$1.00 Avgas in Texas!

[mooneygirl]

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Redbirds-Skyport-Will-Sell-Dollar-a-Gallon-Avgas-During-October220492-1.html

 

 

In one of the bolder loss leader approaches we’ve ever seen, Redbird’s Skyport in San Marcos, Texas, will be selling avgas for a dollar a gallon throughout the month of October. What’s the catch? There really isn’t one, other than the company will ask fuel buyers to participate in a brief survey probing their views on flying habits and how—or even if—the price of avgas affects those views and, especially, flying behavior.

“The idea is to test whether the cost of flying had either a direct or indirect or even a cumulative effect on the fact that there’s a lot less flying going on,” said Redbird’s CEO Jerry Gregoire.

“The theory is that people don’t fly as much as they used to because it’s so expensive to fly. We’ve seen a lot of initiatives going on, mostly the alphabet groups, to encourage people to come back to flying. But we’re not getting any measureable data on whether any of that stuff is working,” he added.

Redbird figures that its gas-too-cheap-to-believe experiment will illuminate opinions on both sides of the cost-as-driver divide. “So we have this laboratory here and we have this ability to test by pulling one of the levers to see what happens,” Gregoire said. The laboratory, of course, is Redbird’s Skyport facility, where the company has been developing new, simulator-centric training programs and attempting to drive its programs with experimental data that can be applied to a larger market.

“So we decided to pull the fuel lever and make fuel very, very affordable and see what happens,” Gregoire said. Upon filling up, pilots will be asked to take a short survey asking them about their flying habits and activity and how or whether cost figures in. As of press time, Redbird hadn’t developed the specific survey questions, but they do plan to ask follow-up questions a few months later to determine if the cheap fuel offer primed the flight hour activity pump.

As for contest rules, so to speak, there aren’t any. Just show up with an airplane and a credit card—no gas cans allowed. There are no restrictions on size of aircraft nor frequency of fill-up for those pilots lucky enough to be based around San Marcos. The experiment is specifically planned for October to take advantage of AOPA Summit, to be held in Ft. Worth, and Redbird’s own Migration training conference.

Redbird has enlisted co-sponsors for the program, including Garmin, King Schools, the city of San Marcos, Bendix/King, EAA, Piper Aircraft, Avemco Insurance, Hartzell, Brown Aviation Lease, Phillips 66 and Sennheiser. Gregoire said he’s not sure how much fuel the effort will sell, but his estimate is five times the usual 5000 gallons a month. But what if it’s 10 times? “We’re prepared for that. We can certainly get the fuel,” he said.

San Marcos, KHYI, is located between Austin and San Antonio and is a towered airport with instrument approaches. Redbird operates its own FBO on the field. Redbird’s Jeff Van West, the spokesman for the project, said for the month dollar-a-gallon fuel is available, CEOs and other industry leaders will conduct town meetings to answer pilot questions and gather opinions  on aviation product and services. The data will eventually be published on Skyport’s website. See the latest schedule information here.

 

[MooneyMitch]

WWWOOOWWWW!! 

[rainman]

Very cool, I'm just northwest of San Antonio so I'll try to get over there. It's a really nice facility and the simulator training is excellent. Thanks for the heads up.

[docket]

I am in for a tank of that stuff

[1964-M20E]

cool but I'd be out of fuel by he time I got home.

[jkhirsch]

I wonder if they have a limit because I could basically justify the cost of taking a long haul tank truck down there and buying the whole lot...

[201er]

I may just have to fly down there from NYC for a tank of gas. Cuts the trip cost nearly in half and without headwind I can make it there nonstop. When the program begins, can some of you folks from down there report back to let us know if it's really true.

[Hector]

Wow, and I thought I picked up cheap gas today in St Augustine, FL at $4.95. A buck a gallon is truly amazing.

[carusoam]

$100 for the tank, I'd like to take that opportunity. If anyone can report on the reality of the situation, I'd appreciate it.

Best regards,

-a-

[garytex]

I called them today, they said show up in October.

[Super Dave]

I envision the cotton fields surrounding San Marcos littered with fuel starved airplanes that were trying to arrive with min fuel.

[GeneS]

If you are going for the cheap gas it is best to fill out the advance notice on their web page:

 

http://redbirdskyport.com/flymore/

 

This is really going to be a ton of fun.  I just wish I was close enough to go more than once.

 

Also, Brian Kendrick, formerly with Mooney, is based at San Marcos now. He's an awesome Mooney mechanic.  If I still had a Mooney I would take advantage of the cheap gas to get some work done.

 

Gene

[rainman]

I was just there yesterday for some simulator training and Skyport confirmed it will happen at their facility on KHYI San Marcos. They expect to be busy so if you fill out the above mentioned form or call them, that may speed you along. Be aware that there are other FBOs on the field that are not part of the program so tell the tower/ground you want Skyport. Ray

[201er]

I guess they wanna put the other FBOs out of business and come back with a monopoly at the end of the month.