I flew in -58s from Ft Rucker repurposed for LE. Both were fine aircraft. The pilots said one of the two was a sweet flyer, the other one a bit bent. Also flew in a OH-6 with Vietnam War time. Great aircraft. Neighboring county flew an OH-6 and honest to gosh AH-6 from the 160th. Both were very good aircraft. I am guessing the marginal aircraft are not transferred to civilians or non DOD agencies.
As you'd expect, most all the surplus aircraft go to government
agencies first. Priority is roughly foreign military transfers, federal. state, local. Local LE gobbles up lots of the ones not taken by an array of Fed agencies. My chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation was looking at a Huey that went to the Department of Agriculture. Non profits like schools and museums come after government agencies. Not much is left for them to choose from. They used to sell to the public via sealed bid. Had a friend 30+ years ago get a T-34B that way. No more. Most civ sales go by large lots for the purposes of parting out. To buy a private -57 or -58 it has to go to an approved holding like LE or a museum, held for a minimum of 2 years, I believe, then sold. Most are sold with restricted or experimental certificates. My sheriff's office sold our OH-6 to an guy in Alaska. He crashed it killing 3 within a year. Weather, CFIT. The range for -58s and -57 is 250K-500K. Range for a single engine Huey is 350K-1mil.
