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phrogdriver said:
I’m also a former HT IP and Marine pilot. The 407 is what the Navy needs out of the options likely available. It is the Goldilocks aircraft here.
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Well honestly Godspeed to Bell too - Kathleen S. is a friend... she's since left Bell and Textron.
I'm going to be curious how the SPIFR cert goes on the 407GX because it would fill a huge demand in the industry outside of TH-XX as well. Given all the solid state accelerometers/gyros out there now and how small all these devices are getting - it seems like its possible...
 
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May the best aircraft win...I was mostly taken aback why you said “assuming AB or Leonardo...” I’m genuinely curious why that would be an assumption. Do you just really like Leonardo, or is this a deeper insight you’d be willing to share?
 
phrogdriver said:
May the best aircraft win...I was mostly taken aback why you said “assuming AB or Leonardo...” I’m genuinely curious why that would be an assumption. Do you just really like Leonardo, or is this a deeper insight you’d be willing to share?
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I don't have any special insight - but I've been to a NAVAIR meet and greet here at work and there was some alcohol fueled discussion that lead me to believe the IFR certification was the biggest challenge. So the assumption was me connecting the dots in . my cognitively challenged head. I don't know what I don't know :)
 
ChuckMK23 said:
I don't have any special insight - but I've been to a NAVAIR meet and greet here at work and there was some alcohol fueled discussion that lead me to believe the IFR certification was the biggest challenge. So the assumption was me connecting the dots in . my cognitively challenged head. I don't know what I don't know :)
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Leonardo is going through the exact same process as Bell, certifying a previously VFR aircraft. The FAA rules for singles only changed last year.
 
Maybe I’ll be able to buy one of the helicopters I actually trained in...30 plus years ago. Wonder what they will surplus for?
 
I think that would be like buying a car at a police auction... you might even end up with one that's been crashed more than once. Those things have made a lot of omelettes over the years. :p
 
I don’t think the Navy will want the liability of having those aircraft in civilian hands. Maybe under public use certificates for state/local government use, but that’s it.
 
I flew in -58s from Ft Rucker repurposed for LE. Both were fine aircraft. The pilots said one of the two was a sweet flyer, the other one a bit bent. Also flew in a OH-6 with Vietnam War time. Great aircraft. Neighboring county flew an OH-6 and honest to gosh AH-6 from the 160th. Both were very good aircraft. I am guessing the marginal aircraft are not transferred to civilians or non DOD agencies.

As you'd expect, most all the surplus aircraft go to government agencies first. Priority is roughly foreign military transfers, federal. state, local. Local LE gobbles up lots of the ones not taken by an array of Fed agencies. My chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation was looking at a Huey that went to the Department of Agriculture. Non profits like schools and museums come after government agencies. Not much is left for them to choose from. They used to sell to the public via sealed bid. Had a friend 30+ years ago get a T-34B that way. No more. Most civ sales go by large lots for the purposes of parting out. To buy a private -57 or -58 it has to go to an approved holding like LE or a museum, held for a minimum of 2 years, I believe, then sold. Most are sold with restricted or experimental certificates. My sheriff's office sold our OH-6 to an guy in Alaska. He crashed it killing 3 within a year. Weather, CFIT. The range for -58s and -57 is 250K-500K. Range for a single engine Huey is 350K-1mil.
 
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Jim123 said:
I think that would be like buying a car at a police auction... you might even end up with one that's been crashed more than once. Those things have made a lot of omelettes over the years. :p
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More than a few aircraft have been rebuilt around nothing more than the data plate down there...,
 
The Navy never maintained FAA registration nor Airworthiness Certificates on the TH-57. The Army, on the TH-67 did maintain both and carried N numbers throughout their service lives.

When the TH-67 was divested, many were sold directly to private buyers as standard category aircraft!
 
Jim123 said:
I think that would be like buying a car at a police auction... you might even end up with one that's been crashed more than once. Those things have made a lot of omelettes over the years. :p
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We should ask @mad dog. He drives an old police cruiser and shoots an old cop service pistol. I should be able to zip around in a spray can painted TH-57!:cool:
 
ChuckMK23 said:
The Navy never maintained FAA registration nor Airworthiness Certificates on the TH-57. The Army, on the TH-67 did maintain both and carried N numbers throughout their service lives.

When the TH-67 was divested, many were sold directly to private buyers as standard category aircraft!
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NAVAIR is responsible for the airworthiness of USN aircraft via a Flight Clearances, aka, NATOPS.
 
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