24 January 2019

How Much Jet-A Is That?

It's about a 4,000 mile flight from La Guardia to Ambri.  It has a stated max range of 4,200 miles.

Economy cruise speed is 445 knots per hour.  512 miles per hour.  7.812 hours.  More because take-off, climb, descent and landing are at slower speeds.  Let's call it 8 hours to make it round.

The very fuel efficient Gulfstream IV uses 479 gallons per hour at cruise.

That will take more than 3,832 gallons to make the flight from a 4,305 gallon tank.

One reason that it will take more fuel is take-off and climb consume a much more fuel than cruise, sometimes 4 times as much per hour.

Descent and landing use less, but not zero.  It's maths and I don't have the books to look up the precise figures.

Double this amount for the return flight.

7,664 gallons of Jet-A to fly on your private jet to Davos to lecture me on global warming.

My gas guzzling 2008 Corvette averages 20 miles per gallon with the kind of driving I do on a daily basis.  I just crossed the 160k mile mark.  I bought the car in October 2007.  In eleven plus years of ownership I have just barely used as much gas a rich scold uses to fly to Switzerland to scold me.

Who's doing more damage do you think?

Let us also remember that the pollution my car shits out is done at a much lower altitude and is more subject to processes which make it a non-pollutant than spitting it out at 45k feet.

But wait!  There's more!  It's predicted that there will be over 1,500 private flights into Davos for the climate conference.  They're also noting that the trend is not towards the relatively fuel sipping GS-IV, but larger planes.

I will begin to believe global warming is a crisis when the scolds start behaving as if it is.

PS:
It's both better and worse for some of these flights.  The scolds flying in from other European locations will be flying many fewer miles; but they will be doing so where they could have taken one of their prized and low-carbon emitting trains.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Angus;

    there you go questioning "your betters" again...

    ReplyDelete

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