Damn this Expensive Hobby! :-)

wanttaja

wanttaja

Final Approach
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
5,667
Location
"War-Torn" Portland
Display Name
Ron Wanttaja
Home Airfield
Twin Oaks Airpark
I had to spend $30 to fill up the plane yesterday, and another $15 today. It just never ends! :rolleyes:

Ron Wanttaja
 
Still better than my ~$500 de-icing bill from last winter....

That must have made some $ for that FBO! She even told me to sit down before she gave me the bill ;)
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
Why did it cost so much Felix?
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I guess de-icing fluid is expensive. $15/gallon if I remember correctly, and that de-icing truck had a pretty impressive flow rate....

The storm was completely unexpected and happened over night....
 
sba55 said:
$385 to fill up 3 days ago :eek:
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Yeah, that's about what it'd cost to fill the Mooney up if it was bone dry around here. Y'all must be paying even more for fuel than us (or your Bo has bigger tanks... I'd guess both).

But it's worth it!
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You got that right!
 
wanttaja said:
I had to spend $30 to fill up the plane yesterday, and another $15 today. It just never ends! :rolleyes:

Ron Wanttaja
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What plane do you fly that can be filled up for $30! I'm jealous, it takes close to $300 to fill up mine.
 
Ron has a Bower's Flybaby. probably a 12 or 16 gallon tank, running auto gas.
 
nope, single seat wood taildragger with foldable wings. Pete Bower designed it and won an early 60's EAA design contest with it.

www.bowersflybaby.com
 
Thanks guys. Never heard of it before.
 
tonycondon said:
Ron has a Bower's Flybaby. probably a 12 or 16 gallon tank, running auto gas.
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That means he's getting a pretty good price on his auto gas to fill up that tank still! :D

Good deal, Ron, it's nice to see that you can still get up and flying for cheap.
 
Rented yesterday to take my parents up for fall colors,... flew LOM-1N7,.. just 52nm. Landed, watched gliders for a while and relaxed, then went to start up again,... Didn't get her started on the first try,... tried a second for about 3-5 seconds or so,... Third Time-Battery was barely able to turn the engine over *(YES, everything was shutdown including the Master while we were relaxing)

So,.. everything is closed at Blairstown, and the glider guys only have 12V systems, no-one has a 24V system or the plug.

In the end, a lineman flies up from LOM to 1N7 in another cessna, brings the jumper and battery setup, gets me going, and we have a twilight/night flight back to LOM.

1.6 for me
1.5 for him
------
3.1 for me to pay for @ 140/hr

OUCH! :hairraise:

Dealing with the wife's anxiety -- Double OUCH :lightning::lightning:

Learning experience and my parents having a good time anyway -- Worth it,.. but barely :rolleyes:
 
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Rob, I would argue that bill. If the plane's battery died that quickly, it sounds to me like there's a problem with the airplane.

That said, it also sounds like you should give a second look at your hot-starting technique on injected Lycomings. Here's what I do on the Mooney, and it works like a charm every time:

- Get in the plane (it's been sitting for however long, from 30 seconds to about 4 hours for this "hot" start)
- Mixture: Idle cut-off (it should already be there)
- Throttle: Full open (it should not have been there)
- Master: ON
- Yell: "CLEAR!"
- Crank engine until you get a sputter (~3-5 seconds on the Mooney, do not crank more than 10 seconds)
- Mixture: Full rich (immediately)
- Throttle: Back (quick enough to prevent engine RPM from getting too high)

After you do it once or twice, you'll get it down well enough where the engine shouldn't get above 1200 RPM. I actually have it to the point where it catches and I get the throttle back quickly enough that it generally settles right into about a 1000 RPM idle, right where I want it. If you pull the throttle all the way back too quickly it will end up killing the engine, so it's just a feel you'll get.

Like I said, works great on the Mooney.

Either way, sorry about the frustrating flight. Those are never fun.
 
You can always learn to hand-prop.

