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Navy Jet eBayed - Some Assembly Required?
madmancarman writes "The world's only F/A-18 Hornet in private ownership, formerly a Navy Blue Angel Jet, is for sale on eBay. The initial asking price? $1 million unassembled, or $9 million assembled and certified airworthy 'with your choice of paint' - more info is available via a Yahoo News story. I wonder how much it would cost to fully arm it? The same person selling the F/A-18 is also selling a 1950's T-33, and claims they'll soon be auctioning off an F-16 and a Mig-29 as well. Build your own air force for fun and profit!"
While owning a Blue Angel would be awesome, it's unlikely a civilian would actually get any flight time in such a vehicle. To fly it, you'd need a Letter of Authorization because there's no FAA type certification for this aircraft - and unless you're an ex-military pilot, you've basically got no chance of getting an LOA.
Even if you were to get an LOA, to fly it you'd have to get permission from the FAA to put it in the air every time you take off. So add your own private island to the total cost if you actually want to fly it without hassle.
So unless you're ex-military, you'd have yourself a $9 million lawn ornament.
Hmmmm. This sounds like the owner might have been Larry Ellison. There have been a number of Mig-29's available in private hands over the years as well as a couple of F-104 Starfighters. I don't know if Larry owned an F-18, or an F-16 but I talked to him at a Java conference (at least I'm pretty sure it was Ellison) years ago and he expressed an interest in obtaining fighter jets like the Mig-29. Someone told me that he recently married, so perhaps his wife would rather he not go "jetting off" and would like him to calm his lifestyle a bit?
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
Blue Angel for sale Navy plane shows up on eBay Nicole Lozare @PensacolaNewsJournal.com After almost 50,000 hits in two days, no one is buying what Mike Landa is selling on eBay. Everyone just wants to know how he acquired the Navy Blue Angels' F/A-18 Hornet. Landa and Associates of Washington state is selling the jet for $1,050,000 - some assembly required.
Maybe the lack of people buying implies not everyone has a few million sitting around?
I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
Positive Feedback: A+++++++++++++!!!! Bomb racks work great! Thanks!!!!!11
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
you know it's true
Interesting. Are there any sort of government oversights as to how these can be sold and to whom? I would hate for some wack-job with money to get a hold of one of these, get some armament via the black market, and use it to do something regrettable.
apparently the FBI knocked on his door to see where he got it...
cool! i can fulfill all my 'top gun' fantasies in one fell swoop!
if i can only find my own cybill shepard...arghh.
but that would require me to give up slashdot!
Most things on eBay seem to go for damn-near retail price, so I'm guessing that a MiG-29 would get bid through the roof and have a value near to that of its Western counterparts (despite its less-than competitive combat avionics). You could probably get the MiG cheaper by just going to Russia to buy it. Like the price of a Hummer H2 (~$50K), I'm guessing. Some underpaid Russian general or mobster would probably jump at the chance.
blog |
I'd want to own one of these...Heinkel HE-162
8 &oe=UTF-8&q=heinkel+he-162&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-
German WW2 jet fighter, fought in the last weeks of the war. Top speed of 521 mph. None left are light worthy though. The BMW-003 jet engine used in it had a lifetime of 10-12 hours, unfortunately.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
I'll park it right in between the Bentley and the "In your dreams..."
3700 odd flight hours, many of Blue Angels type maneuvers. Probably some significant stress and wear on that airframe due to the type of flying. There probably was a good reason that aircraft was retired.
Also, the article should have read "F16 Fighting Falcon" for one of the upcoming aircraft, not "F16 Hornet"
"I wonder how much it would cost to fully arm it?"
I would guess it would cost about 5 years in camp X-ray.
According to IMDB, Michael Dorn owns (or used to) a T-33 and an F-86, among others. I wonder if it's him. Imdb link
...So they can give it to the guy that turned in all the pepsi points for the Harrier Jet.
Of course a Hornet is not quite a Harrier, but I dont think the guy will care.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Everybody has a Mig-29 these days.
I wonder if they include a free tank of gas with the purchase....
There is a MIG-23 in Dayton, OH at the museum at Wright Patterson AFB. It was bought by a private investor and then the mean U.S. Government confiscated it because, gosh darn, it was nuclear capable! Clearly labled as such! A Russian General unable to get money for food and other supplies from his government sold it.
http://www.planetware.com/photos/US/OHUASF1.HTM
Note the tri-foil on the nose cone!
That would be F-16 Fighting Falcon. Of course, this is Slashdot and it wouldn't surprise me if they mistakenly called it an F-16 Elbow.
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
yeah.. it looks like cmdrtaco just got bought out by ebay ;)
I think I'll buy it... It's time the war against the RIAA, SCO, and Microsoft became more than just a metaphor! Warn Redmond air traffic control to expect me soon...
"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments." Earl Wilson
Gooooooooooooose!
Being a aviation mechanic for the Marine Corps, I'm going to tell you that you want hte thing flight worthy...the assembly isn't something you would want to tackle yourself. In short: it's a bitch.
And to the person doubting you could get an LOA for it...that's crap. The question is would you want to fly it?
