To Pawnee or not to Pawnee...that is the question...

"309" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 20, 12:20 am, Frank Whiteley wrote:
Received an e-mail from LAVIASA, Argentina today

Prices for NEW Pawnees

PA-25-235 (PROP FIX PITCH)
US$ 156,634

PA-25-260 (PROP FIX PITCH)
US$ 160,115

PA-25-260 (PROP CONSTANT SPEED)
US$ 169,397

Hmm, nobody mentioned "upgrading" to new Pawnees (and I didn't know
you could get then NEW).

Nobody's discussed getting an Air Tractor, or Thrush, or other modern
Turbine powered AgPlane.
http://www.airtractor.com/Default.aspx?p=4530
With a useful load of 9,495 lbs (isn't that approximately FIVE fully
loaded Duo Discus -- or is it Disci?), it would seem to me that the
Air Tractor 802 would pay for itself in less than a season, with tows
to 5,000 feet taking approximately 2 minutes and 34 seconds.


With aviation fuels approaching $7/gallon, the last thing you want is higher
fuel consumption. Turbines suck fuel. They also don't like a lot of
start-up and shut-down cycles.

I don't think any tow plane ever pays for itself once all 'hidden' costs are
considered. Operating an old rag and tube airplane of any kind is fraught
with 'nickel & dime' costs that add up. The last time I took a hard look, a
Pawnee runs about $150 USD/hour. With rapidly escalating costs of fuel and
insurance, it will probably be $200/hour by next summer. You don't operate
small airplanes to make money, you do it because you either need to or want
to. Tugs are cost centers not profit centers.

I think any club interested in lowering operating costs should be
investigating winches.

Bill Daniels