Mark Wiley of Murfreesboro, Arkansas,who flies a 1963 Piper PA-28-235 Cherokee, contacted your bloggers some months back when his efforts to lower his costs lead him to mogas. Since then he has obtained a mogas STC from Petersen Aviation, installed a simple fuel system next to his hangar, and found a fuel supplier that brings him 93 AKI ethanol-free mogas in small loads. He recently reported on the savings he’s seeing and how he intends to use them:”Today I am getting my second tank of fuel delivered (having used all but 100 gallons of the first 550) at $3.64 a gallon 93 octane ethanol-free, which again comes from the refinery in El Dorado, Ark., to the local jobber, then to my tank. I calculate at $5.45 a gallon for 100LL at the local FBO where my plane is stored vs. an average of $3.75 for the first two loads of mogas, a savings of about $1.70 a gallon. On 850 gallons (after I use up this 400 gallons) I will have saved about $1,445 in fuel costs. Annualized, at 120 hours a year, that is $2,550. I am planning on getting our plane painted up in Mena, Ark., in the first quarter 2013, and this will go a long way to pay for that, or annuals, or nickel and dime stuff.”
Mark enjoys flying his Cherokee with his son Thomas, a 23 year-old CFI with a four-year degree in aviation from Henderson State University, in Arkansas, who is now working on multi and instrument instructor rating while teaching many fellow students how to fly.
The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing, Sisters, Ore., a pilot, homebuilder and expert on autogas and ethanol, and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer, aviation sales rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114.