Derek Greene
"So unless you're ex-military, you'd have yourself a $9 million lawn ornament." I would love to have a F/A-18 sitting out on my lawn. In the fall I could use the afterburners to clear all the leaves from my yard. In the winter they could melt the snow on my driveway. I haven't thought of a use for spring and summer yet...
Uh-oh, lookout. Billy may start creating his own airforce to take over the world
How do they deliver it?
It must be Thursday... I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
someone named fashionpillows. Go figure.
There was interesting book -- Grey Eagles. German pilots assembled ten WWII aircrafts in USA and destroyed American Air Force base in 1970's. Now I cannot find any traces of this book with google...
How long does it take a cocaine dealer to make $9 mil? How much could he pack inside one of these? How many trips to get his money back?
Free Padilla!
The aircraft, which has not been flown in years, is stored in California.
So how can we, the interested, know if this plane can actually fly before actually purchasing such a thing...cuz I fer one like to know if what I'm buying is windup being a $9 million ornament due to government restrictions or due to its inability to fly.
It's amaizing the things people do these days for attention
Listed in category: Consumer Electronics > Radios: CB, Ham & Shortwave > Ham Radio > Accessories > Antennas
For a million bucks this better get good reception.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
Remember; eBay supports Terrorism.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
How could anyone resist? I mean, you don't get those kind of extras on your average VW...
Well, hell, so is any Hydrogen atom, if you have the means.
Looking at the minimun bid of $1 mil, that means that there have, so far, been 7 people willing to fork over $1,000,000 for something. Now, looking at the feedback for these people, I can't possibly see how some of them could pay for this. wtmahan has bought repair manuals for a 1995 Nissan Protege. Anybody who drives one of those, and wants to fix it him/herself probably cannot afford an F/A-18. The current high bidder has bought a bunch of shirts and a $15,000 Porche, not cheap, but not a car for a person who can spend $1mil on an airplane kit.
-twb
It's been said the Internet is the great equalizer, a single man can be as big as a large corporation, but this levels the playing field at the nation building level.
In other eBay news...
Bids are currently at $65,000 for 867-5309 in NYC.
You probably shouldn't click this.
If I'm not mistaken the Blue Angels upgraded to the Super Hornets. 3700 is not bad. And you should seriously see what that 20 year old jumbojet you last flew on had gone through every few years. Stripped completely apart and put completely back together without coffee stains, corrosion and cracks. I remain convinced that if people saw what involved in that process half would feel better, and the rest would insist on flying only on brand new planes.
Why bother going to Russia to buy one? There are several companies that disassemble them, ship the parts to the US, re-assemble them, and then sell the MiG's. Last I checked they started at like $200k, though.
Now all you need is the Ebay Aircraft Carrier to launch the plane off of.
Wow. $9M is damn cheap - most business jets start in the $20M range. Now if only I can find $9M in the piggybank, I think I'll go for it.
I know (or knew) a rancher who rebuilt a Mustang. He used to fly it over his cattle drives on occasion to keep an eye on things. One day the cowboys saw him fly it straight into the side of a hill. Not only was he rendered into many tiny pieces, but an irreplacable piece of American aviation history was lost forever.
Men have this fascination with warbirds - both prop and jet. The problem is that these things were designed - especially the old WWII birds - to fly just this side of stable. Airspeed, altitude, and maneuverability were prioritized over forgiveness. Even well-maintained aircraft flown by pilots with many hours all too often augered in. That was the price the military knew they would have to pay to get the job at hand done.
Now we see weekend amateurs with too much money flying these things, when they should be flying Cessnas.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
next to my George W Bush lawn-gnome
If the seller can assemble an entire airplane
for 8 million dollars, just imagine what
they could do with a small crate of lego!
Pilot? I doubt you could even back your car out of your driveway without hitting the garbage cans.
why run from Vincenzo?
it fell through the "cracks" during a DEMOCRATIC administration
maybe they will keep an eye out for who bids for it and who buys it for potential terrorsits!!!
there have been several jets sold on ebay, the aforementioned cmdr warf, bought one this way, a gulfstream 4 went the same way. check out some of this guys other auctions, there's some stuff that the average slashdotter would be intrested in, http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=2445982
Well art is art isn't it, but then again water is water; and east is east; and west is west; and if you take cranberries
Here's old ad
Did some googling couple weeks ago when it came up on ebay for first time and found photos of same plane while disassembled and under restoration. Didn't find URL, but shouldn't be that hard. Just follow links from official Blue Angel's web page to list of decomissioned planes. It was somewhere over there.
-cp-
when buying a F18, even one in prime condition. First of all, what kind of airport do you need in terms of runway and infrastructure? Do F18 fly on commercial fuel without killing their afterburner?
Would you need a special pilot license? I mean, this isn't exactly a two-seated Fokker but a supersonic jet.
And last but not least, when the constitution amendment was made that everyone could bear arms i don't think politicians had state-of-the-art jet fighters in mind. Would be like allowing everyone to drive a tank...
