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Own Your Own Fighter Jet
gimmebeer writes "The Russian Sukhoi SU-27 has a top speed of Mach 1.8 (more than 1,300 mph) and has a thrust to weight ratio greater than 1 to 1. That means it can accelerate while climbing straight up. It was designed to fight against the best the US had to offer, and now it can be yours for the price of a mediocre used business jet."
So now that I won my own combat jets, anybody got a slightly used aircraft carrier up for sale?
"His name was James Damore."
I remember a story from almost 10 years back that you could buy a Mig-21 for $14k as is or around $100k restored and made legal. The cost wasn't in the aircraft itself, but the maintenance to keep it flying. Still waiting to get my own F-14.
Paying to keep this bad boy in the air won't come cheap. I wonder how trigger-happy the US Airforce might get if they stumbled across an SU-27 over US soil though... does it still have weapon hardpoints on the wings? TFA doesn't really address that, it just says "They don't have any weapons."
I was curious about Concorde replacements a while back and researched some of the Soviet fighters. Unfortunately they tend to have short ranges at top speed. If they could just increase the fuel capacity of a two-seater, they'd have a Concorde substitute. The ticket would probably be a lot more though, since you've got one plane and one passenger.
If you don't have the range for a trans-Atlantic hop, having supersonic capability isn't too useful in the US. You're not allowed to fly supersonic over land here because of the boom.
Maybe it'll sell in some other country where the uber-wealthy have a shorter distance to travel, and no noise restrictions.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I'd go for this instead of a business jet. Far more fun and you don't have to worry if the engines fail - you can always use the ejection seat. Russian fighter's ejection seats are far more safe than the US ones - you can eject at over Mach 2 and survive!
An elegant weapon... For a more civilized age...
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The combined human population is enough to feed every living tiger for app. 28000 years.
...it won't fit through most drive-in's like McDonald's, KFC or Burger King.
YankDownUnder Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire
Okay, now that I got it, where the heck do I store it? Under the carport? Unless the sucker has the best folding wings ever, the HOA fines are gonna be a bitch.
Send 1 to:
Osama bin Laden
1 Hidden Cave Trail
Afghan Border Region
Pakistan
Send the rest to:
al Qaeda Secret Training Base
Yemen
As a former USAF avionics specialist, these things are a maintenance bear (npi). the maintenance ratio is measured in 10s of hours per flight hours. However, removing combat related systems will lighten the load and reduce certain maintenance cost.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
Theses birds have been modernized with Western instrumentation, radios and GPS. Both are fully IFR equipped with U.S. avionics.
That's like putting the internals of a Ford into a BMW. Thanks, but no thanks, I want the original.
What single seater and at most two tandem seats? What the hell were they thinking? Looks like the Soviets never learnt the meaning of the word mile high club before trying to compete in the business jet market.
There's probably a refId for Slashdot somewhere...
Actually it's the other way around. One of the major disadvantages of Soviet Union fighters compared to western fighters was their avionics. The Su 27 was far nimbler than its counterpart the F-15 but was acknowledged to have problematic radar and sensors.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
When I was younger, I remember touring the Air National guard and asking the tour leader if I could by a fighter jet. He responded that to own a fighter jet, I'd have to find one in the Arizona boneyard and it would cost about 5 million dollars. In the 80's, the F16 cost 5 million each (or so I was told...)
However, even had I the money today, I'm not so sure I would buy one.
My uncle was in the Air Force, and actually flew in an F4 phantom. He had three remarks:
Today, I'm content to fly simulators because I can get a feel for the experience without the attendant risk and cost. Were I flying a 5 million dollar aircraft, I would be very reticent to try the kind of manuevers I do in the simulator, simply because of the risk involved. In the simulator, I can try spins and stalls and rolls that prudence would forbid in the real world.
But it would still be cool to own a fighter jet.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I saw that commercial too... ...oh it's Russian?
What's the Russian equivalent of Pepsi?
Haven't the 'important' members of the Association committed Hari-Kari yet over 'Property Values'? That's their primary obsession in life...
If not, here's a Ham Radio Antenna to push them over the edge....
All you need around these parts to piss of a HOA is a flagpole! Henrico Medal of Honor recipient, 90, ordered to remove flagpole
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Of course this is a good deal for drug traffickers. With a 4,000 kg normal payload capacity and cocaine selling for $23,000 per kg you'd make almost 100 million in one trip, and who's going to try stopping a jet traveling Mach 2?
Any US or european 4th gen fighter guided to interception by AWACS plane can shoot down that nacro-Suhoi with BWR missiles. It's not exactly a stealth aircraft, you know...
