> > > >Yes, but when the colonisation phase comes up, it's a shorter trip across the Atlantic than the Pacific :P
> > > 
> > > I HAS TEH AIREOPLANES! Though they probably aren't in good condition, having sat there for decades.
> > 
> > You also need highly specific fuel for them. You can't pump straight gasoline into a plane engine and throw the starter. Plane fuel is made to a very different grade of fuel than automobiles with different additives. And I'd imagine many of these additives are not available to a post-industrial decline country.
> 
> I wonder though (and I really don't know), does this rule change when you get to early-model planes? Could they make something like [this](http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/032/0/6/Plane_World_War_1_by_Pervandr.jpg)?

You probably could but it be inefficient or highly dangerous.

Aviation fuel is made to burn easily and have a lower flash-point, which you reach with more intense refining. It also needs to not gel in low temperatures.

And even as far back as WW1 you needed to get to a pretty specific fuel grade so your already match-box airplane doesn't burst into flames. I think the general octane grade was 70. By comparison "normal" fuel was something like 50, which was like drinking your own piss for airplanes. I'd think getting up to 50 with minimal to no industry would be a pain.

You could run an engine on it. Just don't expect it to run good.

I don't know about bio-diesel for plane engines either. I know they got stills you can throw in the back of your truck and basically make car-engine grade fuel from that. But I don't know if that extends to aircraft.