Look, this thing is totally safe! Built it myself, you know. You just press that button like this and then turn that lev
You buy it to go with this!
Accessorize baby, accessorize!
Strange, lot of discussion and a search on "2nd" doesn't give anything, altough lot of people discuss the legality of this.
If people shall be allowed to bear arms, then why not a F/A-18 ?
#include "coucou.h"
Getting the FAA to let you fly the thing aside, and putting the fact that F18 aren't just sold to the public as they aren't "Retired," and won't be anytime soon. It seems like you might have to use you coupon book, as the normal street price is $40 million.
but the russian one bought from the mob is probably still armed...
$200k for a fighter jet is quite reasonable!
You, know, I wasn't thinking of bidding on it until I saw your post. But I thought about it and maybe we can do the usual tech support thing. You know: you swing by and help me put it together. I'll provide the pizza and beer.
So, are you busy next weekend or not?
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such home improvement films as "Five Thousand Horsepower Leaf Blower", or "Replace your furnace with a jet turbine."
How much for an A-10?
It seems a little odd to me that they go from selling some items in the $10-$200 range, and then 1M+ Jets? This is the closest thing to an airplane I saw in their history: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =3254134304&category=4037
"Complete with extras including bomb racks," I see posibilities......
I'm wondering if people are actually really buying things this expensive on ebay. :i tem =3077350284
Oh and the plane is impressive of course, but check their others auctions, like this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&
FIBER OPTIC CABLE 288 STRAND CORNING 2M ' -> For only 4.400.000$ !!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ewItem&category=26432&item=2454839870
it could possibly cost LESS for a private citizen.
I was able to buy a toilet seat for ten bucks instead of six grand.
This space available.
-1 Ignorant. There are plenty of ex-military (and non de-milled) aircraft flying around the country. They're classified as experimental aircraft. Poster andyrut is an idiot.
How does a trip to Guantanamo Bay sound?
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
What a bargain!. I guess it pays to buy in bulk.
Now a P-38...
sPh
*imagines a jet fighter with 10,000 stamps on it*
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
is tihs. Not quite flyable condition...;)
Yes, it can be put back together. But no, it's not in 'fly-away' condition.
There are several ex-military jets in private hands. F-4's, F-86's, etc. And you can just return it to weapons capable status. *All* of the fire control circuitry will have been removed. And without that, a missile won't launch in anything other than a randowm direction, if at all.
Given the restrictions on actually flying ex-military aircraft, it would be easier for a purported terrorist to drop a case of TNT out the door of a Cessna.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =3077350284&category=4671
now THAT is impressive, 2 MILLION feet of fiber
"Last I remember he never been ex-military."
Yeah... in Xenu's army maybe.
But no army that exists on earth. Of course, he's so other-worldly that he's frigtening. Maybe even beyond frightening. Hyper-frightening.
it has wings :)
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Lemme just say that the guvmt'll get my surplus Soviet military jet fighter when you pry the joystick from my cold, dead fingers!
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
is, as an auto tinkerer that's been burned on this issue numerous times..
What's a GASKET SET for this puppy go for??
You'll need one in order to assemble it, yes?
I'm betting *well* in excess of $1E6.
8-P
Brak: What's THAT?
Thundercleese: A light switch.. of TOTAL DEVASTATION!
You mean like JFK Jr?
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Anyone else notice the other auctions from this company? Just think of what you can do with 104 miles of fiber.
It's fascinating to see what the current bidder (fashionpillows) has purchased from eBay in the recent past. Between the Porsche, copies of Microsoft software and Microsoft t-shirts, he seems to have a penchant for buying expensive toys (and Microsoft wares).
Does anyone know if standard concrete blocks will hold this puppy up?
if we also purchase the Pakistani nuke?
Table-ized A.I.
I don't think I would go spending a million bucks knowing this seller doesn't have 100% feedback.
Your ad here ask me how!
How much to get it assembled in the form of a giant robot?
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Good luck flying it back :D
I can see the US air authorities having no problems with a MiG-29 just popping up on the radar coming towards them
Imagine searching ebay and buying this as an impulse item..
After the breakup of the Soviet bloc you could pick up migs for salvage or scrap from abandoned bases in Eastern Europe and East Germany. These went for thousands or mere hundreds of dollars rather than millions, and many were fully working units. Most were bought up for scap and stripped down for titanium and other resources. Many however just 'disappeared'.
Look at some figures for the armaments in East Europe pre 1989, and then see if you can find any stories which account for what happened to all that military gear. You may be slightly worried.
I'm not sure how easy it'd be to use this demilitarized, declassified F/A-18 for weapons use. The aircraft in its current state has kamikaze potential like any other, but employment of any actual modern air platform weapons would be almost impossible. No weapons fire-control software, possibly no radar, no weapons pylons (required to handle the complex mechanical and electrical linkages with weaponry, subject to great stress).
It might be possible to jury-rig some sort of home-made pylon (at great expense) for carrying dumb bombs (simple ones that do not require any type of software control, yes even "dumb" bombs have a small amount of computerized control), but then again you could do that with any aircraft. Any aircraft can be used to drop something (crop dusters, 172's, MD-500's etc.).
