Mike D

Mike D

Well Known Member
How do you plan your fuel stops?
I have good and bad experiences using AirNav, 100LL, and others.

The problem is finding the right balance between cheap fuel and having a nice place to stop. Cheap fuel usually means small airport and no one around. Good place to stop with the wife means $$$.

I am not cheap and not rich, so I am looking for a ?total performance? fuel stop planner. If AirNav had a ?best rated? choice that would be great. At RV speeds I am willing to go out of the way a little.

So far the only thing that has somewhat worked is using AirNav and then reading the reviews on each stop listed. Tedious. My ideal would be to have a multi category star rating system linked to a flight planner. Sort of an Amazon meets AirNav meets Weathermeister meets AOPA flight planner.

I have found a few gems where the people, pilot lounge, and prices were great. This made for a great trip experience.
 
You are right. I use airnav. Avoid places that are listed as unattended.

Other than reading the reviews, it is a gamble at times. If you want luxury bathrooms, you will probably pay for it at the pump.
 
Ron Lee said:
You are right. I use airnav. Avoid places that are listed as unattended.

Other than reading the reviews, it is a gamble at times. If you want luxury bathrooms, you will probably pay for it at the pump.
Click to expand...

I suppose the "unattended" fuel stops could vary greatly. The majority I use, are unattended. But, these are places I've been numerous times. Fuel is usually around a dollar cheaper, and the restrooms are nothing special, but usually clean. Some have courtesy cars, and some don't. The airport we flew to yesterday with a friend, get's a lot of business due to it's cheaper fuel prices. At least this will keep the storage tank "fresh". But then of course, 100LL last's longer than autofuel.....anyway.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
I've tried the airnav cheapest route but never seem to be near the airport when I'm ready to stop. Especially true when my wife's on board.

I started using county airports as my first choice. Fuel is a bit more expensive but offer a better chance of getting that airport car and they have better facilities. Again, especially when my wife's with me. It makes it more enjoyable for her & she is more likely to fly with me.
Horseback riding is her passion. But, on my most recent trip from FL to West Yellowstone, her favorite moments were the campfire at night with others & the flying adventure.:D
 
I look for inexpensive self serve fuel and a runway that is reasonably aligned to the wind if wind is an issue. Since I seem to fly the same X/C's several times a year, I've picked some favorites along the way and we usually stop at those...
 
When I am traveling long distances, my primary goal is getting there as efficiently as possible. Fuel stops are practically pit stops - land, fill the tanks, empty the bladder, and get back on the way. I find that I generally go to Airnav, since their database seems the biggest, and do two things - run their little page for "cheapest Routes", which gives me ten different options with the leg lengths I want, and then I run their "all fuel stops along the route of flight" page. That gives me a list of contingency stops along the way. I use the first run to pick a baseline plan. The second list I print out and take along, in case I have to detour. Oh - and when I pick a baseline plan, I go to the Airnav page to see if the airport looks reasonable, and the fuel prices are reasonably up to date. I am happy with out of the way self-serve pumps if they have a recently reported price (which tells me they are actually alive and well).

If I am planning a vacation where I need cars, restaurants, and places to see, I am nowhere near as single minded - but I really hate paying a dollar more per gallon for fuel when I don't have to. And with the range of an RV, and careful planning, I rarely need to....

Paul
 
Thanks for the replies. Keep the ideas coming.

Dan, thanks for the clue on county airports. I will have to try this.

I would be very happy to do quick pit stops, even in air refueling if it was possible, but my wife likes to get her feet on solid ground and eat lunch. A good airport makes this much better. But she is getting much more tolerant of longer flights. :)

Now that I think about it, it would be great to know if the airport had a restaurant on the airport. I would stop there for sure. I know some have this listed, but I have been to a few where it was not quite clear if they did.

One thing I don?t like is when an airport lists cheap prices at SS, but when you get there fuel is not readily available. Pump broken, out of fuel, or you have to call the local sheriff to come out to unlock the pump. Oh well, jump in the plane and find an alternate.

Maybe a RV based common route database would be good. Something like around 600nm legs starting at major cities where we recommend great stops. The stop is just as much of the adventure as the flying. Just thinking out loud here.
 
Have you tried Seattle Voyager software for flight planning? If you fly xcountry enough, it may be worth the money. I have used their flight planning SW and it is great, probably one of the best but the paid version has also published fuel prices and it uses the lowest cost as one of the factor in planning a route. All the prices are published in your route and you can pick and choose.
 
My stops are based on bladder capacity (time), interesting places, and fuel prices. I will spend a bit extra on fuel (if necessary) to help support the local economy at smaller airports since its really not that much different in the big (fiscal) picture (50 cents/gallon x 20 gallons = $10.00). Often the smaller airports have better prices anyway. I use Airnav primarily to make sure I don't pick a spot that has outrageous fuel prices. For the smaller places I will call ahead if I'm going to be there at an unusual hour to make sure fuel is accessible.

greg
 
a lot of good ideas............

here. another thought is to have the phone #s of the smaller airports and call ahead for current status and check notams for those airports for fuel problems.
 
The paper AOPA Airport Directory has been handy to have in the cockpit. Doesn't help with searching for prices, but it's very helpful when plans change and we're not going to the airport of choice.
 
Airnav, Skyvector, 100LL.com

Like Paul, I do the initial planning on airnav's cheapest routes page, but limited to airports that have updated their fuel prices in the last 30 days. I then transfer that to skyvector.com to tweak the route for terrain and SUA. For unexpected changes enroute (weather, wind, TFR's...) I have anywheremap's daily updated 100LL.com subscripton ($40/year, $100/lifetime) on their tablet navigator. 100LL isn't quite as detailed as airnav, but it does have a lot of useful info in addition to prices, such as hours of operation, ground transportation, and airport services; AND it's available in the cockpit.

On a 2.5 week trip this summer I left home with this plan: Airnav Plan ; skyvector.com Plan

and ended up flying this one: Airnav Actual ; skyvector.com Actual
 
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