Chris Rollings wrote:
Some years ago, using the published statistics, I calculated the "launch
cost per hour flown", for the major and some smaller clubs. The best
value ones were Talgarth, Aboyne and Booker, all aerotow only sites. You
average more minutes per £ from an aerotow than from a winch launch.

Related background conversation snipped...

This stat doesn't surprise me a bit. IMHO, the key word is the "You"
beginning the ending sentence...and the implications "one" draws from it.

Aerotow/winching are completely different models, both in capital
exposure and launch pricing...not to mention fun/currency/etc.

Having logged only aerotows since ~1972, I find I'm averaging a skoshe
over 2 hours and 20 minutes per launch over 1133 tows. Pretty darned
good for an instructor, huh? (If only I were one...)

There's no doubt in my mind my per-launch flight-average would be
considerably lower had I exclusively winched, both for the reason
implicit in Chris' post, and, because there's no doubt in my mind I'd've
taken considerable snaps those days I rigged, and never aerotowed
because I thought it was dead and didn't want to spend the big (U.S.)
bux for an aerotow. How one prices their winch launches *will* have an
effect on their launch clientele's spending behaviors.

What my per-winch-launch cost might've been I'll never know...

Winching is Great Phun. I can remember one winter gaining several
thousand feet, from a 900' snap, near sunset, in a Schweizer Dragmaster
(aka 2-33). No way would I even have been out at the airfield on a day
like that had we not been winching.

Regards,
Bob - seeks to use stats wisely - W.