Of course where the F/A-18 fundamentally differs from civilian aircraft is its performance (any civilian sport aircraft could out-turn it though), but even that is of scattered use. Maneuvering performance is only useful in air to air combat, and it would be impractical for this aircraft to be converted for usage with air to air weaponry by yourself, unless you have connections with very skilled weaponry engineers and a lot of time and money. Then again, if you have those connections and funds, you could probably buy a real military aircraft from Russia and not need this F/A-18 in the first place.
Now its performance would of course increase its kamikaze potential, but due to its size, this aircraft would probably not be much more effective in that respect than a regional or business jet. And there are plenty of those around already.
Are you kidding? They didn't manage to deal with those hijacked 767s, and a MiG 29's a hell of a lot faster and more manouverable than a 767.
The dozy radar man would probably think it was a swarm of killer bees.
That was classic intercourse!
I'm okay with "googled" and "blogged" being accepted as verbs (and slashdotted, of course) but "eBayed"? Come on, what's next? Amazoned? SCOed? (I don't know.) IMDb'ed?
blog & fiction: jd87
So I wonder why it's listed in Consumer Electronics > Radios: CB, Ham & Shortwave > Ham Radio > Accessories > Antennas?
Shouldn't it be in Home > All Categories > Toys & Hobbies > Models, Kits > Air ?
Perhaps they were worried that those ebayers would place bids for 100,000 of This
Did you see the other thing Landa was selling? I'm sure some fool would pay ten million dollars for this for advertising maybe, but I bet it'd make a nice target for the F18.
After the wall fell, one of the airplane magazines had an article on one of the older MIGs (don't remember which model). At the time, you could pick them up for fairly cheap (well, cheap for being a jet). Since getting spare parts was some what difficult if even possible, the magazine recommended that if you REALLY wanted a MIG, buy two just so that you have spare parts.
Another thing that I remember from the article, the jet on that MIG had a really slow spool up time. This meant that when you pushed the throttle to full, it would take the engine a while before it produced full power. This becomes a problem if you have to do a missed approached or abort a landing. This meant that when you landed that MIG, you would push the controls to full throttle before the wheels touched down, just in case. This is the same thing that planes do when landing on a carrier. But it seemed strange to do for a ground based runway.
Go not unto/. for advice, for you will be told both yea and nay (but have nothing to do with the question)
$1M would be a bargain to foreign governments just to part it out, or as a trainer.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Does that mean that I can finally have a flying Goatse?
The Human Cow - bringing you scrumtrelescence since 1995
Okay I know a few military collectors... one gentleman in MI has a parking lot at his home with id plates saying ATF, FBI, State Police, and finally vistors. He collects Tanks and trucks and restores them, often getting visits to confirm the equipment is not able to fire anything. (We did get a .50 cal machine gun (M2HB) to operate off of a mixture of acetelyn and oxygen with an electric ignitor...They used it for a movie even, but man, the neighbors whined and complained while we were getting the timing seq. down on it... :) )
Many of the collectors and museums know they will get visits, to the point of trying to have the agents favorite snack food and drink (the agents do take awhile inspecting the devices) and there is no point in being hostile they have a job to do. Me i sat back and watched and learned from them as much as they would let me!
I'm told you are what you eat, does that mean I can be you by tomorrow with some A1?
Problem is, this thing can fly FAST. If you just strap some dynamite under it, no fuse or anything because it WILL detonate on impact anyway, you have a kamikaze bomb that is going to do a lot of damage due to speed, and will be very hard to intercept in time because, well, it's what it was built for in the first place. :(
So yes, by all means, rich nutty people, buy all these things and keep them in airshows where they belong...
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Could be a chick-magnet. How many guys do you know that have an F/A-18 in their front yard.
I wonder though, how does a cockpit compare for space to say, a backseat of an expensive sports-car? Sports-car is probably cheaper.
..if this person knows something. They are suddenly selling a number of jet aircraft and at rock bottom prices. I'd better go and check if Martha Stewart sold her jets today. Might be time to get rid of the Veritech.
Andrew Borntreger
Champion of cinematic disasters
Is to take a look at the people who have bid on the jet to see what other auctions they have won. I'll never have this much money to blow, but it sure is fun being a voyeur to observe their Ebay spending habits. I suppose if you're buying a jet on Ebay, a Porshe or an existing brick and mortar business through Ebay is no big deal.
If someone can comment, would this not be pointless? I understood that the U.S. Navy never relinquishes control of their aircraft, which has frustrated some salvage operators. They spend a few thousand bucks pulling an airplane out of a remote lake, fix it up, and then have the Navy come along and just 'reclaim' it.
damn...I haven't made my first million yet.
O well...I can always settle for the Airwolf copter....
I would think a low-airframe hours mig 29 with a full spares pack (some avionics, hydraulics and a couple of spare engines) would go for a good couple of million dollars minimum each.
Remember, we're talking about a Mach 2+ fighter with a performance envelope that scared the crap out of Nato when it first came out. Granted, Nato aircraft have excellent long-range missiles, but get close in and the Mig wins.
