CAA: GA News, "Old Soviet MiGs find new life as private jets in U.S."

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Old Soviet MiGs find new life as private jets in U.S.
By Dave Hirschman
Cox News Service


The quiet country airport in Gadsden, Ala., is an odd place to find a fleet
of fighter planes that once flew for the Soviet Union or its allies.

But scores of former military planes built in Russia, Poland and the Czech
Republic have been sent to the northern Alabama town, where they are
refurbished, fitted with American cockpit instruments and sold to
thrill-seeking private pilots, usually for less than the cost of a new
single-engine Cessna.

International Jets, a company founded and operated by retired real estate
broker Rudy Beaver, hired several former Soviet pilots to teach Westerners
how to fly the sleek planes and an East German mechanic to oversee a
10-person maintenance crew.

The company touts the Cold War leftovers as rugged, reliable and fast. The
most popular model, the L-39 Albatross trainer jet, has a top speed of more
than 450 mph.

"A few years ago, the thought that someday your average American pilot would
be able to own and fly their own Eastern Bloc fighter would have seemed
absurd," Beaver said. "Now, it happens all the time."

More than 400 former Warsaw Pact fighters are registered in the United
States. They range from Korean War-era MiG-15s to supersonic MiG-21s.

In Atlanta, Careers in Aviation, a volunteer group that seeks to entice kids
into aerospace professions, operates a pair of L-39s built in the Czech
Republic.

"This is a historical opportunity to own and fly airplanes that no one ever
thought would be available in the West," said Shawn Raker, an Atlanta-based
Delta Air Lines pilot who is president of the organization. The group keeps
its planes - painted red, white and blue - at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in
metro Atlanta. Another L-39 is at Cobb County-McCollum Field in Marietta,
Ga.

Prices range from $30,000 for a single-seat MiG to more than $300,000 for a
two-seat L-39. The planes are frequently offered on E-Bay, Tradeaplane and
other mainstream sales channels.

Some of the biggest expenses come after the planes are purchased. Insurance
can top $10,000 a year depending on a pilot's background and qualifications,
and a gas-guzzling jet like a MiG-15 can burn 350 gallons of fuel an hour.

Raker said the planes are a bargain. He compares the Eastern Bloc jets to
World War II-era P-51 Mustangs and other American fighters that were sold at
surplus for a few thousand dollars in the 1950s but now command prices of
more than $1 million each.

"When you look at the planes themselves, the craftsmanship is superb and the
engineering is excellent," Raker said. "We haven't had any maintenance
problems at all with our planes. They're extremely reliable."

Careers in Aviation displays its planes at air shows around the country and
takes financial backers for rides. The group plans to award about $100,000
this year in scholarships.

"The L-39 is perfect for our purposes because it's a sleek fighter-type
aircraft that gets people's attention," Raker said. "It costs a lot to
operate because it burns about 200 gallons of jet fuel an hour. But even
that isn't much compared to similar U.S. planes that would sell for a couple
million dollars and burn even more."

Beaver, the Alabama jet importer, says his most popular planes have been
L-39s built from 1971 to 1991 in Russia and the Czech Republic.


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