Aeromodeling Travel & $5 gal. gasoline

[Hoss Cain]

Not for gloom and doom, however the current situation and predictions about near-future auto-fuel price increases are rather alarming to me. First it was $5 per gallon by mid-2012. Now it's being said that this price may be by this 2011 summer. 

Personally, I was planning some travel and flying this summer to include the Nationals at AMA-Muncie, even to the big Brodak Control-Line event in Carmichaels, PA. Now I am reconsidering as just maybe the expense will not fit into my already busting-the-seams budget.  That budget has about 4000 miles each summer as I drive a 3000 mile roundtrip, plus local, to my summer place in the U.P. of Michigan.

Does anyone else think the fuel price increases already being levied upon the common people, with possibly some 65% additional increases, to have any effect upon their aeromodeling event season plans? Do you think this will have consequences for the AMA membership numbers? I certainly do.

[Howard Rush]

By fitting my stunt plane in my Prius, I save 100 gallons per Nats trip over the Honda minivan. 

[Derek Barry]

By fitting my stunt plane in my Prius, I save 100 gallons per Nats trip over the Honda minivan. 

When he remembers to put gas in it........

[John Leidle]

  My Ford mini van gave me 26MPG my new Chev Monte Carlo gives me 36MPG  5,000 miles round trip...60 gallons savings  this is to Muncie from Seattle I dont think there is many with significantly better mileage that will hold 2 full sized planes & sport better mileage.
      Better than staying home & sitting in Seattle's traffic Gridlock.,   
                                         John

[Neville Legg]

$5.00 a gallon = £3.24, with the VAT rise today, and the fuel duty rise, we are paying about £6.00 a gallon, almost double what you are paying, and diesel cost even more! About 85-90% of the cost of a gallon is tax! We are ripped-off big time!

Cheers

[Tim Wescott]

I think it'll make people fly closer to home, if it makes a difference at all.  For most members it's probably more a matter of increased costs to get to the field every weekend, and for some it's finding any money for modeling at all in the face of job loss or working a new, crappier job.

[Howard Rush]

I'm one of those guys who passes you multiple times.  It's the pills I take for my blood pressure that require the whiz stops.  Then there are the donut stops that cause the high blood pressure.  It all adds up.

[Steve Fitton]

I try to keep my contests at a max of 500 miles. One thing I learned long ago is to go 5 mph under the speed limit on cruise control, this boosts my vehicle mileage by 4 to 5 mpg.  It is amazing how many cars weill pass you twice in a given distance. They go faster, use more gas but get to the same destinastion as I do at the same time. Go figure. More fuel stops? or rest stops?
Since we don't go on too many trips until contest season, the cost is of little consequence. Plus my van very seldom goes over 30 miles a month around town. I guess it all balances out.

I found when I reduced my beer intake on long contest trips, it made the trips faster with less rest stops.  It also left more beer to consume at the beer tree....

[Steve Fitton]

When he remembers to put gas in it........

When he remembers?  There must be a story here...

[John Leidle]

  I'm really slow,, I am told to drink lot's of water so I stop at rest stops & I set my cruise @ 67 .  No wonder I'm behind the wheel for such long periods.
           John

[Derek Barry]

When he remembers?  There must be a story here...

Howard is the only person I know that has run out of gas in a Prius.........on the way to the NATS. Stupid electric cars....

[wmiii]

 You might want to consider using nitrogen instead of air in your tires. I keep accurate records. I'm getting right at a 3% miles per gallon increase, since I started doing this. Every little bit helps.

Walter

[Andrew Tinsley]

At the risk of a lynching party, I wished I could buy such cheap gas as you guys get in the US! You don't know how well off you are, just come to Europe and then you might think twice about complaining!

Regards,

Andrew.

[Brett Buck]

$5.00 a gallon = £3.24, with the VAT rise today, and the fuel duty rise, we are paying about £6.00 a gallon, almost double what you are paying, and diesel cost even more! About 85-90% of the cost of a gallon is tax! We are ripped-off big time!

  You are being socially engineered. Same theory is popular among idiots here - we should heavily tax gasoline to keep people from driving and therefore lowering our carbon footprint. Never mind that the global warming scam has been completely exposed as a scientific fraud and a wealth distribution scheme, these idiots are doubling down.

   Brett

[Brett Buck]

Howard is the only person I know that has run out of gas in a Prius.........on the way to the NATS. Stupid electric cars....

  Oh, it's better than that...

    brett

[Will Hinton]

I have become a distance panzy - no more than 2 1/2 hours from home for this old codger.  That lets me do Muncie a couple of times a year, Dayton, Cleveland and Detroit when the schedule works, (which it hasn't the last three years) so I can squeeze out those trips fairly well.  My Montana gets me 26 -29 highway at 65, so my schedule for contests depends on my other activities.  (I tried the slow down thing on a trip to Muncie two years ago, I saved $2,50 for the round trip.)  I do the speed limit since, it gives me a whole 15 minutes more jaw jacking time with the other fliers.)