Wired did an article on this years ago, explaining how anyone getting into the market for a small business plane could easily pick up any number of military craft. SU-26s were approx. $80,000 at that time, and other european manufactured jets were selling even cheaper. This article also glosses over availability, but the price has gone notably higher for the su-27s. That article stated some private airports allowed them, but I dont know that that's a particularly large number. Nor am I thrilled at the idea of amateur hour in high speed jets. Also, how many tower technicians are trained and familiar with scheduling landings with aircraft of that class? Looking into that is probably one of a hundred steps you should take before getting into the market. Also the cost (which the article does mention) can be insane for fuel and maintenance. "The two happiest days of a yacht owners' life, the day the buy it and the day they sell it."
Good luck on getting FAA certification, and permission to fly one of those in US airspace. And I'm pretty sure its not legal for a private jet to go over mach 1
I would rather have the Western internals. Soviet fighters from this time period were analog instrumentation packed up the wazoo. You need to be very experienced to fly one of the things. Today you have like a couple of multifunction liquid-crystal displays which do everything. A lot of the countries which have old Soviet planes have bought Russian or Israeli electronic upgrade packages. Kind of surprising they do not have some sort of INS/GPS navigation system however. The Russians have had their Glonass satnav system almost as long as GPS has been available.
and mow your front lawn with it - YEEIIII!!!!
As a fiddler crabs its easier - claw size is genetic, one can only wave quicker to score.
Surely that depends on it being spotted? IANAFP (I am not a figher pilot) but if you going for an arbitrary drop site (not a valuable target or anything military) you can simply avoid air defences? There must surely be some techniques you can use, even with a completely non-stealthy fighter, that can increase your chances of dropping off your $100 million dollar payload without being pwned by the air force? I'm also fairly certain that there are some ex-Soviet pilots now down on their luck who would know any tricks that could help.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
A private company at the local airport has several ex-military jets. A-4, Kfir, Hawker Hunters. They contract out to the Navy and USAF to fly adversary DACT and tow targets.
So, even if I owned this beast of a jet, do I have to adhere to flight regulations like getting screened at the airport and not carrying fluids (unless inside my body)? Do airport hangar services include reloading the Vulcan gun or sidewinders?
$5 million dollar jet but what's available for armaments, in what quantities and how much do they cost? I'd like to send a message to my neighbor, one house over, the next time he cranks his music too loud.
Bah - a friend of mine already own and flies his own Vampire jet.
Best part? I get to help maintain it for him, being a certified system technician and all.
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
Helllo Sir, this is NAPA auto parts, how can we help you
Need a carb for a '98 Sukhoi 27, and some brake shoes for the forward gear
No problem. we have those in stock
My guess would be to fly extremely low and during a storm would work quite well but be crazy dangerous at the same time.
No weapons would increase range and speed.
But the Columbian's are already beyond flying the stuff in.....
Too many interesting links to pick one, but they use unmanned subs these days.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=colombian+submarine&aq=0sx&oq=Columbian+sub&aqi=g-sx1g2
Man, I'm so close to owning one... only $4.9999 million short. Can anyone spot me some money?
The problem is for a lot of clueless users, .com is what everything on the Internet ends with. They aren't aware there are other addresses. They are especially unaware of the .gov address, since it is fairly rare. So a lot of government agencies have said "To hell with it," and registered their .com address. The post office was one of the first I can think of. www.usps.gov still works, but just redirects you to www.usps.com which is their site now. They are still a government agency, they just use a .com address.
Please.. don't use the word(?) "pwned" when discussing something other than gaming. It makes it difficult to take a person seriously.
Oh, you mean like all those ex-Soviet pilots who bagged all those F-15s, F-16s, and F-18s in actual combat? *guffaw*
The only air forces on the planet I'd be seriously worried about are the UK (as with most things, a very high standard of training) and Israel (when *aren't* they in combat?)
The Canadians will crow about William Tell, but their record doing the deed in combat is a joke compared to ours, and India will snipe about that so-called war game when their fighters outnumbered ours 2-1 and 4-1 without AWACS support and they managed some AA-10 Alamo kills against the F-15C. Keep in mind that the F-15C is a 1979 vintage aircraft, though undoubtedly has been upgraded since running up against the latest toys India has. You'll note an imbecile in the comments section talking trash that India has the "most intense training in the world".. which is hilarious. Nobody really knows who wins the "intensity" award..heheh.
Neither (pyrrhic victories of Canada and India) mean shit in the real world. It's like a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do (or any other Korean "art") playing tip-tap in the Dojang, then running up against a Hells Angel who after he was a Golden Gloves boxer did a stint in Folsom. The real world result ain't pretty, and generally results in splattered kimchi.
Installing modern avionics might attract more attention from your domestic security agencies though. Far better from their perspective that your aircraft is a not particularly functional fossil.
Civil GPS units stop working above a particular speed so they can't be used in cruise missiles. If you install a GPS which works above mach 1, expect some questions about your intentions.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I bet John Travolta would LOVE to get one of these! Might take some getting used to compared to the jetliner he owns! :)
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
At least one F-14 in the boneyard, or more, Gee
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
what is the MPG? and how much the fual cost?
