6
Thursday, May 2, 1974
University Daily Kansan
Private Planes Aren't Fuel Hogs
General Aviation Is Victim of Bad Image, Prof Says
The amount of fuel used by general aviation airplanes is almost insignificant when compared with the amount used by cars and the other means of transportation. David Kohlman, professor of aerospace engineering, will yesterday at a Faculty Forum meeting.
Kohlman said airplanes used fuel more efficiently than did many cars.
Many of the facts related to flying, according to Kohman, aren't well-publicized and there are many misconceptions about what the facts are.
Kohlman said that general aviation.
Dyche Museum Has Reinstalled Sound System
The sound system in the panorama area of the Dyche Museum of Natural History has been improved by the addition of tape recordings of descriptive narrations, animal and bird noises and special recordings for children.
The sound system includes nine listening stations, three of which are for children. The system has been reinstalled this week after being imperative for more than a
The system, which is called Panorama Commentary, has been a popular feature, according to Marion Mengel, adjutant museum curator.
"We had a lot of criticism from the public when it wasn't working," Mengel said earlier.
The sound system was installed to replace one which previously had been in the panorama, but which had broken down. The cost of replacing the system was $1,500, and "a tremendous amount of volunteer labor," according to Mengel.
The narration for the tapes was done by members of the University of Kansas
Many people, Kohnman said, view general aviation primarily as a rich man's hobby. They think that most of the flying is done for personal enjoyment and that little useful purpose is served by it; he said.
which covers all flying activities except commercial and military flying, had suffered, particularly in the last few years, from a bad image.
Contrary to popular opinion, Kohlman said, 54 per cent of the miles flown by general aviation airplanes aren't flown for pleasure but for business.
ABOUT 85 PER CENT of intercity highway travel. Kohlenham added, is essentially a commuter route.
"If non-essential travel should be cut back more than business-related travel," Kohlman said, "then the automobile is the most important route that regulates the vast majority of the fuel usage."
In the wake of the energy crisis, Kohlman said, Charles DiBono, assistant to former energy chief John Love, recommended before one of the congressional committees that all general aviation airplanes be grounded for the duration of the energy crisis.
"If every one of the general aviation airplanes gets grounded," Kohlman said,
"the net result would be the saving of only
4 per cent of the gasoline used in travel"
*
Grounding general aviation airplanes would force people to use cars or other means of transportation, Kohlman said. In that case, he said, people would be using more gas to travel than they would by private airplanes.
If you have an economy car, "Kohlman said, 'you would get an average of 11 to 20 miles per gallon.'"
`if you take a small airline, a Cessna
`it will take an average $2.50 per
mile.`
The text is cut off at the end. Let's re-read it carefully.
"if you take a small airline, a Cessna
`it will take an average $2.50 per
mile.`
Another advantage the airplane has, said Kohlman, is that airplanes travel in straight lines resulting in a savings of about 15 to 30 percent of the actual miles traveled.
JOIN LOVE, former chief of the Federal Energy Office, had authorized 40 to 50 per cent cuts in fuel allocations for general aviation. Kohlman said.
A lot of lobbying, painful protest and presentation of facts took place which resulted in a modified reduction of about 15 per cent. Kohlman said.
And amendment had been introduced in Congress, primarily at the urging of the House.
Commercial airliners aren't really inefficient, Kohman said. A Boeing 747 gets about 90 percent fuel efficiency.
segment of the transportation business be penalized more than the others, Kohlman
"That sounds pretty bad. But how much more efficient is the 747 in carrying people from point A to point B? It carries approximately 350 passengers. This comes out to 48.5 passenger miles a gallon, which is better than most cars." Kohman said.
The jet airplane, according to Kohlian,
has made international travel cheap and
In 1939, there were 500,000 passengers who left the United States on transoceanic voyages. In 1971, the figure for airplanes alone, was 17.6 million, Kohman said.
Decisions about traveling, Kohlman said, should be based on such variables as fuel, time, cost, environmental impact and safety.
His own bias for flying, he said, is well-illustrated by a placard which is on the instrument panel of a BD-5 airplane. The statement on the plastic placard reads, "I am placed on earth to fly. All time not spent in flying or preparing to fly is wasted."
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