How can someone afford this?

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evapilotaz

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I believe the Pilot said 55 Gallons per hour to fly. :yikes:
How does one have the money to fly and maintain something like that.
It was a beast of an airplane.
 

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You have to have a large tax base you can tax.
 
A pilot friend of mine over at United owns one. Of course he has two partners as well but he loves it. Conducts transition training in it to help defray the costs of ownership.
 
1. Silicon Valley.
2. If you can afford the plane, you can afford the gas.
3. I like the plane, but if I were endowed like John Holmes in the financial sense, I would probably choose a different plane to flaunt my aviary pretentiousness. A Pilatus Porter is roughly in the same price range and it can carry hella coolers of beer plus some hoochies.
 
What a funny question. This here is America, land of opportunity. Down here in the land of trust fund billionaires, the cost of owning a T-28 would be lost in the noise.

We just had one of these guys bid and pay $135,000 for the RIGHT to build a hangar at our airport. That bought him nothing -- no land, no lease, no structure -- just the RIGHT to build. While the rest of us languish on a waiting list for hangars, he jumped right to the top, and the city fathers rubbed their hands in glee.

The wealth of some people is absolutely breath-taking. Unfathomable, really.
 
Well, I'm drooling over turbines now. That's 60gal/hr. Can I afford it? Yes, just about. It means I'll have to spend a little less on other things, but hey, I love aviation and I love flying. So to me it's worth it.
 
Seems like when it comes to aviation budgets, most of the ultra-wealthy don't even see the line item on their annual statement.

Then there are the lesser mortals like most of us who allocate a certain amount of money to the aviation budget, and some to the car budget, and some to the vacation home budget, etc. We get what we can. Of course, it's possible to shift the money around and get the most aviation cool toy in the world, but a lot of other budgets have to suffer.

I'm partial to a Aerostar for the past year or two. Sure - I could write the check, but then my mission doesn't support it and my other hobbies would suffer. So, for the guy who wants to ride around in a semi-warbird, and doesn't mind the cost of fuel and oil no problem.
 
I didn't ask the pilot any personal questions like "dude how do you afford that beast" He was an older gentleman I'm guessing late 60's yr. Once he parked it was a swarm of people looking at the airplane. It was like he was some famous Rock Star or something.

I wish I got that kind of attention when parking the C172 I'm flying. LOL
 
Its called being succesful. And the plane is probably owned on paper by a company that the pilot owns and is deductable.

Not accusing anyone here but being succesful and making a LOT of money is not a sin. Might be a burden to some though.
 
55gph. Specs show 230mph cruise speed so it gets better than 4miles per gal. Some SUV's and RV's (road kind) don't do much better than that and they don't do 230mph or look near as cool.

Brian
 
About 10 years ago I met a guy who flies an A-1 Skyraider. IIRC, he said the takeoff and climb fuel flow was something like 200 gph.
 

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Jeff Oslick said:
About 10 years ago I met a guy who flies an A-1 Skyraider. IIRC, he said the takeoff and climb fuel flow was something like 200 gph.
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Sure looks like the one sitting in the Fargo ND air museum. At least it was when I saw it.
 
Sac Arrow said:
1. Silicon Valley.
2. If you can afford the plane, you can afford the gas.
3. I like the plane, but if I were endowed like John Holmes in the financial sense, I would probably choose a different plane to flaunt my aviary pretentiousness. A Pilatus Porter is roughly in the same price range and it can carry hella coolers of beer plus some hoochies.
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Trust me. the Porter isn't going to be nearly as fun. :D
 
Easy to afford via hard work (with a little luck) and/or inheritance.
 
I know of an aviation family where the wife bought one for her husband's birthday! :D Then he got into air racing and moved up from there... She picked her parents wisely.
 