This seller has a great deal of pricey stuff on Ebay. Top three, pricewise, are:
? Vi ewItem&item=2460961703&category=26442
a te gory=4671&item=3077350284
a te gory=4672&item=3078834871
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll
Some sort of dirigible, $10M
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&c
2 million feet of Corning fiber optic cable, $4.4M
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&c
Warehouse, $1.1M
Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
There are several ex-military jets in private hands. F-4's, F-86's, etc. And you can just return it to weapons capable status. *All* of the fire control circuitry will have been removed. And without that, a missile won't launch in anything other than a randowm direction, if at all.
...for one, pick your target. Air-to-air combat? Riiight. Even if you got one fully locked and loaded with the latest the US has to offer, a squadron of trained combat pilots would pick you out of the sky in no time flat.
Given the restrictions on actually flying ex-military aircraft, it would be easier for a purported terrorist to drop a case of TNT out the door of a Cessna.
I guess you could take out a civilian airliner or two before they manage to take you out of the sky, but hell. Despite the increased security, I'm sure there are easier ways for that still, particularly since you can sabotage landings/take-offs.
So it's basicly a bomber. What do you need? Speed? Nah. If you can reach the center of whatever no-fly zone before you can be shut down, that's good enough and they're not that big unless your target is a remote military base. Range? Nah. Just take off from the nearest feasible runway.
Payload? Yeah, I guess. But then you're better off renting a transport plane anyway. And since the plane is toast anyway, either fly it in or lock/program the autopilot and parachute out. No guidance/launch system necessary, just the navigation in any basic plane.
Basicly, this is a combat plane built to fight a war. Firepower to shoot down hostiles, range to reach enemy targets, hit fortified installations and moving targets, and return to base safely. Very little of that applies to a terrorist.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
But a high speed missile with a large warhead can be made more cheaply. This could serve as a basis, but scale it up and substitute either a ton of hobbyist rocket engines or create your own solid-fueled rocket engine, and you've got something more effective and cheaper (I'd think).
Hey, who needs an island? With this you can just sail into international waters AND have a massive pontoon-boat party while you fly your aeroplane.
Also, if you were gonna try and export the plane, what could anyone do? Just fill the gas tank up, punch the throttle and fly to eastern Siberia or somewhere. It's not like the FAA will send up fighters to chase you down. I remember hearing something about how slow they are at doing that.
I hope someone in the confederate air force buys it for the ghost squadron.
Crap, i will need to hire the lego master to put the damn thing up and flying...
The package said "Windows XP or better. Pentium Class Processor or better"... So I got a Mac with OS X
I have to wonder what this fellow is into that is the current high bidder.
According to his feedback he purchased a 19" roulette wheel, later 2 microsoft t-shirts, a microsoft training guide, then microsoft small business server, and finally a 1979 Porche. He's now bidding on a 1-million dollar aircraft.
It just makes me wonder what this fellow is up to... and if I should be doing it too!
It's neat to see whom actually bids on these things. Checking out the comments on the high bidder:
Perfect Transaction, Fast payment, True Gentleman, Please enjoy your PORSCHEAAA+
and another less happy:
only 1 bid & insisted that I sell him a MichaelJordan/ XP Bus Server SW for 9.99
$gt; A winning bid is a winning bid; my friend! Period! ! ! Now ship my product!!!
Quite amusing... these people live in a different world than I. Enjoy your PORSCHEAAA+ indeed
...crispy, crunchy, or atomized?
What terrorist wouldn't jump at the chance to strike at the imperialist aggressor using one of their own military aircraft? A supersonic fighter jet diving into the White House might not be the cheapest or most efficient way of killing a few tourists, but it would have a symbolic power that a carbomb or whatever could ever attain.
...does it run Linux?
knots is a naval unit measured by a number of knots on a rope that's trailing the ship in a given time period.
Where did you hear that?
A knot is a nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile is one minute of latitude (1/60th of a degree of the Earth's circumference -- 6076 feet, versus 5280 feet for an English mile).
Those foreign carriers can usually only launch harriers.
French Carrier: 20,000 tons displacement
American Carrier: 100,000 tons displacement
you are equating flying a cesna with an f-16? i think there's just a hint of a difference between the two.
:/)
the point i'm trying to make here, albeit not very well, is that sometimes the fun stuff in life isn't healthy. alchohol and LSD kill brain cells. thc messes with your memory management. Soccer will inevidibly bruise, scrape and cause some bone and or brain damage. loud music kills eardrums. the playa fries people like hamburgers. the great canadian unexplored north freezes people alive. sex causes disease to transmit(not to mention children). and i'm a relatively boring person, and i can't think of really anything that fun right now(i've been studying all day.
"live dangerously"-neitzsche.
i failed my pilots liscence testing...but had i been able to fly the two aircraft, i know which one i would chose.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
S'mores.
-"I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle." - Arthur Dent
I have seen this aircraft for sale for several years, held by Air Capital Warbirds in Wichita, Kansasm
http://www.airwarbirds.com/f_a-18_pics.ht
This little coward needs to earn himself some cash, and quick!!
