Hi All.
The SRGC at Tocumwal also use a Cessna 150.
It has a 150HP motor & tows without any dramas.
It also has tricycle undercarrage which to date has not caused any problems & allows any endorsed pilot to tow. The club has looked closely at upgrading to a 180hp motor, but the cost & extra weight make it an unsound proposition. Rebuilding the 150hp motor with some mods should produce 160hp for virtually no more money & no extra weight.

Bernie.


----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Borgelt" <mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com> To: <steph...@internode.on.net>; "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2010 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Towplanes


Stephen,

Dave Donald is at Boonah and they converted one
in the last few years. You don't need the
tailwheel conversion and both Boonah and
Kingaroy's C150s are still nosewheel types.

Performance of the 180HP C150 is impressive. I've
watched a launch behind a 235 Pawnee and the
Kingaroy C150 with ballasted 15m gliders with the
second rolling as soon as the first lifted off.
It isn't at all certain that the 235 Pawnee is
any better under those circumstances than the C150.

The O-360 Lycoming used is essentially 2/3 of the
O-540 in the Pawnee. Only 4 cylinders to fuel and
overhaul instead of 6 for around the same towing perfomance.

Mike


At 12:59 PM 1/10/2010, you wrote:

I was a bit interested this morning too, so I did a quick hunt around on the internet. I think Daves guess is a bit on the low side.

Airframe : going by costs of 150/152 from the latest aviation trader (about 12 aircraft) costs range from 30k to 65k but typically fell in the 45-55 range for aircraft with about 6000 hrs on the airframe. (the $30k one was a real outlier and would be a bit of a clunker I reckon, the 65k one "only" had 2000 hrs on the airframe, least used by a long way).

So Airframe : average 48K,  best 65k



Had a look at Lycomings 2010 price list for O-360s (there are 140+ types ! not counting IO, AEIO etc)

With exchange, a new O-360 $41k, rebuilt zero hours $29k. BUT up front they say they are reluctant to exchange different types, so add 20% to either of these prices for a straight out purchase (though you should still be able to sell the old engine locally and recoup something).



Then looked for conversion prices. Found a site called Aeroprices which quoted a tailwheel kit as US$2225 and an engine upsize kit as US$5835-7622. HOWEVER (and this is the interesting bit) the STC for both these kits was owned by "Aircraft Conversion Technologies" who seem to have folded as a business in 1999. The STC ownership seems to have then passed to "Del Air" who have little in the way of info on the web (only reference by third parties). They could be gone too. Who owns the STC? The upshot being the prices given must be pre 1999 prices so a conservative 50% inflation since then (I would bet closer to 100%) gives:

Tailwheel kit $3300 (which seems neither here nor there in the overall cost of the work)

Engine fit kit $9800

-------------------------

Finally if we were to buy a 150/152 on the Australian market and upgrade it as above (not counting labour!) an "average/cheap" conversion would be about $90k and a "top of the line" job would run to about $120k.



I haven't allowed any cost for labour (and chasing around after who owns the STC etc). I expect you would get some change (but not much) out of $10k

After this expenditure you would still have a 30+ year old airframe.



Regards

SWK



On Fri 01/10/10 10:06 AM , Dave Donald icans...@y7mail.com sent:
Why would you want a taildragger 150/152 (even though they exist)? If you get a tricycle 150/152 that nearly every GA pilot trained on, they are a ready source of tug pilots (when endorsed). And you don't have all of the issues of ground handling that goes with a taildragger.

Airframe 20k
Engine 35k
Conversion 15K
= 70k

Pretty rough figures across a couple of years - the engine may be more or less depending on condition. Also, most modded 150/152 have a recurring problem shaking the rivets out of the tailplane skins/spar, but with proper maintenance this risk is mitigated.
Dave


From: Colin Campbell
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Sent: Fri, 1 October, 2010 10:04:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] "Super Motor Falke" and towing

Can anyone supply information on current cost purchase and conversion of C 152 to taildragger and 180 hp engine transplant and a LAME who has done it before?

Colin C

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Mike Borgelt <<mailto:mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com>mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com> wrote:
As proved at Kingaroy over the last 20 years.

Mike


At 09:41 PM 30/09/2010, you wrote:
One has to ask the question - why?
If cost is the answer then a 180HP Cessna 150/152 is the best alternative.
Tom

--- On Wed, 29/9/10, Richard Skinner <<mailto:skinn...@bigpond.net.au>skinn...@bigpond.net.au> wrote:

From: Richard Skinner <<mailto:skinn...@bigpond.net.au>skinn...@bigpond.net.au>
Subject: [Aus-soaring] "Super Motor Falke" and towing
To: <mailto:Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net>Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Received: Wednesday, 29 September, 2010, 4:57 PM

Does anybody out there have any information regarding the launching of gliders by Motor Falke, or indeed, any other motor glider that may be used to launch? Iâ?Tm not aware of it in Australia ia but I understand that there may be some such happening in Europe? I am aware of Ultra lights acting as tugs but Iâ?Tm speciecifically interested in motor gliders.




Regards



Richard Skinner



<mailto:skinn...@bigpond.net.au>skinn...@bigpond.net.au



08 8431 8249

0419 818 024



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