My flyabout

Larry Dighera wrote:
On 3 Jul 2006 06:33:32 -0700, wrote in
. com::


Have you totaled the cost of fuel for the trip?

I fly behind a IO-360-B1E, a fuel injected 180 hp engine with well
balanced fuel distribution. I am able to run the engine lean of peak,
and depending on altitude was burning anywhere from 8.3 to 6.3 gal/hr
with true airspeeds in the 109-127 knots.

Here is a table that approximates fuel burn and airspeed of my plane vs
altitude.

Alt TrueAirSpeed Fuel burn (LOP) %power
6,000 127 k/h 8.0 g/h 65%
10,000 120 k/h 7.3 g/h 55%
13,000 110 k/h 6.5 g/h 45%-50% power

A good guess is that I burned about 500 gallons of 100LL at an average
cost of say $4/gallon so I guess thats a about $2,000 for gas.


If you'd have made the trip in a PA28-235, you could have hauled a few
cases of Cabernet home from Napa. :-)

And I would have burned at least another $1,000 - $2,000 in fuel in a
235! Thats a lot of wine I could have delivered to my doorstep I do
love the Cherokee 235s though. Very nice planes.

-Bernie