Jet Fighter Ride

One of the Collings Foundation F-4D Phantom II mantenance crew chiefs, Rick
Harris, is a member of the F4Discussion group on Yahoo. He says the act of
Congress that forced the USAF to allow them to have possession of the F-4
also prohibits them from selling rides. The USAF is NOT happy about them
having the aircraft, and the Demil people in charge of making sure current
static displays given to civilian museums will never fly again tried
several times to take back the F-4D while the Collings people were getting
it ready to fly at Davis-Monthan. Collings also was given a TA-4J Skyhawk
by Congress, and the demil folks put up several roadblocks to flying that
aircraft too. I'm not sure if Collings has been able to get that one up and
flying yet.
Another thing you might consider is a trip to Russia to fly a MiG. There
are a couple of tourist agencies as I recall that offer all-included
packages to go to Moscow and fly the MiG of your choice, up to and
including the Su-27 or MiG-25. The prices weren't too out-of-this world,
but a lot more than I'll ever be able to afford. Perhaps you could swing
it though.
Scott Wilson

On 2005-06-22, wrote:
also prohibits them from selling rides. The USAF is NOT happy about them
having the aircraft, and the Demil people in charge of making sure current
static displays given to civilian museums will never fly again tried
several times to take back the F-4D...

The irony of course will be in 30 odd years time, when we have the
full-on Cold War warbird displays with 70s and 80s jet fighters at
airshows - there will be very few US planes. They will all be Soviet!
(Or British - there's quite a few Hawker Hunters, Buccaneers, Lightnings
etc. still flying).

There's at least one MiG-21 at Galveston in Texas (it was being worked
on with the intention of flight when I was based there), and at least a
couple of MiG-17s in the Houston area. Unfortunately, I think they are
all single seat.

If you want a real kick in the pants, there's at least a couple of
English Electric Lightnings (Cold war era interceptors) flying and
giving rides in South Africa. The Lightning has incredible climb
performance. I think there's also a couple of Buccaneers flying in South
Africa, too.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Russia is way out of range for me, thanks! I hope to find something with out
the travel cost.
Ron

wrote:

One of the Collings Foundation F-4D Phantom II mantenance crew chiefs, Rick
Harris, is a member of the F4Discussion group on Yahoo. He says the act of
Congress that forced the USAF to allow them to have possession of the F-4
also prohibits them from selling rides. The USAF is NOT happy about them
having the aircraft, and the Demil people in charge of making sure current
static displays given to civilian museums will never fly again tried
several times to take back the F-4D while the Collings people were getting
it ready to fly at Davis-Monthan. Collings also was given a TA-4J Skyhawk
by Congress, and the demil folks put up several roadblocks to flying that
aircraft too. I'm not sure if Collings has been able to get that one up and
flying yet.
Another thing you might consider is a trip to Russia to fly a MiG. There
are a couple of tourist agencies as I recall that offer all-included
packages to go to Moscow and fly the MiG of your choice, up to and
including the Su-27 or MiG-25. The prices weren't too out-of-this world,
but a lot more than I'll ever be able to afford. Perhaps you could swing
it though.
Scott Wilson