Think again. It's been done.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
I see this as a solution to the spammers that are flooding one of my boxes with 500+ spam-filled SMTP connections at the moment. Oh how I wish I had one. :-)
..in Alabama no less! (Can we keep the jokes to a minimum.) I know some guys who are going in together on one of these. Of course they are all ex-military. http://www.internationaljets.com/
I know of a guy who bought a MiG for $7000 in Poland. Including S&H (very important)
hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
one minute of arc
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Everything to assemble we have.
Maybe it crash-landed in Dagobah.
Am I the only one who noticed that this guy listed his F/A-18 jet under eBay's category for ham radio antennae?!?
Pretty cool, you will need this United States Air Force underground facility located in Central Washington State to have as your home.
Wonder how much stamp duty and registration would be for that buger and insurance!!! imagine if u were an under 25y/o male flying it! excess woul dbe through the roof --australian joke--
http://www.thegreynomads.com
Horten 229 all the way! 2 were flown before the end of WWII. 2nd pick is the ME-163, 15,000 ft/min climb! HE-162 is cool, but just a "filler" plane, between technological jumps.
h tm l
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/ho229.
I knew the rohntowers.com sounded familiar... The guy (Micheal Landa) has an alleged checkered past: http://www.bishoptower.com/landa/
The FBI has already visited the seller, and you better believe the CIA already knows which hand he beats off with. No matter how rich the buyer is, he better not have so much as an unpaid parking ticket.
Never confuse volume with power.
There is over 700 thousand members at /.
If we all chipped in just over $1 each we could buy this.
Wanna do it?
And then we could get together and overclock the fighter jet, sounds like fun, huh?
"Hey, Andy, what the hell you got there?"
...but Osama might still be interested.
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Just a side note, as ebay cancels some auctions simmilar to this if it was in a case of a really expensive item. I guess they have gotten used to selling things in the millions but not billions yet. Anyways, if eBay said they woudnt allow an auction like this they would be shorted some serious change. -Gilbert
"Complete with extras including bomb racks"
Great, all we need is some crazy redneck buying up this thing.. bomb racks.. huhuh.. Sort of Dr. Strangelove meets Al Qaida (you know, at the end of the movie...)
knots is a naval unit measured by a number of knots on a rope that's trailing the ship in a given time period.
Where did you hear that?
Wikipedia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_(nautical)
Rich
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ewItem&item=2460961703&category=26442
check out the other shit this guys selling
You're both right - 'defined by' and 'originally measured by' are two different concepts.
...any potential fiscal lunatics can check it out here.
And the owner is... Air Capitol Warbirds
Yes, but it is against FAA regs for you to drop any object from an aircraft in a manner so as to damage or injure anything on the ground.
You can drop anything you want, say, if you drop it on your own private dropping-stuff test range.
I saw a demo on some gun show on cable of a rich guy in Arizona who has an old F-86 or something and his own private strafing range.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
http://www.aircraftbargains.com/ad/355/buy/
Appears to be for sale by a "research organization" near Zhukovsky Airbase, where most Russian prototype aircraft are tested. I wouldn't know, but even though the Russian style is to use centralized radar on the ground, the FAA probably wouldn't allow any sort of experimental or combat radar. Of course, the first person to plop down 10 million takes it, whether playboy or desparate foreign government.
He didn't say he'd host the meetings in it!
Mach 1.x (or is it 2.x) capable aircraft means you will get from A to B faster than any Mach 0.7 business jet. Plus the fact that (unloaded) it can probably take off from strips your average business jet would not be happy with....
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
if the current bidder wins. Last two eBay purchases were books on world currency.
If they show up with suitcases full of cash, be wary. Seller better have one of the money markers with him.
Aych tea tea pea colon slash slash slash dot dot org slash
You can frequently find surplus Government jets and jet engines on GSA Auctions. There aren't any up right now, but you will find a few buses and boats and some nice jewelry. You never know where some of this stuff comes from - foreign gifts are sold without attribution to avoid state embarassment. A while back, we sold the Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa featured in "The Perfect Storm."
I've been tracking the item for the past 10 minutes while reading this thread. The last two bidders (of 150 total) have been a person whose eBay experince seems to center around trading Playstation games, and someone from Canada who seems to primarily buy nerd-esque items on a regular basis.
:-)
It's enough to make one think that there's some bid-jacking going on by people who aren't taking this seriously at all. Perhaps an eBay "Slashdotting" of sorts?
It'll be interesting to see what, if any, cleanup is needed to identify a real buyer after the auction closes...
Even though the sale says "Complete with extras including bomb racks, drop tanks and pylons," I heard a report that says the hardpoints required for actually mounting armaments (Sidewinders, Sparrows, AIMs, SLAMs, Mavericks, JDAMs) were removed. Clearly, I could be wrong. I wonder though, what about the spiffy 20mm Vulcan cannon? :)
fagg0rts!
The F117 lives up to all of its intended purposes. So fuck off.
This is one way to "one up" all your friends in the trailerpark. They all have half built Fords and Chevy's sitting on cinder blocks.
