I have a long-standing interest in the military side of the Cold War and particularly the aviation aspect. I quite regularly see advertised package trips where you can fly in a military jet and sometimes even take the controls yourself.
While I would deeply love to do this these trips are very expensive, however recently I have a few thousand pounds burning a hole in my pocket (was saving up to buy a car but that’s no longer necessary) and I’m getting increasingly tempted to spend it on one of these once in a lifetime opportunities.
My questions are if anyone has done it before and what they thought of it and more importantly how (if I did decide to proceed) would I choose a reputable seller.
These opportunities mostly (all?) seem to be from Russian organisers and involve Russian/Soviet jets. Which is fine planewise with me but I’d need to be sure the organiser is on the up and up.
There is only one thing I know about this, the pilots will make you vomit. This was told to me by an ex military pilot, he said it’s the fun part for them. I would do it in a heart beat, have no idea why it’s only the Russians do this, liability? Have a blast for me Cheers
Capt Kirk
Seriously, unless you have cash coming out of your behind, I think taking a ride in a MiG-29 or something like that is not a good return on the cost, which seems to be in the area of $20,000 for an hour (more or less). An hour goes by really, really fast in a plane, and that’s a heck of a lot of money for most people.
On the other hand, there’s things like this where you can “dogfight” someone else in an aircraft that is still high performance, and at a much more reasonable cost.
Seriously, unless you’re an experienced pilot, the thrill of being a fighter pilot in a high performance prop plane for an hour doing something thrilling is going to be PLENTY exhilarating for an eighth of the cost, and you will not be 12 times more thrilled by being in a fourth generation fighter.
I have flown several times at the Jet Warbird Training Center in Santa Fe, NM. They have a MiG-15, a T-33, a Fouga, a couple of L-39s and occasionally an Alpha Jet and Hawker Hunter. I’ve flown everything there except the Alpha and the Hunter.
Santa Fe would be a bit of a haul for you, but still cheaper than going to Moscow to fly a modern fighter. And I highly recommend this place because of the quality of instruction. They will not try to make you throw up. Quite the contrary - they want you to have a great experience so you’ll come back.
“What’s a warbird flight worth?” is a question I guess everyone has to answer for themselves, but here is my two cents. I’ve flown in (but not taken the controls of) two military aircraft: A UH-1N Huey helicopter (left front seat) and a B-17. Both were half-hour flights. The costs were $90 for the Huey flight and $425 for the bomber ride. Both were awesome experiences but I personally couldn’t consider paying any higher amount regardless of aircraft type or rarity. For example, I know where I can get a ride in a P51-C Mustang, but the cost is something like 3 grand for the standard half hour, so no. Maybe if it included a chance to strafe a ground target, ha ha.
I know fast jets are incredibly expensive to fly and maintain, so I don’t begrudge the fees, but I don’t see any chance of justifying the cost myself, for what amounts to bragging rights. Hope it’s a hoot if you do do it.
Well, I confess to having spent nearly $300 for a flight in a vintage biplane once upon a time - then again, it was longer than an hour, I flew it from taxi to tie down, and I got to put it in my log book.
What a particular flight in a particular airplane is worth depends on the pilot. Maybe to the OP flying a Cold War era jet is worth several thousand pounds. Or maybe there’s a better way to spend his money.
So, OP - what, exactly do you want? The dogfight experience? A particular airplane? What’s the appeal?
What do you want from this experience?
If you can answer that you might get a better answer from the board.
I’ve been checking and apparently the prices have gone up markedly, when I last looked a couple of years ago it was about £5000 for a flight in a Mig-29 or Mig-25, expensive but justifiable for a once in a lifetime experience. Now it appears to be over the £10’000 mark, which as an ordinary working man is just too much… :\
Broomstick - I’d like a flight in a later Cold War era plane preferable, doesn’t need to be any fancy stuff like aerobatics although that would be a bonus, western or eastern aircraft doesn’t matter but the Russians seem to be the only people who do it. Piston engined planes aren’t really my thing, as fun as I’m sure they are.
Unfortunately though unless the prices come down its just going to remain a dream.
Either that, or you need to find a private owner willing to give you a ride. It’s a different sort of effort than saving up £10,000 but it’s a possible alternative.
I don’t know the European situation, but here in the US there are privately owned jets from that era. Not many, and most I’ve seen are also Russian in origin (often with the Cryrillic placards still in place). US private pilots can not profit from providing a ride but are legally allowed to split operating costs, such as the price of gas. You’d have to do some research on the pilot in question, and he or she would probably want to know something about you, but a lot of people would be willing to give you a ride especially if you’re willing to kick in some of the cost of gas - or just buy them breakfast.
Again, I don’t know the European situation, whether that would mean finding an owner in Russia or if you might wind up going to North America or Australia or something.
I’d start by contacting flight schools and saying you’re interested in airplanes of that era, especially jets (or just jets) and you’d like to meet/speak with owners/pilots of such aircraft. Most pilots are enthusiasts and only too glad to share (let’s be honest, you can’t get a lot of them to STFU about it).
I’ll be honest - it might take a couple years of research and speaking with pilots before you get a a ride. The jets aren’t nearly as common as the prop planes. On the other hand, a sincere interest can take you a long way. You’ll have to do a lot more legwork than going through an established company but it is a potential alternative.
Thanks for the ideas Broomstick, I’ll look into it.
I have relatives in America, some of whom are ex-military (not Air Force though) so I’ll raise the issue with them
Although I’d better say I’d be interested in the NATO side rather than the evil Rooskies…I visited America once when I was about twelve years old and one of my relatives got mildly bent out of shape when I bought a plastic airfix kit of a Tu-26 Backfire…
Not Cold War era but in a couple weeks there is a big WWII arishow not far from me. I went last year but can’t make it this year. This page shows you the prices for flights in WWII warbirds.
