Anyone fancy a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker?
Discussion
Funnily enough, i just mentioned that to someone last night after playing a bit of Lock On in one.
"In Private Ownership
Two Su-27s from the Ukrainian Air Force have been demilitarized and sold to Pride Aircraft of Rockford, Illinois, USA. Pride Aircraft has "westernized" the aircraft by remarking all cockpit controls in English and replacing much of the Russian avionics suite with Garmin, Bendix/King, and Collins avionics. The aircraft are currently for sale to private owners for approximately $5 million each.[19]"
It's just not the same in English...
"In Private Ownership
Two Su-27s from the Ukrainian Air Force have been demilitarized and sold to Pride Aircraft of Rockford, Illinois, USA. Pride Aircraft has "westernized" the aircraft by remarking all cockpit controls in English and replacing much of the Russian avionics suite with Garmin, Bendix/King, and Collins avionics. The aircraft are currently for sale to private owners for approximately $5 million each.[19]"
It's just not the same in English...
- hits the floor*
Was it true that Larry Ellison had Mig 29's that he and his son flew around?
And considering what it is, an absolute bargain....but
maintaining it would be an absolute nightmare. And not the "if you can afford to buy it, you can afford to run it" statements that are wheeled out but rather actually getting parts for it. A nice shiny toy sitting in the backyard with months of delay getting a widget for the engine, then having customs getting all odd.
But wow....bragging rights do not get much better.
"I have 8 Veyrons and a McLaren with a towbar to bring stuff to the tip. What do you have?"
"An SU-27 Flanker. Bye".
XB70 said:
Was it true that Larry Ellison had Mig 29's that he and his son flew around?
No - the FAA wouldn't wear it - Larry wasn't happy, but that was that.He and his son were seen punting around in an Extra 300 from time to time, and his son was a reasonably competitive aerobatic pilot (one of Sean D. Tuckers's band of trainees for a while - the fact that Tucker is sponsored by Oracle has no bearing on the selection criteria - a half dozen or so 19 year-olds with parents who could afford an Extra or Sukhoi with the loose change from the back of the sofa - sadly at least one of them died in a flying accident).
The situation with ex-military jets in civilian hands in the US is both more restrictive and more liberal than in the UK. In the UK, provided you have the cash, you can fly ex-military jets up to the performance of a Hunter on a PPL, provided you undergo sufficient training and get the required exemptions and waivers from the CAA - but they won't allow anything with much more poke than a Hunter on the civil register - no afterburners. In the US, the experimental category means you can fly pretty much anything you want, but if you want any form of ex-military jet, the FAA almost always insist that you have hundreds of hours of military jet experience to start with i.e. you need to have been a military pilot - hence not much scope for the average PPL to fly them, regardless of the amount of time and money you have to spend.
markmullen said:
Excuse my ignorance of aviation law but could one register it in another country more lenient? Eastern Europe or somewhere?
Not really.There are categories of registration which have international recognition, and "sub-ICAO" categories which are only valid in the country of registration.
Ex-military kit invariably falls into the latter category, meaning you play by rules of the local authority, or not at all.
XB70 said:
At the rate things are going, the choice in a few years for the lucky few will be
A few years back there was talk of the Commemorative Air Forve getting their hands on a B1. But I think even Washington knows not to let the rebel southerners get their hands on their own nuclear bomber.
had to re-post again on this thread. I can't believe it.
TheEnd said:
Maybe not for much longer after the Lightning crash...
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