You'd have yourself a half built FIGHTER JET.
"Oh yea? Well as soon as NASA starts auctioning off those Space Shuttles, I'm gonna git me one!"
and the quote comes to mind... "Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!"
maybe, but the story I got from a friend on the scene was, years ago, China was selling some of it's older aircraft for dollars and a gentleman from SoCal bought one, a MIG-15,for about $100k. Not a bad price when you consider that a P-51 airframe runs twice that. The day (and Plane) arrives and our hero gets a panicked call from the freight company to get his azz down to the docks. Our Asian buddies had sent the plane with the wings detached....with the CANNONS , RACKS AND ORDINANCE STILL ON BOARD. Trying to explain this to the Customs guys (one of which was my buddy, rolling on the dock in hysterics) was the high point of this dude's year. (And yes, they let him have the plane, after he stripped ALL the offensive gear of it, dockside.)
I want revenge. I'll settle for justice. Mercy is optional, but not very.
Once again I'm a nobody, I've been trying to afford a MiG-29 (or better, though I don't know if such exist) since I was a little kid. Now you tell me everyone owns one, except me. Life is sooo unfair, if everyone else can have one why can't I?
Seriously though, I'd really like to have a MiG-29 that I could afford to fly. Unlikely to happen, and most people I know can say that. Even most people who are pilots can't afford one, and most want one.
Listed in category: Consumer Electronics > Radios: CB, Ham & Shortwave > Ham Radio > Accessories > Antennas
I guess he was thinking of the heads-up display or some shit. Maybe it could have been on EBay Motors with my Vespa....
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
Although the seller might ultimately sell the plane via Ebay, something tells me he posted on Ebay for one reason: to get the word out. The actual market for something like this is tiny. Ebay is mass-market. Post it on Ebay, and get some headlines in the papers == free advertising.
The original poster said "measured by", not "originally measured by", if you want to get pedantic.
Also, since the discussion was about the an F/A-18, a U.S. Navy plane, the modern definition of a knot is what applies here (the U.S. itself is only ~200 years old, and naval aviation is ~50 years old).
If the discussion spoke of the origins of the British Navy, then perhaps the log-line definition would be more appropriate.
They'd love to have more auctions like this one, I'm sure... (assuming, of course, that the bids are genuine.)
we are up at 24 milion now!!
soon it is going to be more then the cost of a new one:)
its the same thing with everything on ebay....
even jet fighters are expensive these days
this.showSig(false)
The reason I have heard that you can see people flying Mig 15's, F-86's, and a whole slew of other Korean War era aircraft (and some newer aircraft as well) is because they lack the capability to carry nuclear weapons and/or missiles. I heard this from an aviation lawyer at EAA's Air Venture (formerly Osh Kosh) a few years ago so it may be inaccurate or wrong entirely.
I also imagine that the technology in those aircraft, while outdated, would still present enough of a problem for the government to not want civillians owning one.
Keep in mind I'm not saying all aircraft are covered by this because you can buy some Vietnam era or newer military aircraft but they all tend to be observation, recon, or training aircraft. Like I said it may be inaccurate but it does make alot of sense when you consider such decommishioned aircraft as the F-100 Super Sabre, F-105 Thunderchief, F-8 Crusader II, A-7 Corsair II, etc.
Adapt the jet engine beer cooler system that guy in NZ did a few years back. You could probably cool a whole mess of kegs for the above mentioned BBQ. And it would make you even more likely to end up on the Man Show. Beer, BBQ, and summer, that's what it's all about...
ehintz
You really **CAN** get **ANYTHING** on ebay
You can easily pay it off buy smuggling coke and X. If those pesky gummint Leer jets give you a problem just outrun them fuckers or lock them bitches on.
If you go to parents' URL, and 'follow the crumbs,' you run into quite a few other attempts to sell this thing.
Of course, it's not NEARLY as funny as the (as of 8:36 EST) high bid, which is $99,870,100. Mr Landa will be very very happy...
Well, summer is easy - Barbecue!!!! Large one at that. Quick too ;-)
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
All true, but who's gonna catch you to stop you from flying the thing? :)
You need a special license to drive special vehicles, as well as a special pilot's license to fly a vehicle. You also need a license to own a gun. Don't you need some kind of extraspecial license to fly a gun?
--
make install -not war
However there are "time" maintenance requirements. This means your jet can stand idle in your hanger for lets say a couple of years (est.) and it is time for manditory landing gear rebuild, avionics can be in the 6 month time range.
You may save fuel by not flying it much but the cost to keep it flyworthy is "almost" as eexpensive if it is in the air or not.
Keeping it flyworthy (for flight at any time) is the key word here.
I worked on a SAAB 380 twin turboprop, 2.5-3 mil used (I cleaned the interior, carpet, leather seats, glass. A great job, ANY airplane is totally cool) a 19 seater (20 seats and you need a steward-stewardess-FAA) and the landing gear rebuild was about $300,00.00.
My guess for a F-18 yearly maintenance would be easily 100 million pennys a year, plus fuel and ground support when flying.
