuel to run, and it would be sad when they no longer flew. Watching an electric plane to me is about as thrilling as watching a mime ,sp?, perform.

Maybe we should all take a refiner for a good airplane ride, sort of "Young Eagles" for refiners.

[Jalsup]

Jerry, the 10 people killed in the BP disaster are still dead and that is a pretty long lasting impact to them and their families.And for them that was about at much "horrors, doom, and gloom" as a family can have.

That is only the direct emotional impact, but there were and are economic impacts like bankrupticies that are long lasting. I strongly doubt that that fishing or tourist industry on the gulf has fully rebounded.
How exactly do you find the BP oil spill to be "contained", I guess you could say it stayed on earth, did not go into space. It sure went over large areas of the gulf, even to Florida and even slightly inland wetland areas.

As for "rescue Solindra"," I am pretty sure that no one was killed in that business failure, nor was there any huge impact on neighbors from an toxic spill. It is bankrupt, like many other such firms here and abroad, and like Lehman Bros. and Countywide which had nothing to do with any environmentalists.

The men who were killed were a tragedy for sure, but I liken it to anyone involved in a hazardous occupation like say...flying.

As for Solyndra - no, probably nobody was killed because of the bankruptcy but what about the profligate waste involved? As for Lehman Brothers - no, there weren't any direct deaths, but the ripple-effects from that bankruptcy are far more corrosive than tar-balls on the beach and will be much more detrimental to the earth than BP.

[Bill Greenwood]

Hyper, I am not surprised that you say BP "threw away the rulebook" after the explosion. I am not surprised at all since they did not seem to be following the rules beforehand and that led to the tragedy.
And they didn't seem to have a realistic and workable plan to deal with the oil that gushed out for days, weeks, I think even months into the gulf.
If I am wrong, how long was it before the well was plugged and all the oil flow stopped?
And this is not just my opinion, recent news says some execs of BP are facing Criminal prosecution, not just saying sorry we made a mistake and here is some money to fix it.

And as for cheap avgas, what was the price and trend just before the Bp explosion and moratorium? Seems to me gas prices had already gone up.

[Hiperbiper]

Hyper, I am not surprised that you say BP "threw away the rulebook" after the explosion. I am not surprised at all since they did not seem to be following the rules beforehand and that led to the tragedy.

I don't find BP blameless nor do I put all the blame on them. One of their contractors who knew it was a "Hell Well" (a stem that is subject to heavy pulses or "kicking") and did not follow all the safety procedures for the contracted work.

And they didn't seem to have a realistic and workable plan to deal with the oil that gushed out for days, weeks, I think even months into the gulf.
If I am wrong, how long was it before the well was plugged and all the oil flow stopped?

The blowout preventor on the sea bed is the part that failed. It IS the safety device to keep oil from flowing out in case of a break in the line to the surface. They never break. Well; never happened and new procedures had to be developed. And they were.
And all the oil that gushed out into the GOM? Less than what the Earth seeps from the sea floor in 6 months. BTW; There are still 4 or 5 EPA funded groups down there trying to find all the damn oil and dead Pelicans that are supposed to be there! There is even a group using taxpayers money to (and the locals LOVE this one...) take dead pelicans (do they get 'em off of Ebay?) coat them with crude and shove a GPS somewhere and set them adrift to see where all the birds that refused to be filmed dead or dying on the beachs went...they refuse to believe Mother Nature is smarter than they are. As to your other questions: 87 days from the rip-up to to the full cap. 5 million barrels of oil (reports of much more contamination fail to note the flow was 70% gas/30% oil).

And this is not just my opinion, recent news says some execs of BP are facing Criminal prosecution, not just saying sorry we made a mistake and here is some money to fix it.

