16 May
2000
16 May
'00
4:59 p.m.
$69KUSD. It's lives in Tasmania, and did pylon
racing there. Supposed
to be cheaper to own and operate than a piston engined warbird. Makes
sense, especially with the high octane stuff getting hard to find and
very expensive. Jet fuel is cheap in comparison.
The cost of fuel is a red herring. the lower cost of jets is in initial
cost
and cheaper parts. the cost for fuel is out of sight as most of them were
older less efficient engines that could easily eat 4-800pph at ground idle
(600pph =100usgallons/hr) and inflight numbers can dwarf this.
Piston planes are like older computers, rarer and need more technical
savy to use an maintain. Parts are not cheap, hard to find and people
that know them well scarce. the upside is 75gph(imperial) of hard to
find Green gas (130 octane) for a P51. Right now local prices for
100LL gas is $2.25!
Allison