And if I remember correctly the F-18 does not have a long range especially supersonic probably an hour or so if flying slow.
a jet plane to get is a Chek trainer or a mig-17, all airplanes rock:)
I eat my grapes at room temperature, cuz the cold ones hurt my teeth
I just checked the auction page, and it looks like the price is around 100 Million! (9:30EST). I think I remember the article mentioning that the govt only paid 28M or so. Now thats mark-up!
-B
US export restrictions. That's the main issue, but I'm sure if the right cogs were greased...
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
I don't have enough Polish to verify this, but apparently this is genuine, with war-head and all electronics removed. However you are aparently legally able to drive this around, with a special license from the ministry of transport.
12,300.00zl is approx $3,000 USD - A bargain!
Fancy a drive up to Utah anyone;)
In other words, for what bidders are offering right now for this aircraft, you could get a brand spanking new Hornet from Boeing, and have nearly $40 million in change. That's a lot of jet fuel, and a lot of flying time (not taking into account maintenance costs).
As for me, if I had that sort of money, and wanted to buy an aircraft, I'd probably be looking at one of Boeing's commercial jets. $100 million would just about buy me a 767. I'd prefer a 747 -- it has greater range -- but a 767-200ER could just about get me from Sydney to Los Angeles. Hellaciously expensive to run, of course, but if you're able to afford one of these babies, you should be able to afford the fuel and maintenance...
He's got one of these? Sweet!
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
So, when can we expect the appointment of independent counsel? Clinton lied about fellatio and the Republicans jumped on his throat. This guy lied about wars and his military service and his White House outted a CIA operative and the Republicans do nothing.
I heard GW Bush is keen to purchase this Jet for the Texas Air National Guard, so he can retroactively participate in the Vietnam War...
;)
Or was it North Korea, i can't tell they're so damn close on the map anyway
Good luck to the track memorabilia enthusiast with the *current* high bid...
Yahoo! Go for it.
lawn enforcement!
I often wonder if Ebay puts fake stuff like this up just for attention. After all, it's going to get into every paper in the world, and in prime editorial space... I'm wondering if you dig deep enough into past ebay sales, just how many of these were real... After all, I've never seen an "I bought a nuclear missile from E-bay" story...
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
So... The one guy buys the Hornet.
The other guy buys the MiG.
Nice ! But what do you do with some of the coolest Fighters on the planet ? Yessss ?!
Right. You fight. At least you'd like to. So they sit there, no match. Until they get the idea: Why not call up that guy who got the MiG/Hornet ?
And so they do...
People with so much money won't have any problems equipping them. I mean, let's start to dream. One guy is the guy from that major company you don't like, the other one is that guy you hated in school, who was always so successfull, whatever he started, he would be a winner and all those stupid (and some not so stupid) chicks were saying: "Heeeeellllloooooooouuuuu" wheny they met him.
Oh fuck, that would be heaven ! Just let's hope they meat over the pacific for a game...
Hello?? Fred?! Is this you?
I'm a Hornet pilot, but I can think of a lot of better things to do with 25 million. I have no respect for someone who blows his wad on an expensive toy. My advice to the buyer; take your wife out and get her some flowers, make her happy and get layed. Then use some of the money to make the world a better place. Flying the Hornet's a great experience, but it's just not worth 25 million, not to mention the costs to keep the thing running.
Also, if you were gonna try and export the plane, what could anyone do? Just fill the gas tank up, punch the throttle and fly to eastern Siberia or somewhere.
Unless you remember to cost in something like a K-10 you'll wind up getting very wet.
This article, as it appears truncated in the /. syndication feed:
STRIKE!
The government would grab the aircraft once it hit US soil. The owner would be tied up in court, if it ever made it that far.
Try checking eBay now for this item- its not there as of 2/17 15:00GMT. It was there 12 hours ago, and the auction was not to end until Thursday.
Did someone named Osama make a bid and the FBI got an injunction to stop the auction on basis of national security?
What the hell is a (potential) modern weapons platform doing on eBay anyway?
The F-117 can, like most other attack aircraft, mount Sidewinders and, if I'm not mistaken (and quite unlike most other attack aircraft), AMRAAMs. I wouldn't want to get into a dogfight in one since the engines go into compressor stalls every time you try to pull tight turns, but still, the capability is there. Of course, if they never saw you coming, I guess it wouldn't matter :)
+++ATH0
Looks like ebay killed the auction.
Dear God that's cool. What do they mean by "all electronics?" Hopefully not the guidance hardware? It would be the height of awesomeness to be able to launch my own one-time space shot :D
+++ATH0
He's right. There was a standard-length rope that they used to determine that value originally.
+++ATH0
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate gory=4672&item=3079057375
The price is now $29M + $9M to assemble it.
What a bargain!
The simple way to remember it is that a knot is about a mile per hour, but more expensive.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
...only outlaws will have bombs!
Well, ok so they are not better, but the are cheaper. Plus, you are almost guaranteed to get shot down accidentally in a Mig in most places in the world. This one's only $3.5 million. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =3079433732&category=4672
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