flight planing challenge: New Jersey to Arkansas

[Keith Smith]

I'm heading from Lincoln Park, NJ (N07) to Arkadelphia, Arkansas (KADF) next week. I'd like to minimize the fuel costs for the round trip and thought it would be fun to throw the challenge out there to make suggestions for the flight. I plan on going more or less GPS direct, with cross radials and pilotage to back me up along the way.

Range is 650nm (no wind) so one fuel stop is going to be required on the way there. The goal is to find the cheapest fuel stop that is more or less along the way. I already have what I think is the most economical fuel stop in mind, but I haven't planned the return yet!

The two pieces of information I need are the total trip distance from N07 to KADF, with the selected fuel stop, and the price of fuel at the interim location. For bonus points, plan the ROUND TRIP with distances, airport names and fuel stops. That gets a bit more challenging as the fuel at KADF is a bit more expensive, so it's going to be more economical to not plan on fueling there, or at least keep it to a minimum.

Feel free to use 100ll.com, it lets you enter an airport and then see the cheapest fuel nearby (from the airport detail page).

[Keith Smith]

I'll take two cracks at it, I'm posting 2 because there's an additional wrinkle:

option 1) N07 - 3M7 (fuel) - KADF - KMKL (fuel) - 3M7 (fuel) - N07.

3M7 has gas for $4.89/gal.

KMKL has gas for $4.75/gal.

The reason for the MKL stop is because I can't go from 3M7-KADF-3M7, it's about 747nm roundtrip. So, MKL is the bridge. However...

Option 2) N07 - 3M7 (fuel) - KADF (partial fuel) - 3M7 (fuel) - N07 is looking like the best option in terms of time since it eliminates the KMKL fuel stop. The 'partial fueling' would involve picking up about 100nm worth of gas, bringing it from 747nm without gas down to 647nm. The cost difference between option 2 and option 1 is probably around $5, with option 2 saving considerable time.

So, I'm leaning towards option 2. Oh, total roundtrip distance is 1969nm for option 2.

[Peter Grey]

I'm going to refer you to http://airnav.com/plan/fuel/ which does all the calculations for you on this kind of thing. I'd run it for you but it asks a bunch of stuff I don't know about your plane.

[Keith Smith]

Thx PG, I recalled airnav had this feature, but thought the return portion would assume a full tank to start with. I see now that it lets you specify a maximum length for the first leg, so it really does everything. Option 2 is still looking the best to avoid an additional fuel stop and 3M7 seems to be the winner.

[Keith Smith]

Flight went without hassle today. Gotta admit, I still get gushy about the National Airspace System when I do flights like this. Had a wonderful trip. VFR to the fuel stop, then IFR into KADF. Got there 9 minutes early, not a bad door to door estimate for a 1000nm trip!

GoPro tests went ok, too much vibration (especially lean of peak, which is a tiny bit rough in my airplane since it's not fuel injected! I'm actually lucky to be able to do it at all). Gotta find another way to mount with something to absorb the vibration.

[Ryan B]

Sounds very fun! Glad you're back safe!

[Keith Smith]

Edited the video very quickly tonight, time lapse for leg 1, normal video for leg 2 with audio. The camera is very shaky at cruise power settings and lean of peak (which is a bit rougher with my engine configuration), so it's not the best. It smooths out quite a bit during the final descent and on final.

I'm going to work on a different mounting arrangement for future videos. I have to get this right as I plan on using the camera for an upcoming project involving some cockpit video

YT link will be posted tomorrow, it's uploading now.

[Keith Smith]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEPMQn4iFu8

[Stubsound]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[Rick Stratman]

Nice video