A city-owned airport in East Texas is considering a $500 annual permit and a 20-cent-per-gallon fee for aircraft owners who bring fuel purchased elsewhere onto airport property to fuel their own airplanes. The proposal comes as officials at A.L. Mangham Jr. Regional Airport (OCH) have put plans to offer unleaded aviation fuel on hold.
The Nacogdoches Airport Advisory Board reviewed the proposed ordinance changes Tuesday, Oct. 27, but requested revisions after members raised concerns about the potential impact on individual aircraft owners.
During the same meeting, airport officials said they had evaluated adding a third fuel storage tank to sell unleaded avgas, initially anticipating that a local flight school would be the primary customer. Officials discussed tank costs ranging from approximately $230,000 to $270,000 and cited concerns about the expense and availability of unleaded fuel. Airport Manager Eric Forester said the investment did not currently make financial sense, and the city has shelved the project for now.
The airport currently offers 24-hour self-service 100LL and Jet A fueling. Pilots whose aircraft are approved to use other fuels, including automotive gasoline (mogas) or unleaded avgas, would have to obtain those fuels elsewhere. Bringing them onto airport property would fall under the proposed permit requirements.
Proposed Fees Draw Questions
The proposed ordinance would amend the city’s existing aviation regulations and master fee schedule. In addition to the annual permit and fuel-flowage charges, applicants would be required to carry at least $1 million in general liability insurance, maintain fuel records and conduct fueling operations in designated areas. Purchases from the airport’s existing self-service pumps would not be subject to the new permit requirements.
“They’re bringing two jugs in,” one meeting participant said, referring to light-sport aircraft with fuel tanks holding approximately 10 to 12 gallons. “They’re filling it up. They’re going flying.”
Members discussed whether the proposed requirements could disproportionately affect pilots who bring small quantities of fuel onto the airport, including owners of light-sport aircraft and airplanes capable of using mogas.
“I don’t want to overburden them financially with fees that may be designed for a larger operation,” one board member said during the meeting.
Under the proposal, an owner bringing in 200 gallons annually would pay $540 in permit and flowage fees, equivalent to $2.70 per gallon before the cost of fuel and any insurance expenses. City staff agreed to explore a tiered fee structure or exemptions for lower-volume users before returning the proposal to the board.
Federal Self-Fueling Rules
“We sell fuel at our airport exclusively, but the FAA says we have to allow for self fueling,” said Mike New, the city’s executive director of development and infrastructure, during the meeting. “It’s a requirement.”
The FAA’s February 2026 compliance manual protects aircraft owners’ self-fueling rights at federally obligated airports while allowing reasonable safety requirements. The agency also permits airports to assess the same fuel-flowage fees charged to commercial fuel providers. Whether the proposed Nacogdoches permit requirements meet those standards has not been established.
The advisory board has not endorsed a final fee structure, and city staff will return with revised options before the proposal advances to the City Council.
It’s amazing how many schemes airport operators come up with to charge fees! I would prefer to pay an FBO for mogas or unleaded avgas if it was available. Unless hangar or tie-down fees are really cheap, all this will do is drive owners to go somewhere else.
This shows just how worthless the EAGLE initiative really is. They should’ve already provided a pathway to get as much unleaded fuel of any type on the airport at a convenient location and provided dispensing structure support that would result in the cheapest possible price for unleaded fuels at the airport.
So a private owner is being held to the same standards as a commercial operator specifically when the airport doesn’t provide a product or service the private owner needs or wants. Amazing. Most of these idiots running these airports and members of these advisory boards aren’t pilots and if they are, it’s more than likely they have a rating but no real experience or worse, they have just retired from the airlines and are starting to stick their feet into GA. Additionally, most of them are have never owned a business or know how one actually operates so they feel that hitting everyone with with insane fees is a good thing. The FAA doesn’t give a rip as they just defer your complaints this practice right back to the idiots running this circus for the county. Check out the bs here in NC. This type of structure is killing aviation in NC as well as in many other locations across the USA and it seems that all our voices concerning insane practices and fees imposed by the local governments is falling on deaf ears.
The answer to this whole shemozzle is a universal drop in unleaded fuel;
No STC’s or other nonsense.
IF the FAA and such as AOPA were serious, we would already have this.
Scandinavia has had high octane unleaded for years; better for engines.
GAMI is approved;
If the big fuel companies don’t want to give up their profitable AvGas business; too bad
They are the drivers behind the endless delays.
Unleaded fuel is better for engines; despite nonsensical myths!
Get this done so we can all move on.
So are they going to inspect everyone’s vehicles for 5 gallon gas cans of MO gas? Will they put cameras in everyone’s hangers to monitor what goes on behind the hanger doors? If they pursue this approach - which it sounds like FAA regs may prohibit - then they should at least exempt the “hobby” pilots.
“The answer to this whole shemozzle is a universal drop in unleaded fuel”
That would probably depend on the cost of a universal drop in unleaded fuel.
What’s the price delta of a universal drop in unleaded fuel vs the mogas available at my local Sheetz or marina?
What is the price of AvGas these days?
A drop in fuel would own the market; could likely be price similar.
One of the aircraft I fly has a 91/96 engine perfectly happy on Mogas; no STC.
Another is an 80/87 engine; no STC.
A third has the original plate on the (vintage) engine explicitly banning lead in the fuel. (uses Mogas without an STC)
A fourth uses Mogas under a “Blanket Exemption”; albeit with slight restrictions.
IF there were serious non political/non status quo protective parties,
We would already have a drop-in fuel for all aircraft.
One field I operate from has a triple tank system; 100LL, Mogas, Jet A1
The minimum we need is unleaded 100, so we can all move on!
If priced similar, my local avgas is $6.75.
Mogas is $4.79
At that delta, I’d still truck my own gas in.
Mogas is great, if there is an approval.
For the rest of the community, we need a drop in 100 fuel with no STC’s etc!
Well, do fuelling safely including type of container and grounding.
But the airport is being _____ !
Well, mogas without ethanol.
Is GAMI’s STC that expensive?
No fees to bring in your own fuel. End this nonsensical push to get rid of 100LL. It (lead) is not a problem.