WOW! You mean lawyers are lining up to get their cut? Shocking! At least BP gave the Coastal States assistance...what do we get from Solindra and all the other Green money pits? Our current DO (in)J picks those who they wish to rape and those they wish to ignore. Coal and Petro? Get 'em. Everyone else? Pass.
The Gulf States had a GREAT year for tourisim in 2011. Thanks to American Can-Do attitudes, lots of hard work and money from those evil oil companies.

In 87 days Oil companies, Engineers and just plain people foreign and domestic did what has never been contemplated prior; plugging a well more than one mile down using remote buggies. At that depth your Coors light can would assume the shape of a .25 cent piece...
And as for cheap avgas, what was the price and trend just before the Bp explosion and moratorium? Seems to me gas prices had already gone up.

A refinery going down for re-fit, Wall Street speculators or simply someone in the Mideast passing gas can cause our fuel prices to rise. The problem is when the Government steps in to "fix" the private sector.



Should this post give the Mods heartburn feel free to delete it but this is what we in the South engage in during our "Hanger Talk" sessions...

Happy New Year Ya'll!

Hiperbiper

[Hangar10]

this is what we in the South engage in during our "Hanger Talk" sessions.

Sounds about right for us a little further north too. Ha!

[Boeing B-17G 42-231465]

I believe that to lower gas prices and make it better for pilots and boaters is this: Unlike the politicians say, there is no magic juice, no holy energy source, nope, oil is the best form of power we have, for the scale we use it at (nuclear power doesn't work in cars). It can't happen overnight, but we need to slowly move this country towards cars that use natural gas; that keystone pipeline would jumpstart that, and create 30,000 real jobs too. The conversion to natural gas should start with fleet vehicles, like taxis, buses, motorcades, etc. See, these fleet vehicles leave ad return to the same depot every day, and fuel at that depot every day too. If the fleets were converted to natural gas power, the depots would simply convert to serving natural gas, unlike the problem existing for the consumer; along with that, the fleet vehicles would be more effecient, and cleaner (making everybody happy). Later, we would slowly begin converting to natural gas for the consumer, turning gas stations into natural gas stations, and automakers can make CNG cars, and soon all cars would be CNG. Then, gasoline as we know it would be saved for old classic cars, sports cars (nobody wants a CNG-powered Ferrari), boats, and of course, our beloved airplanes. Fuel cell vehicles are still viable in the future, but only if we improve our power grid. To make the necessary hydrogen for a fuel cell, you need a massive amount of power, and it can't be coal. When we begin switching to nuclear power, and start dumping coal, we'll have the energy to run more plug-in hybrids, fuel cell cars, and dorky electric cars. If this happened, our fuel prices would plunge dramatically; diesel fuel (not the vehicles) would be phased out by new natural gas sources (perhaps LNG), and prices would be cheaper for everybody. With my plan, since gasoline would be a low-volume product for the oil companies, airplane gas price would plunge too, because the cost of transporting small amounts of leaded Avgas seperate from massive amounts of petrol would disappear.

[martymayes]

ExxonMobil Corp recently announced they are shutting down the general aviation fuel section of their business and eventually closing Avitat branded FBO's. What effect will this have on fuel availablity and prices?

Can't be good.

[Frank Giger]

Champ is four gallons an hour; at six bucks a gallon that's twenty four bucks.

Cheap for the value given.

However, my little Nieuport 11 will burn just over a gallon an hour of mogas....

We pilots are such a weird bunch. We'll gripe over a hundred dollars of gas while holding a thousand dollar headset....which we will defend as a reasonable purchase.

[rwanttaja]

Champ is four gallons an hour; at six bucks a gallon that's twenty four bucks.Cheap for the value given.However, my little Nieuport 11 will burn just over a gallon an hour of mogas....We pilots are such a weird bunch. We'll gripe over a hundred dollars of gas while holding a thousand dollar headset....which we will defend as a reasonable purchase.

One GALLON an hour? What are you installing, a Cox .049? :-)

[Frank Giger]

40 HP V-Twin with redrive.....250 massive pounds of thrust rocketing my biplane at speeds exceeding fifty miles per hour.