Return of Turboprops to CAS role?

[MIDNJAC]

As a related question, have any turned up in private hands? It seems like it would be kind of fun to motor around in, no?

In addition to the firefighting birds, I have heard that there are jobs flying Broncos and King Airs down in Colombia under DEA contract if you like jungle flying and dodging small arms fire and RPG's. The pay was decent......250k for a fairly short "deployment" if I remember correctly....

 

[scoolbubba]

In addition to the firefighting birds, I have heard that there are jobs flying Broncos and King Airs down in Colombia under DEA contract if you like jungle flying and dodging small arms fire and RPG's. The pay was decent......250k for a fairly short "deployment" if I remember correctly....

Screw. That. No way I want to fly around low twisting FARCs tail, at least not without something faster, smaller, or capable of shooting back at those assholes.

 

[Single Seat]

Screw. That. No way I want to fly around low twisting FARCs tail, at least not without something faster, smaller, or capable of shooting back at those assholes.

That job went away a LONG time ago. They were using OV-10's as spray planes to hose the coca plants with round up. After a few were shot down they switched to A-10's. Haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

 

[MIDNJAC]

That job went away a LONG time ago. They were using OV-10's as spray planes to hose the coca plants with round up. After a few were shot down they switched to A-10's. Haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

Ahh, must have been old info that I heard then. Were these AF A-10's on det/deployment, or some sort of civil operator?

 

[zab1001]

for Christ's sake...

 

[Single Seat]

Ahh, must have been old info that I heard then. Were these AF A-10's on det/deployment, or some sort of civil operator?

Don't remember. Just remember seeing employment advertisements for them on climbto350.com and findapilot.com. They were advertising in the open about the operation, but had some really strange combinations of flight time that they wanted from guys as far as crop dusting AND jet time. This was also 8 years ago.

Edit: Check the link below, there's pages of discussion about I found running a search. Dyncorp was running the employment advertisement, but the link is like 7 years old and doesn't work. Lots of discussion about it though. From reading the discussion, I guess they never got the A-10's they were trying to aquire. http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=16421&highlight=a-10+spraying

 

[Rocketman]

As a related question, have any turned up in private hands? It seems like it would be kind of fun to motor around in, no?

I know I saw a Mohawk at an air show somewhere this year. I think it was at Cherry Point.

I know I saw a Mohawk at an air show somewhere this year. I think it was at Cherry Point.

Yup Cherry Point for sure.

I've seen a couple of broken ones at Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ. There's no way they fly but one could hope that there's enough spare parts to make a flyable OV.

Here is a Mohawk for sale if you don't mind the funky color. VERY NICE though

http://www.controller.com/listings/...OV-1B-MOHAWK/GRUMMAN-OV-1B-MOHAWK/1135205.htm

 

[Junkball]

DAMN that's cheap. F-U, Cirrus, I'd rather have a war-steed that tops out at a blazin' 240 KIAS!

 

[Flash]

Not really private, per se, but they use them for firefighting in Cali. A few years back I was driving to LA from up north during some wildfires. I actually pulled over and watched them work for awhile.

The forest service maintains a fleet of OV-10's as observation platforms for forest fires. I used to see them flying all over the place when my state (CA) makes its yearly attempt to burn to the ground

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection flies 14 OV-10A's as observation aircraft in addition to 23 S-2T tankers. The pilots are contractors, DynCorp is the current contractor. I believe HJ posted a picture of 'Hoser' Satrapa flying one of the S-2T's a few months ago on the picture thread.

Cal Fire Air Program

'Hoser' I

PM Aerial Tanker Story, with 'Hoser' and OV-10's

In addition to the firefighting birds, I have heard that there are jobs flying Broncos and King Airs down in Colombia under DEA contract if you like jungle flying and dodging small arms fire and RPG's. The pay was decent......250k for a fairly short "deployment" if I remember correctly....

They were using OV-10's as spray planes to hose the coca plants with round up. After a few were shot down they switched to A-10's. Haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

The aerial spraying program in Colombia is actually done under the auspices fo the State Department.

State Department Reports

GAO Report from 2004

I have never heard of A-10's even being suggested, much less used, for such a purpose. The contractor for the program was, at least in 2004, DynCorp. So if you want to fly OV-10's DynCorp seems like the way to go though no jobs are listed right now.

 

[ChuckMK23]

We took a bounch of OV-10s on TR accross the Atlantic for Desert Shield/Storm. It was cool watching them deck launch.

I was there when they flew off for Rota - VMO-2 If I remember?

C.

 

[Birdog8585]

We've worked on this one before:
http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144559

Skyraider would be awesome it can haul anything and everything (see below) and I would love to chug-a-lug that bad boy into theater, but I don't think that our young maintainers would like us very much. They should just give the damn A-10C to US!!

 

[Birdog8585]

New COIN Aircraft

I know that the "Iraqi Air Force" was/is looking into similar airframes for COIN ops (AT-6B Texan II, EMB-314 Super Tucano).

I vote AT-6B for us tho. American made. We already use it. Looks cool. Just don't forget about the Marines - oh wait, we're bastards and never get to play with the cool stuff.

EDIT: Just found a recent DEC 9 article here.

 

[Bevo16]

I think that they would be better of going with helos or armed Predators. JMHO.

 

[VetteMuscle427]

I've been gone for a while... but haven't we already had this conversation?

 

[burningfeathers]

we did...in a thread about the ov-10 and mohawk...last week I believe