3,000ft tow = $100?

With the price of AV Gas around $5/gal. at my local airport (KTSP) I
am wondering
when a 3,000 t tow will cost $100? My local FBO charges about $70 for
a 3,000ft.
Are there any FBO's charging $100 for a standard tow?

On Jun 10, 4:10*pm, wrote:
With the price of AV Gas around $5/gal. at my local airport (KTSP) I
am wondering
when a 3,000 t tow will cost $100? *My local FBO charges about $70 for
a 3,000ft.
Are there any FBO's charging $100 for a standard tow?

One of our club members calculated that we are burning about 2.46
gallons per tow on average with our Pawnee (the average tow height for
last season was 2,396 ft). So a fuel cost increase of $2 per gallon
results in a $4.92 increased cost for the average tow. We just
increased our tow fees to $45 for a 3,000 ft tow. Seems to me that $70
to $100 for a tow is a little overkill. I realize that commercial
operations are a bit different and more geared towards profit-making.
However, if I were to see an increase from $70 to $100 based on
increased cost of a few dollars per gallon, to me it would seem a bit
like what the oil companies are doing.

You should try flying in blighty. Avgas is now $14 / gallon! I wonder how
we got to this point?

Jim

At 21:10 10 June 2008, wrote:
With the price of AV Gas around $5/gal. at my local airport (KTSP) I
am wondering
when a 3,000 t tow will cost $100? My local FBO charges about $70 for
a 3,000ft.
Are there any FBO's charging $100 for a standard tow?

You should try flying in blighty. Avgas is now $14 / gallon! I wonder how
we got to this point?

Jim

At 21:10 10 June 2008, wrote:
With the price of AV Gas around $5/gal. at my local airport (KTSP) I
am wondering
when a 3,000 t tow will cost $100? My local FBO charges about $70 for
a 3,000ft.
Are there any FBO's charging $100 for a standard tow?

On Jun 10, 2:10*pm, wrote:
With the price of AV Gas around $5/gal. at my local airport (KTSP) I
am wondering
when a 3,000 t tow will cost $100? *My local FBO charges about $70 for
a 3,000ft.
Are there any FBO's charging $100 for a standard tow?

As previous treasurer of our club we figured that a 3000' tow costs
~14min@14gal/hr= ~$20 but the tow plane costs us about $10,000/yr -
$15,000/yr to own and maintain so we have to factor in those costs as
well.

We just raised our fee for a 3K tow from $45 to $62 to help keep the
club properly funded as we were spending more than we were earning
this year, and one of our major income sources is profit made on
towing fees like most clubs that own their own towplanes.

Its not about the fuel costs, its about funding the club to keep it
afloat.

We keep the tow fees less than local comercial operations however to
remain competative.

If you really want to save money on tows, buy a winch. Some clubs
charge $5/tow for winch since upkeep of the winch is typically much
less than a tow plane.

Ray