Interpretting the Cost numbers:
Ex. Fuel Cost: Per Hour: 68$ – – – Per Seat Mile: .07$ – – – Your Time Value: 32$ . . . Per Seat: 5.3$
Basic Assumptions– We assume 6 $ a gallon aviation 100 LL. 3$ a gallon automotive fuel, for the comparison.
Per Hour: Operating at the best performance criteria, (which usually results in higher fuel consumption than economy cruise) the total fuel cost per hour.
Per Seat Mile: Uses the performance true airspeed assuming zero wind situation and calculates based upon number of seats in the airplane, the Fuel Cost per seat mile. So you could take this number and multiply it by the number of miles of a particular trip times the seats in the airplane and come up with a good estimate for trip fuel cost.
Your time Value: One of the cooler numbers this number compares your aircraft fuel cost with a 4 door economy car fuel costs for the equivilent trip. It takes the amount of extra money you spend by flying and divides it by the hours your save by flying, to give you the amount your “saved” time is worth. Its the premium your willing to pay for your time when you choose to fly that airplane.
Per Seat: Is even cooler, it divides the time value by the number of seats and shows you what your “saved” time cost you per seat. So in this example if everybodys time is worth more than 5.30$ an hour, it might be a better deal to fly.