KSMooniac said:
I know of an aviation family where the wife bought one for her husband's birthday! :D Then he got into air racing and moved up from there... She picked her parents wisely.
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I'd say that guy shopped wisely!
 
evapilotaz said:
I didn't get the tail number in the Pict. I could have looked it up the ownership.
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@David ...I blew the pic up ...US Navy BuNo (Bureau Number) is
140492 ...means to me the aircraft is at least over 50 years old! That's because my log book shows me flying that "beast" on May 4, 1962 ...logged seven Field Carrier Landings in Pensacola. Then, same day, went out to the ship (USS Antietam) in a different T-28, and got my first eight carrier landings to qualify.

Then it was off to Corpus Christi TX, and complete advanced training in the Douglas Skyraider (AD-6) ...aka the Spad. That was a "beast"!!

Good days!!
 
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I'm glad someone can afford to fly it or otherwise it'd be beer cans by now.
 
When I started flying, I got exposed to a whole new world of money that is out there. depending on the airport, sometimes I pull up in my mooney and feel like the Sanford and Son plane out in the ramp.
 
rondebmar said:
@David ...I blew the pic up ...US Navy BuNo (Bureau Number) is
140492 ...means to me the aircraft is at least over 50 years old! That's because my log book shows me flying that "beast" on May 4, 1962 ...logged seven Field Carrier Landings in Pensacola. Then, same day, went out to the ship (USS Antietam) in a different T-28, and got my first eight carrier landings to qualify.

Then it was off to Corpus Christi TX, and complete advanced training in the Douglas Skyraider (AD-6) ...aka the Spad. That was a "beast"!!

Good days!!
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Really you flew that exact airplane. Cool.
 
More power to them,if they can afford it. This is a great country. They're having a good time and preserving History.
 
Remember having one of these taxi in to our FBO years ago when I worked the line there. Pilot hopped out and told us to top off the oil and check the gas.

Always thought they were great airplanes.
 
Heck, I owned a T-28 when I was eleven years old.

cox%20t-28.jpg


:D :D
 
evapilotaz said:
I believe the Pilot said 55 Gallons per hour to fly. :yikes:
How does one have the money to fly and maintain something like that.
It was a beast of an airplane.
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LOL, that's nothing, I used to tow a 1000hp tender behind a 4000hp yacht. On a day when the yacht was repositioning and the tender was out playing our daily fuel bill would be over €20,000. Annual maintenance runs around $3+MM. then every 5 years or so there's another $10MM in refit costs. You seem to not understand how much money is out there in some people's hands.
 
rondebmar said:
@David ...I blew the pic up ...US Navy BuNo (Bureau Number) is
140492 ...means to me the aircraft is at least over 50 years old! That's because my log book shows me flying that "beast" on May 4, 1962 ...logged seven Field Carrier Landings in Pensacola. Then, same day, went out to the ship (USS Antietam) in a different T-28, and got my first eight carrier landings to qualify.

Then it was off to Corpus Christi TX, and complete advanced training in the Douglas Skyraider (AD-6) ...aka the Spad. That was a "beast"!!

Good days!!
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Wow, how coincidental is that! Love it when people happen upon planes the flew years ago and they're still flying!
 
A friend of mine just bought an L39. A short "local" pleasure flight in it easily burns 1amu worth of fuel. If the weather wasn't crap here today, I'd likely be getting a ride in it this afternoon. Maybe next Saturday.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
B-17G burns 200gph in cruise.
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Which is why there aren't any privately owned B-17s anymore. (At least, I can't think of any in the U.S. They are all/owned by foundations or museums.)
 
Lots of big money around! Check out TOM Blair, Spitfire Aviation , Easton Maryland, P 51 and a Later model Spitfire, just two of many he owns, ( hint....connected to the health care industry) owns many others here and in England. He's one of many. The fuel cost is nothing to these folks. Or.....jim beasley, Philadelphia, P51 " bald eagle" , very successful lawyer, also an MD. Gas is an afterthought. Based at coatsville, pa. .
 
Neal Howard said:
A friend of mine just bought an L39. A short "local" pleasure flight in it easily burns 1amu worth of fuel. If the weather wasn't crap here today, I'd likely be getting a ride in it this afternoon. Maybe next Saturday.
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The overcast layer never lifted today so it stayed in the hangar. If the weather is clear next Saturday, I'll get to fly in it for real.

l39.jpg
 
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