On Friday, August 22, 2014 7:48:36 AM UTC-5, wrote:

I've towed with all 3. The Maule has a very high deck angle and restricts visibility leaving the pilot wondering what's out there in front where you can't see. Not a comfortable feeling.



The PA25-235 is certainly the cheapest to purchase and is benign to fly. Wing tanks, as opposed to a center tank, reduce pilot fatigue. The weight in the wings reduce the affects of roll in turbulence. I guess this is not an issue unless you are flying all day long.



The L-19 is by far the most enjoyable to fly and it's light handling allow all day towing with minimal fatigue. It flies beautifully at slow air-speeds and still has a good roll rate, unlike the PA-25. It also sips the least amount of fuel. It does tend to be expensive to maintain. Limiting the flap speed is advised. The flaps do allow for the steeper approaches and a much slower approach speed than the PA-25.

Great info from all, thanks!

I've seen several comments on maintenance costs. What makes the Bird Dog more expensive? Does that cost include the long-term expense of maintaining and replacing the Pawnee fabric? We also tend to do most maintenance in-house.

Note that we are looking at one of the rebuilt Bird Dogs from Air Repair (http://www.airrepairinc.com/L-19.html), not an older one. Good Pawnees, on the other hand, are getting harder to find - unless you rebuild yourself or outsource - and now the costs go up fast.

Kirk
66