Private Fighter Jets?

[VaSteve]

I saw something odd landing at the local civilian airport, so I went looking for it. Parked at the very edge of the airport was this. Can anyone tell me anything about it?

[varmint]

think it's a czech L-39

bunch of boy billionaires got tired tired of listening to the other boy billionaires drone on about how fast their veyrons were. they looked around and found surplus eastern bloc jet trainers for sale.

it is combat capable. i heard they were being used to strafe civilians in syria right now.

[porsche4life]

Here awhile back there was a post about enough parts to assemble 10 migs sitting at an airport in west Texas..... Just saying go big or go home....

[Hard-Deck]

I have one....

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Here awhile back there was a post about enough parts to assemble 10 migs sitting at an airport in west Texas..... Just saying go big or go home....

Yeah, that was from me and those were Migs, but the above plane is an L39 albatross. . As stated. They are actually quite common. I see them all over the place. They are not really that expensive in those terms, there are many for sale in the low 100,000s..

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Snapper33

I have one....

How about a video?

[Jrboulder]

Every couple months you read about some rich dude who got killed in his L-39. It's a soviet era trainer. If they considered their cosmonauts expendable what does that make first year air cadets? 5 have crashed so far this year.

[porsche4life]

http://www.trade-a-plane.com/detail/1280852.html


Only 95k....

[A930Rocket]

What are the maintenance and running costs for one?



I know, I know. If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Snapper33

I have one....

Where are you based? There are 5-6 of them here at KDVT along with some other "sporty" types. Outfit here specializes in them from what I hear.

Friend of mine has one, name is Mike Farrell. Know him?

These L-39's are really high performance training aircraft, not really fighters but still fun airplanes. They do have hard points but not much useful load so cannot carry much.

[widgeon13]

I knew a guy who had a Mig, his biggest problem was finding asphalt thick enough to support the weight. Too thin and it would sink right in, they were meant to operate on cement, think cement.

[Rick Lee]

Joe, I never see those ones by us moving. They seem to be stationary and I drive by them all the time. I like the paint jobs though.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

I knew a guy who had a Mig, his biggest problem was finding asphalt thick enough to support the weight. Too thin and it would sink right in, they were meant to operate on cement, think cement.

If you have ever been in Eastern Europe or Russia, the airports are (or were) almost always the same, being built with typical combat methods. The runway is made out of slabs of reinforced concrete and that measure 10 by 10 meter sections. You want it wider, put another slab or two on there. Longer? Pour another 20 slabs and extend it by another 600 feet or so.

This made it easier to repair combat damage by just removing the debris and so on and replacing that section with fresh and you were once again able to fly off of the airport.

Hard stands (parking areas) were the same materials. The MIG airplanes have the typical high pressure (200-300 Psi min) tires that do not do well on anything other than concrete...

Only problem with runways like this is that they are rougher than a cob and get worse with time. Water gets under the section and then they go up and down with each freeze, so that touching down during landing and you can have a 1"-2" bump at each joint. Some airplanes handle it well, while others not so good.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Joe, I never see those ones by us moving. They seem to be stationary and I drive by them all the time. I like the paint jobs though.

The L-39's do not seem to move very much right now but the turboprops inside the hangar are flying from time to time. No one knows much about the operation and they are pretty secretive, so who knows whats going on there.

[GWN7]

Back when the wall fell a bunch of Migs came on the market. They were selling for 20-25K depending on the hrs. A buddy looked into buying one.

[ODDJOB UNO]

last time over there and into the north hangers, i saw a slew of them, no not the ones on the south side that ya see from the road. are they one in the same operations?

a few also up by reno i saw last time.

[Aggie93]

One of my cousins has a Mig-17 and does show with it. MiG-17 - FIGHTERJETS INC. - Randy Ball

He tells the story about when he found someone selling the cannons that came on the plane. While he was driving back with them, he got pulled over by a state trooper. He said it was pretty tense for a while. They are inoperable, and I think the trooper had someone come out to inspect them before he released him.

He did a flyover then went ballistic for a party my grandfather was having at his ranch. Pretty awesome.

Just a few years ago, he was flying to an air show and had a heart attack. Thankfully, he was able to land the plane and get in the ambulance. I think he went under a knife that day. He says the fact that he was in the plane saved him since he was on oxygen.

[stomachmonkey]

Just saw this on the news.

Pilot was local, from Frisco.

After retiring, pilot focused on collecting, flying vintage planes

Looks like he was flying the same plane as in the OP.

[edgemar]

are the L-39's ejection seats operational? Or do they disable them. I always wanted to know if a private aircraft is allowed to have operation ejection seats...

[BE911SC]

Paul Allen (Microsoft) has a flyable MiG-29 in his collection.