Avgas
77
MENTIONS
52
EPISODES
13
PODCASTS
Search complete. 77 mentions across 52 episodes found for "Avgas".
Sep 11, 2026
TowerHOST
Think back to your first flight lesson.
TowerHOST
There was probably a Cessna 172, maybe a Piper Cherokee, a four-cylinder engine burning 100 low lead, the smell of Avgaz in the cockpit, the sound of a prop pulling you skyward.
TowerHOST
That has been the formula for flight training for generations.
TowerHOST
Same aircraft types, same fuel, same economics.
Tail DraggerHOST
And Guy Gibson took it there at 60 feet in the dark and stayed over the target after his own bomb was gone, pulling fire so that the men behind him had a better chance.
Tail DraggerHOST
Back when Avgas was cheap and airspace was free, we used to say the measure of a pilot was what he did when nobody was watching.
Tail DraggerHOST
Gibson was watched by history.
Tail DraggerHOST
I think he'd have done the same either way.
Tail DraggerHOST
Just a pilot and an airplane, and the conviction that the job needs doing and somebody has to do it.
Tail DraggerHOST
Back when Avgas was cheap and airspace was free, the men and women who flew the bush country figured out something the rest of aviation would spend decades catching up to.
Tail DraggerHOST
That an airplane is not just a machine for going fast, it is a machine for going where nothing else can reach.
Tail DraggerHOST
That is still true.
Bobby DossHOST
I think you're hoping that I can do basic math.
Bobby DossHOST
I think you're hoping that I know Avgas weighs about six pounds per gallon.
Bobby DossHOST
I hope you know that I can do some of that in real time.
Bobby DossHOST
I think you're hoping that it's a great day for me and a great day for you.
TowerHOST
Here's the core problem.
TowerHOST
The lead in 100LL, technically a compound called tetraethyl lead, is there for one reason, anti-knock performance.
TowerHOST
It prevents premature detonation in high-compression cylinders.
TowerHOST
Remove it, and engines designed around that octane rating can suffer serious internal damage.
TowerHOST
You just need an airport that carries it, that catches distribution.
TowerHOST
Airports have limited storage capacity and limited fuel demand.
TowerHOST
Adding a third fuel type alongside jet fuel and 100LL requires infrastructure investment, new tanks, new delivery systems, sometimes regulatory approvals from local authorities.
TowerHOST
Not every fixed base operator is positioned to make that commitment.
Tail DraggerHOST
He knew it the way you know a piece of land you've farmed for years, where the soft spots are, where the fence posts have shifted.
Tail DraggerHOST
Back when Avgas was cheap and airspace was free, we talked about that kind of knowledge, like it was the thing that separated the pilots who lived from the ones who didn't.
Tail DraggerHOST
Not courage, not nerves of steel knowledge.
Tail DraggerHOST
The specific, particular, earned knowledge of the machine you're flying, and what it can and cannot do.
Scott KlaersHOST
I mean, there were definitely times where...
Scott KlaersHOST
I know that they were running Avgas in their cars just to get home because the economy crashes or whatever.
Scott KlaersHOST
What's the first thing that goes? Everybody's toys.
Scott KlaersHOST
And at that point, these things were just toys for people.
Tail DraggerHOST
Three airplanes that each went somewhere nobody had gone before, each of them built not by a government program or a defense contractor, but by people who had an idea and refused to let it go.
Tail DraggerHOST
Back when Avgas was cheap and airspace was free, we built things like the Voyager.
Tail DraggerHOST
But honestly I think the spirit that built it is still alive.
Tail DraggerHOST
I see it every time a homebuilder pulls an experimental out of a garage.
Owen WilsonGUEST
So I said, well, look, this is MoGas that we're getting there.
Owen WilsonGUEST
It's not actually Avgas.
Owen WilsonGUEST
We've never run the aircraft on MoGas before, but it should be okay.
Owen WilsonGUEST
Anyway, if it hesitates for a second, we'll do an engine run.
Owen WilsonGUEST
So I said, well, look, this is MoGas that we're getting there.
Owen WilsonGUEST
It's not actually Avgas.
Owen WilsonGUEST
We've never run the aircraft on MoGas before, but it should be okay.
Owen WilsonGUEST
Anyway, if it hesitates for a second, we'll do an engine run.
42 more episodes mention Avgas.
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