Automotive Magazine

Own The Coolest Jet On Your Block

The Russian Sukhoi SU-27 has a top speed of Mach 1.8 (more than 1,300 mph) and has a thrust to weight ratio greater than 1 to 1. That means it can accelerate while climbing straight up. It was designed to fight against the best the U.S. had to offer, and now it can be yours for the price of a mediocre used business jet.

If you read last week’s post about the DIY jet and liked the part about the jet, but not the DIY, we’ve got you covered this week. Assuming of course that part of the reason is you’re a busy person and have more money than time.

If that’s the case you can buy yourself a Sukhoi SU-27 Flanker, a premier piece Soviet era hardware designed to go head-to-head with the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The Mach 1.8 fighter jet is being offered for sale and joins a very elite group of former military fighter jets offered for private ownership in the U.S.

“We have a training program for any prospective owner” says John Morgan, the man behind the beautifully restored pair of Sukhois fresh on the market.

The SU-27 was one of the Soviet Union’s premier Cold War weapons. The same SU-27UB model being offered for sale is flown by the Russian Knights, that nation’s closest equivalent to the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. And John Morgan’s team at Pride Aircraft has ‘zero timed’ both the airframe and engine, meaning you’ll be getting an aircraft that’s just like new.

Of course the prospective owner has to meet some minimum experience requirements, but Morgan says his company can help you out there as well.

There is nothing for sale on the airplane market right now that comes close to these airplanes. Lots of companies talk about how their aircraft feel like a fighter jet, or offer fighter jet like performance. But it’s not very often you can actually buy the fighter jet.

There are a handful of former U.S. supersonic trainer jets like the Northrup T-38 out there, and a few other American and Soviet military jets you can buy such as a Douglas A-4 or MiG 21 that are impressive by just about any measure. But with all do respect, few, if any aircraft offered for sale can come close to one of the best fighter jets made during the Cold War.

Morgan got started in the aviation business restoring North American Aviation T-28’s, an old American trainer that taught pilots to fly at the beginning of the jet age. After several years of success in the piston market, he was curious about some of the former Soviet Bloc jet trainers that were starting to show up after the Soviet Union broke apart in the early 1990s.

For the last 10 years, Morgan has built a reputation importing, restoring and selling Aero Vodochody L-39s, a small primary jet trainer used throughout the Eastern Bloc.

“One of our L-39 customers liked what we did and asked us to manage the Sukhoi project.”

The pair of SU-27s were originally purchased for a company that needed to do some high altitude research (the fighter jets can fly as high as 57,000 feet).

“They needed a platform that could carry sophisticated technology to high altitude” Morgan says.

But the company went bust and the project was terminated. So Morgan decided to finish restoring the jets and put them up for sale.

“We’re in the final stages in getting the last one licensed.”

The jets are actually the ‘UB’ variant of the SU-27 that was not intended for combat and neither of the aircraft are equipped for weapons. But all the performance is still there. Morgan has a pair of former USAF fighter pilots on staff who have been carrying out the flight testing on the restored Russian jets. His chief pilot is a former F-15 driver and says the SU-27 is remarkably the same as an F-15 Eagle (video of his first flight below). Though according to Morgan, the pilot says you get the impression you’re definitely pushing a bigger airplane through the sky.

But who’s going to spend $5 million on a Russian fighter jet?

It’s definitely not for everybody, but if pure performance and excitement is what you’re lookign for, look no further. Tom Haines is the Editor in Chief at Pilot magazine, the publication of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He says if you’re looking for some serious bang for the buck, the SU-27 is hard to beat.

“For what you get from a performance standpoint, and a thrill standpoint, it’s a great value” Haines says, “now putting gas in them is another story.”

There’s always a catch. The $5 million price tag is only the beginning of the cost for a prospective SU-27 pilot. Even if you’re flying around without the afterburners lit, the Flanker burns 1000-1200 gallons per hour. With Jet A currently selling for between $4-5 a gallon, that makes even the gas inhaling Bugatti Veyron seem like moped on the fuel economy scale. We won’t even start to talk about the potential cost of maintenance.

The airplanes have been modernized a bit with some western instruments, radios and GPS navigation. Both are fully IFR equipped with U.S. avionics.

It’s not every day that a fighter jet like this appears in the classifieds. So if you’ve always dreamed of being a fighter pilot, but missed your chance at the military route, this might be your chance to become a Top Gunski without having to deal with the Iceman trying to steal the limelight.

As for the training you might need if you want to own and fly the SU-27? John Morgan recommends some jet experience before starting the training. Of course, he’s happy to teach you in an L-39, much the same way the original pilots of the Sukhoi fighter gained experience back at the peak of the Cold War.

Photos: SU-27 Flying – David Jacobson/AirshowStuff.com, SU-27 Cockpit Buck Wyndham

Video: Pride Aircraft/YouTube

Go to source: 1-800-COLLISION™

Updated January 15, 2010