[Brett Buck]

By fitting my stunt plane in my Prius, I save 100 gallons per Nats trip over the Honda minivan. 

I figure I get a mulltiplier if 4 if I am carrying 4 airplanes, so I get the equivalent of about 100 airplane miles/gallon.

    The Mazda does pretty good on the highway, much better than most of the other vans (25.5-26 VS 20-21 for a Dodge) at about 83 mph indicated (maybe 79-80 true). That's a safe speed for the 75 mph limit. I pretty much always adhere to the limit +6-7 rule, there's no way you want to go a lot slower or you will get run over from behind, and an extra hour a day is out of the question. I barely make the second day on the way out, another hour would kill me. The one time I got in trouble with the cops I was doing limit+17.

    Brett

[Jim Thomerson]

$5 a gallon today would be about $0.55 in 1950, so more than twice as expensive.  I don't think gas in 1950 was as much as $0.25, and there were gas station price wars. 

[Neville Legg]

As of today, we in England have to pay 2.5% more on our aeromodelling goods, as well as petrol, clothes, etc. It's not social engineering, we've had a succession of poor (read useless!)  governments, so we are constantly paying for their poor decisions and mistakes, in higher taxes and penalties of one sort or another! There will be a revolution some day, I just hope I live long enough to see it  Oh dear, are we getting a bit too political here Bill?

Cheers

[Garf]

Gas wars? I remember 23.9 at one point.

[Terrence Durrill]

Back in the 1960's, here in Missouri, gas commonly (during gas wars) sold for as little as 19.9 cents per gallon.  The all time record low I recall during the late 1950's and early 1960's was 13.9 cents per gallon at a station in Iowa.  Saw that on a trip to visit relatives........a really intense gas war, I guess.......needless to say, we filled up!.........Oh, for the good old days (commonly referred to on this forum as "the day")...........TDurrill        

[Howard Rush]

I figure I get a mulltiplier if 4 if I am carrying 4 airplanes, so I get the equivalent of about 100 airplane miles/gallon.

I would mention the three round-trip air trips you should include in your calculation, but those trips indirectly buy the fuel I burn. 

Twice on the same trip, Derek, but the second time I coasted a couple miles to a gas station, so that one doesn't count.   

[Bill Little]

I have become a distance panzy - no more than 2 1/2 hours from home for this old codger.  That lets me do Muncie a couple of times a year, Dayton, Cleveland and Detroit when the schedule works, (which it hasn't the last three years) so I can squeeze out those trips fairly well.  My Montana gets me 26 -29 highway at 65, so my schedule for contests depends on my other activities.  (I tried the slow down thing on a trip to Muncie two years ago, I saved $2,50 for the round trip.)  I do the speed limit since, it gives me a whole 15 minutes more jaw jacking time with the other fliers.)

Hi Brother Will,

2 1/2 hrs. is the shortest I travel for any contest or to get to any dedicated C/L flying site.  usually take closer to three to get to Huntersville (bad roads all the way there from here! LOL!!)

If it's much longer than that, I have to make a pit stop. Not for the restroom, but for a nap.............

Big Bear

[Jim Kraft]

I lived in KC in 60 and 61, and filled the tank on my 55 Ford Crown Vic, for less than what a gallon costs now. During the gas wars, which were almost all the time back then, gas was .18 a gallon. Glo fuel was $3.00 a gallon.

[George]

...One thing I learned long ago is to go 5 mph under the speed limit on cruise control, this boosts my vehicle mileage by 4 to 5 mpg...

Thanks, Ty. I'll have to give that a try. I don't think I have ever driven under the speed limit on a highway. 

George

[john e. holliday]

I remember the gas wars in the early to mid 60's.  I worked at a Standard Service Station.  Usually a price would last at least a week or more.  Not changing every couple of hours or maybe a day or two.  Lowest we ever put on the pumps was 23.9 cents.  The .9 cent was a hold over from the WWII I was told.  In 70 my brother and I plus the wives went to the Glenview NATS north of Chi town.  They wanted to see Chicago so we took a day and headed down town.  Brother decided we needed gas.  Pulled into a station and he got out.  He started yelling and I asked him what was the matter.  He said look at the price of gas.  It was just over a $1.00 for regular.  Put in just enough gas to get back to the suburbs where it was a little cheaper.  In fact I got the driving chores as the Chicago traffic got to him.  Being a porter for a car dealership trained me for driving in all kinds of traffic and weather.  But, nobody thought I was good enough to drive a big rig, which is what I always wanted to do.  Another thing I haven't figured out, is why is gas costing more where the refinaries are at than at home?   But, anyway I have it figured out that will take five tanks of gas for the Tuscon trip plus motels and eats.  Just need to get my entry in.