Ultralights are fine until you actually want to go somewhere.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That means he's getting a pretty good price on his auto gas to fill up that tank still! :D

Good deal, Ron, it's nice to see that you can still get up and flying for cheap.
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Gas was about $3.15 at the local Shell station. Topped off with 4 gallons before departure on Saturday morning, put five in when I got back. Sunday, I just went up for a few touch and goes, and put another five gallons in.

Mind you, I didn't GET as far as some of you do. :-)

I didn't mention my avionics problems, either: The little rubber bumper in the battery comparment of my Flightcom ANR headset no longer holds the battery in contact. I had to spend $1.99 at Lowe's Aerospace for some stick-on weatherstripping.

With one notable exception (which is mostly due to a deliberate choice), my flying is about as cheap as one can get with an N-numbered aircraft. I burn 5 gal/hour of car gas (until ethanol completes its invasion of Western Washington), my liability insurance is $190/year, the A&P does the (owner-assisted) annual inspection for $250, and there's ~$200 a year or so in miscellaneous stuff (oil, replacement gaskets, new fuzzy dice, etc.).

The exception is the hangar...every two years, my hangar rents equal the value of my airplane.

Like I mentioned, though, it's mostly a deliberate choice. I used to share an open T-Hangar, and if I still did, my hangar rent would be about a third of what I pay now. But my current hangar is private and has a locking metal door. I can keep my tools at the hangar without a qualm. I could share my current hangar and save $200/month, but I've come to value the ability to just partially disassemble the airplane and leave it strewn about without having to worry about a hangar partner being able to get his airplane out....

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Mind you, I didn't GET as far as some of you do. :-)
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Nah, but if all you want to do is get up in the sky there's nothing wrong with that method. I tend to have a desire to get places. Yesterday I took the Mooney out to just fly. Were it not for the fact that I was going up for proficiency practice, it would've been just fine for me to go up in something that burns half the fuel and goes slower.
 
Rob Schaffer said:
Rented yesterday to take my parents up for fall colors,... flew LOM-1N7,.. just 52nm. Landed, watched gliders for a while and relaxed, then went to start up again,... Didn't get her started on the first try,... tried a second for about 3-5 seconds or so,... Third Time-Battery was barely able to turn the engine over *(YES, everything was shutdown including the Master while we were relaxing)

So,.. everything is closed at Blairstown, and the glider guys only have 12V systems, no-one has a 24V system or the plug.

In the end, a lineman flies up from LOM to 1N7 in another cessna, brings the jumper and battery setup, gets me going, and we have a twilight/night flight back to LOM.

1.6 for me
1.5 for him
------
3.1 for me to pay for @ 140/hr

OUCH! :hairraise:

Dealing with the wife's anxiety -- Double OUCH :lightning::lightning:

Learning experience and my parents having a good time anyway -- Worth it,.. but barely :rolleyes:
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DOH!!!

I had a weak battery in my old Sundowner for a while. Everytime I went to start, I prayed to the gods of Lycoming (Ted's one of them:D) that she would start the first time, because I was never sure there would be enough juice left for another try. :fcross: On the bright side, I did learn to start it with external power.

Finally I just got a new battery.:)

At least there was someone at Wings who could come and help.
 
I hear ya, Ron. Filling our Ercoupe after a nice one-hour flight costs all of, oh, maybe $15 bucks.

After filling the Pathfinder (Same one-hour flight fuel bill: ~$60) flying feels almost free!

:cheerswine:
 
flyersfan31 said:
I had a weak battery in my old Sundowner for a while. Everytime I went to start, I prayed to the gods of Lycoming (Ted's one of them:D)...
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Your loyalty will be rewarded, my son. ;)
 
Jay Honeck said:
I hear ya, Ron. Filling our Ercoupe after a nice one-hour flight costs all of, oh, maybe $15 bucks.

After filling the Pathfinder (Same one-hour flight fuel bill: ~$60) flying feels almost free!

:cheerswine:
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Yeah, sweet, isn't it? I've had my Ercoupe for about 5 weeks and figure I'm burning just under 5 GPH. But, that's "tach time" - I don't have a Hobbs - so "clock" time is probably more like 4.5 GPH. :) On the downside, I have the MoGas STC but am using the self-serve 100LL available here at my field.
 
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