4 ms·

Does 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

Does 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 ago
I 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 ago
  Here'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 ago
See 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...

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 ago

I 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 ago
Here'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 ago

See 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...