Aircraft Fuel Consumption Per Person?
December 15, 2009 in Engineering
Did you know that you can save fuel and run your car on water
John asked:
I would like to know efficiency per person per passanger.
An A321 might use 24000 lbs of fuel to go cross country. At 8 lbs per gallon that’s 3,000 gallons. With 150 passangers that’s approximately 150 mpg per passanger.
I would like figures for all aircraft (lbs burned per given number of miles flown).
Thanks-JD
Did you know that you can save fuel and run your car on water
check the FAA Circulars : here is a link.
one of those advisory circulars has an approx. estimation for fuel consumption
BTW for every model u gotta check the aircraft manul , & not all of them are free online
Your numbers are off a little.
A321 runs like 8000 gallons to cross the US.
Jet A is 0.8075 density, or about 6.74 lb/gal.
Result is about 56 seat-miles per gallon. Its probably about 15% higher than this at an efficient cruise speed.
Typical small piston powered aircraft do about 1/2 this on Avgas. Bizjets are far worse than this.
Here’s a link to give some rough comparisons. Using the stated range vs. fuel capacity is very approximate method; much fuel is used on the ground, during climb, etc. Also, there are reserve requirements that are not generally used in travel. Wind also makes a difference.
Aircraft manuals have fuel consumption charts based on weight, temp, altitude, and speed. Compiling actual fuel consumption numbers is difficult task. Many manuals are available on line if you look enough; be aware that you need to estimate weights and know the number passenger seats – most have numerous configurations.
Another possible approach is to collect airliner reported seat-miles and compare to fuel burned. While this averages across the fleet, the numbers between difference aircraft are likely pretty close, with modern and larger equipment having an advantage.
well if its 150 mpg then it would be 150/8 miles per lb. since its 8 lbs per gallon