This flew in Rockford, IL yesterday. Pilot's a great guy I fly with, former F-15 pilot. Cool stuff.
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SU-27 First Flight in KRFD
- Thread starter yak52driver
- Start date
They have two at Pride. At least one of them is for sale, around 5 million is what I remember as the asking price.
Their web site says that both jets are for sale. I wonder if you get a discount if you buy both?
That's really freaking cool....thanks for sharing. I'm wondering, if they have to divert somewhere without the ladders, how they get out? It doesn't look like the LEX's would be very easy to scale down the side of (assuming they have a pull down ladder a la Hornet underneath)
Raptor2216
Registered User
5 mil doesn't sound too bad, considering what you are getting for it. That thing looks pretty slick too...looked like a very short takeoff roll. How are these guys able to afford to operate these? If only I had that kind of drug money!
I wonder if you have to buy a maintenance contract from them in addition to the asking price. Seems like that would be pretty integral to owning such an aircraft. I'm surprised ATAC (or someone like them) hasn't snatched these bad boys up.....any legality issues with this maybe?
I've heard a couple of differnt stories, but the latest one I have is that a company here in the U.S. bought them with the intention of using them for adversary work here. Not sure what happened to that plan or who currently owns them, but they are beautiful airplanes. The pilot I know was testing flying it, he doesn't own it. I was drooling all over them this summer when I was down at Pride flying formation. BIG airplane.
They are both still at KRFD, it is supposed to make two more flights today. (And I'm stuck at KORD on a charter! :icon_rage)
You answered your own question before you even asked it.
Unless you wanted to have it sit out front and look pretty and occasionally flying it I don't think one of these would be mush use at all. Getting parts, especially a steady and reliable source of them, would be an utter nightmare. Not to mention having people familiar with the systems, everything from the instrumetns to the engines would be completely different than what the vast majority of maintainers in the US are trained on or have even seen. Should I go on?
There is a reason ATAC and companies of the like fly older and much simpler western aircraft (Hawker Hunter, Kfir and A-4's), they are easy to maintain and fly and make them the most money on their investment. A modern Russian fighter jet would be a black hole of money. One only need to at ze Luftwaffe, why do you think they retired the MiG-29's they inherited from the east and are still flying F-4's that are 20 years older? What's the point?
Come on, there HAS to be a hot Russain mailorder bride out there who has some prior enlisted mx experience somewhere
I see what you are saying though.....to be honest, I would have guessed that a Hawker or A-4 would be relatively expensive as well to maintain, though certainly easier to acquire parts for.
Come on, there HAS to be a hot Russain mailorder bride out there who has some prior enlisted mx experience somewhere
Maintenance experience? No, but they do take part in beauty contests.
Tactical jets are going to be expensive to a private owner no matter what the type, but the relative simplicity and availability of the Hunter and Skyhawk is going to make it a lot less expensive than other comparable types for a private company to operate. The availability largely comes from several countries who operated them for a long time while maintaining them very well. The Swiss didn't retire their last Hunters until 1994 and the Israeli's still fly A-4's, though they have gotten rid of the bulk of their fleet since the 90's. The same with their Kfir's and Swedish Drakens, which were specifically designed to be simple enough to be maintained by conscripts. All of those countries did, and still do, an excellent job of maintaining their aircraft. Talking to the Grumman guys in St Augustine they said the F-5's we bought back from the Swiss were in better shape than any Navy ones they had ever seen.
Trailing edge flap makes a great slide. I dont know how many times ive had the ladder put up on me while working on top of a hornet. The key is to carry through with the landing or you will end up on your ass.
Nice vid, so much for a quick dirty FCF around the pattern on the first flight. I hope they bought spare engines in the package. I thought the -27 had the same FOD intake doors as the Mig-29?