You either want an A-37 or an FB-111.
The A-37 is a "buff" T-37 trainer. It's not so much that you need the weapons, but the stronger engines, larger fuel tanks, and the hard points for luggage (pilots used a have a pod for assignment changes). Strip the armor during a refurb and the performance should be better, too. Lots of them sold into South America and Southeast Asia.
http://www.a-37.org/a37.htm
The FB-111 gets you supersonics. It was the first US jet to do at (well, near) sea level in sustained flight. Has a pressurized cockpit, too. Might be able to get one from the Aussies.
http://www.fighter-planes.com/info/f111_aardvark.htm
...the US should buy their aircraft from MiG. The AK rifle is cheap, simple to produce and maintain and it just works and works and works under any and all conditions. If MiG's planes are even half as good, this would be a hell of a bargain.
"If you want to know what happens to you when you die, go look at some dead stuff."
"pwned" gets more respect around here than being an AC, as far as I can see.
Also, nobody is suggesting these planes could be used to engage US planes in dogfights. Merely that they could enter part of the US which is unimportant enough to have lax air defence and not get noticed.
Contrary to your armchair general demeanor, I really don't think you can definitively exclude the possibility. Certainly the air force are foolish if they haven't anticipated it.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
This is not first time you can buy a ex-military jet and re purpose it for mucking around (On a side note there have attempts in the past to produce a kit-built DIY supersonic jet such as the Bede http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede_BD-10). BUT this is quite a formidable plane. This is like buying a F14 or F15 (Which I believe the russians designed it to counter), which as far as I know, you don't have a hope in hell of picking one up for your own use.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Tubes had their advantages, ie Mig 25
:)
Tubes were easier to replace in remote airfields, which would be VERY useful during a war...they also were more protected from EMP's, kind of useful when you are dropping Nuclear bombs I would assume
I think tubes have had their day, I am not one of these "pure analogue" audiophiles, but to dismiss all tube technology is very rash. I believe the Soviet jets were lacking when it came to instrumentation though.
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The company formerly known as Blackwater...
Already has some interesting flying hardware, wonder how many of these they might pick up.
Ward
. Silence! Be thankful thy species is unpalatable! .
NASA has discounted the price of its soon-to-be-retired space shuttles to $28,800,000 each. With transportation to a major airport included in the price (does that count as free shipping?), that's the best deal we've ever seen on a space vehicle. According to the Press Association article, Atlantis and Endeavour are "up for grabs", and the new, Smithsonian-sealed Enterprise may be available for purchase. (Enterprise never made it to space.) If you're lucky enough to get a shuttle, you must display it indoors in a climate-controlled building. Deal ends February 19, and a delivery date of "late 2011" is scheduled.
Source:
http://dealnews.com/32-off-Space-Shuttles-at-NASA-Deals-from-28-800-000-free-shipping-more/342463.html
People have owned their own fighter jets for years; including an F104 owned by Red Baron: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1093756/2/index.htm
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
How does 30 minutes to cross the Atlantic sound?
Impossible. Shortest distance across Atlantic is ~2500km. If you want to cover it in ½ hour then your speed must be ~5000km/h. SR-71 has (had?) top speed of over 3500km/h... and you are suggesting of making plane that goes almost 50% faster?
Ken Thompson of Unix fame, went to the former Soviet Union to fly a MIG-29. It cost him $12,000 and included 3 flights in a L39. http://funpeople.org/1995/1995ACZ.html He said it was worth it.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Still waiting to get my own F-14.
Unless you steal one from Iran, that will never happen. After the last F-14 squadron retired their birds in 2006, Dick Cheney ordered all Tomcats (with the exception of a very few set aside for museums) to be destroyed. Usually, we send freshly retired birds to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan AFB in the desert... the dry conditions preserve the aircraft well in case we need them in an emergency. But Iran needs parts for their Tomcasts so badly that Cheney was afraid a black market would spring up and that parts would start making their way to the Islamic regime. So the birds were literally shredded. A sad end to arguably the greatest Navy fighter of the jet age.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I work for a company which sells and buys (Exports and imports) and maintains aircraft such as these, and the problem with Russian jet aircraft is indeed maintenance. It's more expensive due to the lack of availability of parts and there are many many directives that are issued, by both manufacturers such as Sukhoi and air safety authorities, to keep the aircraft legal. Not only that, the potential security threats related to it make any government or air safety authority nervous. Although the Su-27 is a beautiful aircraft for the same cost you can get a European jet which uses less fuel and are cheaper to maintain. Is this old news though? From what I heard these were already being sold to governments.
If you just want to go flying in a jet like this there are private operators on every continent in the world using various aircraft and can vary between a few thousand to twenty thousands US dollars for a flight.
flying 50 feet above the ground might do it
or flying into the ground
Yeah!!!1 USA!USA!USA! F22!!!!!1111!111twoo