Great concept, but given the fickle nature of government contracts and
option years ("Sorry, we're a little behind on the paperwork ... can you
just fold up shop for a quarter or two?") somebody could lose their ass
as
well as their sanity in this line of work. But a chance to fly
single-seat
A-4's as adversary ... what a briar patch.

Somebody has already "los[t] their ass," and it wasn't Pearson or McBride
or the
investors... A few weeks ago one of the ATSI pilots punched out of an A-4
over
the Great Salt Lake. He was too low when he went out.

A good buddy of mine works at ATSI; he did a lot of the repair work on the
Israeli A-4s and flew a couple of them back to the US. He's 60 and has
nothing
better to do, but it's a risky business...

Actually, I was thinking of it more in a financial and figurative sense.
Sorry to hear of the loss. I had a very good friend who became disoriented
in a desert engagement and left a long flat ground scar where his A-4
impacted.

Adversary work is incredibly rewarding. The single seat A-4 is my favorite
ride. But the obstacles to making this a week-in week-out viable program
are significant.

R / John