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Interesting figures about L-39 jet trainers. The US currently has 242 in private ownership ("N" tail number), involved in 14 fatal accidents since 1998. So a pr
by throwaway_yy2Di 12y ago
Interesting figures about L-39 jet trainers. The US currently has 242 in private ownership ("N" tail number), involved in 14 fatal accidents since 1998. So a private L-39 would have had a >5% risk of killing its pilot to date, or about 0.4%/year.
http://www.l39.com/content/incidents http://www.l39.com/content/incidents
For comparison, the motorcycle fatality rate is about 0.1% per registered motorcycle per year,
http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/special_reports_and_issue_briefs/special_report/2009_05_14/html/entire.html http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub...
- callmeed 12y agoDoes the L-39 not have an ejection seat standard? After skimming a few of the reports, at least 2 of the accidents were due to racing or aerobatics. I imagine that carries somewhat of a risk regardless of aircraft. I've always dreamed of owning an L-39 since that can be had for around $200K http://www.internationaljets.com/jetaircraft.html http://www.internationaljets.com/jetaircraft.html
- throwaway_yy2Di 12y ago"After skimming a few of the reports, at least 2 of the accidents were due to racing or aerobatics." Yes, I should have said this explicitly. The risk isn't caused by it being poorly-engineered, but that as an aerobatic fighter jet it will tend to attract risk seekers. So I guess it'd be analogous to, say, crash rates involving sports cars.
- VLM 12y ago"but that as an aerobatic fighter jet it will tend to attract risk seekers" Not just risk but showing off. In a similar manner most crashes involving home builts / experimentals is low and slow showing off. Its the cessna 172 pilots that croak because of get-home-itis and bad weather and bad navigation and related CFIT. Its hard to get killed at 8000 ft other than maybe catastrophic disassembly (well, here, where the highest mountain is only 1600 ft...). But seemingly anything happens at 100 feet and you're pretty much dead, unless you're lucky. Low altitude flight is very much like drunk driving which is safe at least 99.99% of the time if not more, but if anything ever happens oh boy are you in trouble...
- Serow225 12y agoI believe that it's not uncommon for the ejection seats in private L-39's to be inop, my guess would be due to the cost to keep them maintained and/or that the consequences of a poorly maintained system ejecting spontaneously or accidentally is worse than just having them disabled. I know that when I had the chance to fly the second seat in one, I had to wear a parachute and was instructed on how to pop the canopy and bail out in an emergency situation.
- Serow225 12y agoHere's a picture of the exact L-39 that I got to fly in! https://flic.kr/p/21HC4V https://flic.kr/p/21HC4V
- Serow225 12y agoSee my other post about maintenance/repair costs. And they suck down Jet-A like it's going out of style, from what I remember a 30-minute aerobatic joy ride required about $500 of fuel (and that was 5 years ago when avgas was a lot cheaper per gallon). When you went full throttle you could literally watch the fuel gauge needle slowly drop...
- nostrademons 12y agoYou can buy a Mig-21 for anywhere from $50-150K: http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/aircraft-for-sale/MIKOYAN-MIG-21-UM/1967-MIKOYAN-MIG-21-UM/1163877.htm http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/aircraft-for-sale/M... http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/airplane-mig-21um.html http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/airplane-mig-21um.... http://www.globalplanesearch.com/usa/aerobatic/jets/mig/ http://www.globalplanesearch.com/usa/aerobatic/jets/mig/ However, I've heard that hiring a pilot to teach you how to fly it without killing yourself runs about $2000/hour, and without the training, your chance of killing yourself on the first flight is pretty close to 100%.
- Serow225 12y agoYeah, but the problem with any of these old/'affordable' ex-fighter/trainer jets is that when something of any significance breaks, you might as well just walk away from the plane because fixing it will cost more than what you paid for the thing.
- jrockway 12y agoThen again, the people that buy 'affordable' fighter jets can probably afford to have them repaired.
- ProAm 12y agoYeah, buy two of them, one for parts, one to drive around town.
- mpweiher 12y agoAlso: affordability stops if you actually want to fly the thing. Most of these jets will typically be ~ $1000/hour to fly just for fuel.
- Crito 12y agoShit, at that cheap it is almost in "lawn ornament" territory even if it breaks.
- RobotCaleb 12y agoCoincidentally there was one parked outside my office window today. http://i.imgur.com/aBTSR75.jpg http://i.imgur.com/aBTSR75.jpg
- Serow225 12y agoWhere do you work and what do you do? :)
- RobotCaleb 12y agoI'm just a software guy building this: https://oil.newfrontsglobal.com/ https://oil.newfrontsglobal.com/ The office just happens to be right on a flight line. :)
- prescindor 12y agoMight that be APA? With the Rockies in the background?
- RobotCaleb 12y agoIndeed it is. You from around here?
- prescindor 12y agoNo. I'm from the Boston area. But my sister and mother live in Colorado Springs. Of late, I've noticed it's become cheaper and more convenient to fly into DEN and drive down to the Springs, instead of booking a flight right into COS. So, I've become more familiar with Denver as a result.