Thread: $75,000 2-33
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Old March 9th 18, 01:03 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
son_of_flubber
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Default $75,000 2-33

This looks to be a remanufactured 2-33. I picture this:

They added up the cost of materials, hangar rent, utilities, insurance, and kept track of hours of labor spent. The supervised unskilled labor hours they charged at minimum wage. The skilled labor hours they charged at the prevailing rate. Add 5% a year for their 'cost of money', 5% for their trouble and they get an asking price of $75K. $75K +/- is what a remanufactured 2-33 costs.

This true cost of a remanufactured 2-33 tells me that a long term commitment to 2-33s is throwing good money after bad. You can remanufacture a 2-33 piecemeal, spread out of years, or all at once. Maintaining these birds only makes sense in the long run, when and where people donate hours and hours of their time. Sure that still happens and having trained in 2-33s, I'm grateful and appreciative of their generosity, but the people who have that amount of disposable time are ageing out. Most dads and moms nowadays want to spend their 'time off' with their kids and spouses, not in a hangar covered in dust. And speaking as a recently retired person myself, I have better things to do with my time. (In my defense, I've ponied up money to buy two semi-modern trainers for my club, and I volunteer time at my club.)

Now assuming you find people to donate the time to keep your 2-33 airworthy and cosmetically attractive, what do you get from a student's perspective? How much does a minute in the air cost in a 2-33 compare to a minute in the air in a semi-modern trainer like a ASK 21 or PW-6?

The 32:1 glide ratio is a tipping point. If there is lift to be found, a student can stay up for an hour (and learn to soar) in a 32:1 glider that has decent penetration. They can even fly downwind of the airport! Wow. Who knew?

In a 2-33... they had better find lift under the first cloud that they try. More often than not, they need to buy 2-3 tows to get an hour of practice in the air. On the plus side they get more practice at landing, but we all know that 'gaining altitude in lift' is the heroin that hooks us on the sport. If you want to reduce student attrition during training, put them in a ASK-21 or a PW-6.

If you're wanting a stream of students to subsidize club cash flow by buying lots and lots of tows, a 2-33 does a much better job at that than a 32:1 glider.