It's not fuel costs that are the major factor in running costs. Old aircraft cost a lot to run because of the maintenance and spare parts costs. I wouldn't imagine there would be many places making replacement parts for DC3s these days so everything would have to be made by hand. The older a plane is, the shorter the TBO. Apologies to all those of you who know all this stuff. Grant SYD QF ----- Original Message ----- From: damiross2@xxxxxxxxxxx Date: Thursday, November 27, 2003 8:20 am Subject: Re: The Stuff Beer Cans Are Made Of > Avgas is also much more expensive than kerosene. > > That may be so, Alireza, but radial engines are just about the > biggest> maintenance nightmare in the history of internal > combustion. There's a > > reason all those Constellations disappeared so fast when jets > came on the > > scene, and a reason prop powered airliners are all turboprops > now, and its > > not just passenger opinion. > > > > Evan McElravy > > > > > > > > on 11/26/03 2:48 AM, Alireza Alivandivafa at DEmocrat2n@xxxxxxx > wrote:> > > > In a message dated 11/25/2003 3:39:57 PM Pacific Standard Time, > > > damiross2@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: > > > > > > << The operating costs are not necessarily higher. While an > older aircraft > > > may consume more fuel, it also depreciated so the capital > costs are less. Why > > > do you think so many older aircraft are converted to > freighters? >> > > > > > > Also, old piston craft use much less gas than jets. If you > are using them > > > for short flights and tours, that wont go much above FL200, > they are fine for > > > economy >