Airborne_Again wrote:
They are sponsored by the Swedish Air Force and SAAB. The owner varies. A quick check in the Swedish civil aircraft register shows that SE-DXN is owned by the Defense Museum (which is a civil government agency separate from the Air Force). Other aircraft are owned by by the Defense Museum, SAAB and possibly other parties. The aircraft are all operated by the independent association Swedish Air Force Historic Flight.
So they are de facto a gov run op like I said. All the pilots and maintainers are ex military, too.
Ultranomad wrote:
From the civilian standpoint, most of these are VFR-only machines.
The Starfighter at Bodø had the radar tube removed to install a GTN-750.
That, and a new intercom was the only major change on the panel AFAIK. A starfighter is pretty far out even as jet fighters go. It was the first fighter to get an INS for instance. I think they removed that as well. It hardly flies at all at 250 knots, so to get from A to B, IFR at 30-40k feet is the only practical solution I would think.
Isaacman’s MIG had a GTN-750 and G3X installed front and back. Plus the best artic paintjob I’ve ever seen.
noplanB wrote:
So they are de facto a gov run op like I said.
Well, if you feel that anyone who is sponsored by a government is “government run” run then sure. There is not much point in discussing that. (Btw: SAAB is not government-owned.)
It’s probably a bit similar to the Army Cubs and Saab Safirs we have in Norway. The army used a lot of Cubs, and the Safirs were used as trainers by the air force. When they stopped operating them, 30 something years ago, they all became assets of the (state owned) aviation museum in Bodø. The museum had no means or space to operate, or store a whole bunch of Cubs and Safirs. What happened was they all was “given” to clubs around the country, but with a string attached that they could only be sold to other clubs. They were still owned by the museum. Later this changed, so now they are fully owned by each club, and can be sold as any other aircraft. I mean, the maintenance costs during the last 30 years, in particular on the Safirs, surpasses the market price manyfold.
The Starfighter is also a bit special. It has been standing in the bunker for years, a museum piece that no one has space for. The museums all have a Starfighter, and have no need for more. Two others were sold to the USA, and are flying there as part of Starfighters.net They are a commercial company working for NASA mostly by the looks of it, and on shows. Together with the one in Bodø, they are the only flying starfighters in the world.
A point here is that all old military jet fighters are essentially scrap metal, museum pieces at best. At least real fighters, not smaller and simpler trainer types since they are more usable. The net worth is zero. It’s only through human imagination and fascination for the particular aircraft they can be kept flying, at huge costs.
