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"The airplane is not ready to fly. It is necessary to make a technical service and prolongation of the data limit." Guessing something got lost in translation.

"The airplane is not ready to fly. It is necessary to make a technical service and prolongation of the data limit." Guessing something got lost in translation. In any case. as aircraft maintenance isn't my area, any idea how viable/costly it is to get airworthy? Could you even get spare parts anymore?

Aloha 13y ago
its an open-ended question/answer, honestly.
TylerE 13y ago
Spare parts are probably attainable (there's a reason retired aircraft are mothballed rather than scrapped), and the major companies that the built the engines, etc, are still around. Out of 500 or built ~60 are still in service. Getting parts as a civilian operator might be touchy though. It's probably being sold more as a museum piece. In terms of doing a restoration Russian stuff is usually pretty viable since mechnically they're fairly straightfoward and rugged, and not much in the way of computers or microelectronics of any kind. Even with all that said, it would probably be a $10M+ (quite possibly +++) to get it airworthy again, and even if you did it would be very expensive. Fuel burn on those things is about 2000 gph, and Jet-A is currently ~$6/gal, so you're looking at $12k/hr just in fuel expenses. Maintenance will probably at least double that hourly figure.
- ballard 13y ago
  I can vouch for this. A friend has a mig that's going to a museum, and they're gonna restore it to museum cond. FYI never tell or show anyone you own a jet in storage or it will be likely robbed of flight / nav gear. High security storage is a must.
  - exDM69 13y ago
    > FYI never tell or show anyone you own a jet in storage or it will be likely robbed of flight / nav gear. High security storage is a must. Is there a story behind this? If it is interesting, can we hear it?
650REDHAIR 13y ago
I volunteered for an Air Force museum and even non-operational/replica parts were expensive and hard to find for aircraft. I would imagine getting this certified/flyable would cost nearly as much as the purchase price when the dust settles.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  Seems like a 3d printing niche opportunity.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - TylerE 13y ago
    Not really. It would NEVER be certified for US commercial operations as the US FAA does not have a reciprocal airworthyness agreement with the Soviets[1]. FAA certification - required for commercial use (but not experimental, which is how old warbirds are generally operated these days) would take years and probably $100M+, fi the FAA would ever even consider it. [1] Ironically, we DO have such an agreement with Poland, so in some cases (but not the TU-95), aircraft built in Poland have a path towards approval for US ops that those built elsewhere in the USSR wouldn't have.
    - anigbrowl 13y ago
      Oh sorry - it was the bit about non-operational/replica parts that caught my eye. I agree that even the best laser sintering is probably way below the mechanical tolerances required for aeronautics applications, but it seems like it would be a great way to build models and do things like engine cutaways etc.
    - wwosik 13y ago
      Ekhm, let me correct that slip: " in Poland [...] elsewhere in the USSR". Poland was fortunately never part of the USSR and hopefully never becomes even in USSR 2.0

Aloha 13y ago

its an open-ended question/answer, honestly.

TylerE 13y ago

Spare parts are probably attainable (there's a reason retired aircraft are mothballed rather than scrapped), and the major companies that the built the engines, etc, are still around. Out of 500 or built ~60 are still in service. Getting parts as a civilian operator might be touchy though. It's probably being sold more as a museum piece. In terms of doing a restoration Russian stuff is usually pretty viable since mechnically they're fairly straightfoward and rugged, and not much in the way of computers or microelectronics of any kind. Even with all that said, it would probably be a $10M+ (quite possibly +++) to get it airworthy again, and even if you did it would be very expensive. Fuel burn on those things is about 2000 gph, and Jet-A is currently ~$6/gal, so you're looking at $12k/hr just in fuel expenses. Maintenance will probably at least double that hourly figure.

ballard 13y ago
I can vouch for this. A friend has a mig that's going to a museum, and they're gonna restore it to museum cond. FYI never tell or show anyone you own a jet in storage or it will be likely robbed of flight / nav gear. High security storage is a must.
- exDM69 13y ago
  > FYI never tell or show anyone you own a jet in storage or it will be likely robbed of flight / nav gear. High security storage is a must. Is there a story behind this? If it is interesting, can we hear it?

650REDHAIR 13y ago

I volunteered for an Air Force museum and even non-operational/replica parts were expensive and hard to find for aircraft. I would imagine getting this certified/flyable would cost nearly as much as the purchase price when the dust settles.

anigbrowl 13y ago
Seems like a 3d printing niche opportunity.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- TylerE 13y ago
  Not really. It would NEVER be certified for US commercial operations as the US FAA does not have a reciprocal airworthyness agreement with the Soviets[1]. FAA certification - required for commercial use (but not experimental, which is how old warbirds are generally operated these days) would take years and probably $100M+, fi the FAA would ever even consider it. [1] Ironically, we DO have such an agreement with Poland, so in some cases (but not the TU-95), aircraft built in Poland have a path towards approval for US ops that those built elsewhere in the USSR wouldn't have.
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    Oh sorry - it was the bit about non-operational/replica parts that caught my eye. I agree that even the best laser sintering is probably way below the mechanical tolerances required for aeronautics applications, but it seems like it would be a great way to build models and do things like engine cutaways etc.
  - wwosik 13y ago
    Ekhm, let me correct that slip: " in Poland [...] elsewhere in the USSR". Poland was fortunately never part of the USSR and hopefully never becomes even in USSR 2.0