You asked me to talk you out of it so I'll try.

Any time I've ever bought a "toy" that's not appreciating in value (collectible) I lose interest very, very fast.

I could only go up in a plane and fly loopty loops a couple times before I'd be bored to death...... But that's me. Everyone is into different stuff.

Now for the safety argument...... I'm not "going out" in a 40 year old Yugoslavian (whatever) fighter jet. It has "stereotype" and "told ya so" written all over it. If you want to make a living flying and owning an L39, I get it. But just to have it as a random toy I think you're asking for it. Also, look at the liability aspect regarding the "ejection seats". You eject and kill a bunch of folks on the ground? You gonna live with that? I couldn't.

I have never flown in a L39 and I know nothing about them. I'm not being judgmental or scrutinizing your piloting skills. Guys with 20K hours get kill themselves in airplanes too. I'm a strong believer in Murphy's Law....

Yup, and I spoke with Mika Faraldi several times on the phone before he did his "thing". It's just too much of a risk.

L29= Underpowered. Lost a friend in his a few years ago. it was fun and redStar group was great.

L39=More power for maneuvers. But,,,,,,,,the guy that checked my buddy out in his 29 died in a 39.

So what is it with these birds. Very tempting.
I say buy another Eclipse and paint it "camo"

Be safe in whatever you decide, but they have me very leery now.

Good luck

Biggest thing I take away from the original post is the idea of using it as a short haul cross country machine. Not sure I could imagine a worse match of plane and mission.

All that said ... There are places that rent L39s. Take the eclipse out to play with them 2-3 weekends and see if you still want one.

It is all about attitude... If you fly it with a professional attitude and operate it like you would a biz jet, there will be no problems. Except that is against the ops limitations.

If you are looking for a adrenaline rush, you will end up dead.

You say that you intend to fly it like a Biz-jet. So what's the point? you have one...

Unless your an ex fighter jock I wouldnt do it. A friend of mine as one and he use it to commute between airport as he does gps surveys and approach flight check.

It was in the shop for 3-4 months and a bundle of money the last time I talked to him.
He offered me a ride in it but after Mike Firarldi tread and all the crashes in these I declined.

On his the ejection seats are inop, im not sure you can have these active, not in Canada anyway. Not sure id want to deadstick this jet.

A buddy of mine has a L29 & L39. Both look pretty nice in his hangar parked next to all the other toys (I suspect) he got bored with. He recently bought a Huey - now that's a cool toy!

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Go buy it and have fun see if you can find one with 50 cal machine guns then fly over the ocean and blast away into the waves..

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The report states Faraldi was flying the British Aircraft Corp. 167 Strikemaster

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The report states Faraldi was flying the British Aircraft Corp. 167 Strikemaster

Mike wasn't in an L39.

Mike was a very smart, dedicated family guy. He was a careful pilot. He did all the training in that plane he was required to do. From what I remember, there was no malfunction associated with his crash. %#$@ happens.

Someone already beat me to it. You gotta have an ejection seat or you are playing with fire IMHO.

If you think you will just "bail out," go try this maneuver JUST ONCE at 1G. The canopy weighs well over 100# and the few of us figher guys that tried all decided we'd skip the L39 checkouts unless we has the seat and canopy ready to go.

Good luck.

Ntsb report gives significant detail. Stall/spin from low altitude, high G maneuvering.

If I were you, I would sign up for block time in an L39.
You will need that any way to get approved to fly one.
After learning to fly it and getting that experience, if you still want one go for it.
I would bet you will get your thrill and decide to simply rent one after that instead of owning one.
Those things are never as dynamic as you imagine.
They look cool and that's why think they people want one.

Jason,

The problem is, lots of %#$@ seems to happen to otherwise safe sane pilots when they are flying high-performance junkyard jets....

These airplanes are a lot like ultra-lights. You buy one, and learning to fly it is an adrenaline rush. Both are pretty easy to fly so that thrill wears off pretty quickly. Then pilots either find new things to do with them that bring back the rush or they get bored and sell them.

If they keep chasing the adrenaline high soon they will exceed the capabilities of the pilot or the aircraft. In the case of ultra-lights it is usually the airframe, in jets it is often the pilot, either way, the results are the same... A funeral....

We have the same problem in the piston Warbirds, but there are fundamental differences...

The piston airplanes are not as easy to fly. Two hundred hours of T-6 time is the general threshold to get in a piston fighter, and that means several years of dedication to the business.

The rush of flying a Mustang or a B-25 is a drug that wears off pretty quickly, but the thrill of seeing the look on a veteran's face when they see and touch an airplane they haven't been close to in decades is a drug that never gets dull....

Here's the deal, I tell this to people all the time, "It ain't about the airplane. The airplane is a tool we use to tell a story..." Telling the story is the rewarding part of the work.

So unless you can come up with a good story to tell, old airplanes are expensive, difficult and somewhat dangerous and they get boring or deadly quickly....

That's a common theme in these old jet warbird accidents. I investigated a double fatality in an L-29 that had been upgraded with a P&W J60-5 engine. The pilot, who was a former Naval Aviator (F-14's I think) and the curator of the Tillamook Air Museum, was flying a photo shoot of a Grumman Wildcat with a cameraman on board. He lost it maneuvering at low altitude. http://dms.ntsb.gov/aviation/AccidentRe ... 120000.pdf