Port considers petition for avgas at Colfax airport

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Apr 25, 20190

A list signed by seven petitioners advocating installation of fuel service at the Port of Whitman Business Air Center at Colfax prompted discussion by port commissioners April 18.

Port Chair Kristine Meyer noted the board would like to grant the requests, but a “permanent fuel station doesn’t pencil out at this point for us.”

The petition was circulated at last year’s fly-in at the Colfax Airport which was sponsored by the Lewiston Experimental Aircraft Association.

Four of the petitioners have airplanes at the airport, and three were visitors that day for the fly-in.

Meyer did ask about the possibility of a temporary fuel station for events like the fly-in which draws pilots and experimental aircraft from around the region to the airport.

The option of looking for a low-cost loan was also breeched, but no action taken.

Port Executive Director Joe Poire noted the nature of small airports is that it would be nice to offer fuel service, but the dilemma is who would pay for it. On the low end, it would cost an estimated $100,000 to install a fuel station with an additional $3,500 a year to keep it connected to process transactions.

The lack of a fuel station has become more of an issue in recent years because crop ag spray plane operators now primarily fly aircraft with turbine engines which run on jet A fuel.

General aviation airplanes with piston engines use avgas aviation fuel. When ag airplanes formerly operated with avgas, they often provided fuel to general aviation airplanes.

The airport has three ag plane operators who fly out of the airport and each stocks jet fuel for their particular operation.

“It’s taken the quantity of fuel out there that’s available for people away,” Piore explained at the port meeting.

Barney Buckley of Colfax, who hosts the annual fly-in at his hangar, noted a former ag operator used to bring extra fuel to sell to others, but that operator sold out and no one is providing that option.

Buckley said the one spray plane now at the airport that runs on avgas is a backup plane.

Buckley said he usually fuels his airplane up at Lewiston. His uses eight to 10 gallons of gas per hour of flying. The airplane’s fuel tank holds 50 gallons. He noted some smaller airplanes can get seven gallons per hour and have tanks that hold 30 gallons.

Poire told the Gazette the airport fuel supply topic has come up regularly for the past 20 years.

“The first things these out-of-towners say is you gotta have fuel,” he noted.

He added the Colfax airport gets an out-of-area visitor about every other week.

Dusty pilot Art Sager told the Gazette Monday he uses a slip tank to purchase the 100 octane avgas and store it in his hangar at Dusty. Sager noted when they make trips to larger airports which offer fuel service, he makes a point of filling his airplane’s tank so it will have fuel to fly out of Dusty on a subsequent trip.

Sager noted it takes 15 minutes to fly from Dusty to Pullman where he can fuel his plane with avgas.