Need An F-4 Phantom?
March 3, 2016 7:42 AM   Subscribe

 
Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal.
posted by MtDewd at 7:50 AM on March 3, 2016 [3 favorites]


I remember seeing - on Ebay, I think, maybe 10 or 15 years ago? - a used Bulgarian trainer fighter jet for sale. Price was around $70K, IIRC. No idea if the ad was for real.

I've thought about it a few times since... what would maintenance cost for something like that? Fuel? Hangar space?
posted by clawsoon at 7:51 AM on March 3, 2016


Looks like my memory of the sale probably isn't completely off, price-wise.
posted by clawsoon at 7:55 AM on March 3, 2016


what would maintenance cost for something like that? Fuel? Hangar space?

Way, waaaay more than that $70k price tag, I guarantee it. Some rough estimates:

Hangar space - depending where you want to put it, this can vary wildly. I'd figure around $500/month for the size of the hangar you'd need at a quiet airport.

Fuel - at cruise, you're looking at maybe 2-3,000 lbs/hr burn (this will really depend heavily on the engine, turbojet vs. high bypass...), which is roughly somewhere between 300-500 gal/hr. Again, depending on where you are in the country... let's say Jet-A's around $5/gal. Let's call it $2000/hr just in fuel prices.

Maintenance - hahahhahaha

There's a reason a lot of these are for sale.
posted by backseatpilot at 8:03 AM on March 3, 2016 [5 favorites]


I put this at one of the middle levels of Maslow's Hierachy of Fighter Jet Needs.
posted by srboisvert at 8:03 AM on March 3, 2016 [9 favorites]


"...and this is my dog Spot."
posted by hal9k at 8:05 AM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


Needs the pussycow tag.
posted by kcds at 8:09 AM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


clawsoon, here's an RAF Tornado F2A for sale. Unique. Mach 2.2. Looks to be in reasonable nick. I think you should go for it.
posted by veedubya at 8:18 AM on March 3, 2016


Fuck that Tornado shit, you can buy the most beautiful fighter jet of all time, a mid-1950s MIG!
posted by NoMich at 8:24 AM on March 3, 2016


I talked a bit with the guy who owns a couple of Harrier jets. Although he is American, he said he bought his in the UK because the US so thoroughly demilitarizes them that it's hopeless to get them flying again.

This place will have you flying an L-29 for only $1,400 an hour but says "Note: Rates may vary with fuel costs." But fuel is so cheap now that you might be able to get a discount.

A more modern and affordable (to operate) jet is the SubSonex.
posted by exogenous at 8:31 AM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


veedubya: Lest we forget, the Tornado F2 was the second-slowest front-rank supersonic fighter mainstay fielded by the RAF (after the horrendously borked RR-engined Phantoms they hacked together); it had to light up its afterburners to keep up with a Tu-95 Bear going full throttle at altitude! Oh, and it had a lump of concrete ballast for a radar unit. (This was fixed in the F3, and the F2A was a development test-bed in-between, but really, "Mach 2.2" is a bit of a wish and a prayer in the case of a Tornado F2.)
posted by cstross at 8:33 AM on March 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


This article also talks about the costs of getting a license to fly the thing: as there aren't any flight simulators for these aircraft, you need to get all of your experience in the air, at $12000/hour retail.
posted by cardboard at 8:37 AM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


I am not at all surprised by the background music choices in the video advertising the chance for civilian pilots to fly an F4.
posted by clawsoon at 8:57 AM on March 3, 2016


PAY for it?! Hell no, I saved all these Pepsi points for a reason!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:16 AM on March 3, 2016 [5 favorites]


As you can tell, F-4 drivers were a breed of their own.

Oh Phantom. Even at near stalling speed, you couldn't hear these guys coming until they actually were over the trees. One afternoon after his bomb run, an F-4 pilot overflew us, upside down-- so low that treetops fanned in his wake. He looked at us and waved. Then he was gone.

The Phantom makes a unique sound, an eerie moan. They were not theories to us. They carried various types of Hell under their wings, and, mostly, hit what we told them to hit. I store my frequent flyer miles in my dreams. I still have enough to last me indefinitely.

Riding a jeep around the perimeter road at the Bien Hoa Airbase, I saw a Phantom parked at a holding dock. One of its drivers was standing on the aircraft near the tail, covering holes in the vertical stabilizer with duct tape. He said it would get him back up north.
posted by mule98J at 9:25 AM on March 3, 2016 [14 favorites]


This recent article on Ars Technica may be of interest to you all:
The slowly fading art of flying—and maintaining—Cold War fighter jets

It goes into the costs of ownership and the difficulty in getting qualified to fly those jets.
posted by danny the boy at 9:41 AM on March 3, 2016 [3 favorites]


Wasn't here a Jump Jet on Ebay some time ago??
posted by Burn_IT at 10:00 AM on March 3, 2016


I suspect that my Type I diabetes and photic sneeze reflex would prevent me from getting any chance to fly a fighter jet via officially approved channels. My only choice will be to steal one and go for a joyride.
posted by clawsoon at 10:08 AM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


Needs the pussycow tag.

This more than everything. I still know people who can't be convinced it was referring to a dude named Calvin, not some weird cat/bovine creature.
posted by sideshow at 10:09 AM on March 3, 2016


Added the tag.
posted by veedubya at 10:16 AM on March 3, 2016


Someone needs to hit this previous "Go See Cal" post (and this one) with the pussycow tag.
posted by exogenous at 10:37 AM on March 3, 2016


This recent article on Ars Technica may be of interest to you all:

From there to Robin Olds to Mustache March which I guess we're in?
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:30 PM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


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