" does that F16 has CAPS like SF50?"
Their ejection seats will be properly maintained, unlike some military aircraft in private ownership.
I would pay any money to fly that 
“ Their ejection seats will be properly maintained, unlike some military aircraft in private ownership”
Referring to this?
Why is there such a market for military fighter jets to fly civilian? What’s next? Civilian nuclear subs?
Snoopy wrote:
Why is there such a market for military fighter jets to fly civilian? What’s next? Civilian nuclear subs?
Nah, not as much fun 
A friend just bought an L39 because it’s a lot less hassle to race at Reno. Just clean the windshield and fly versus propellers falling off (literally) and lots of overboosted engines blowing up.
Mainly around here it’s L39s and Marchetti trainer jets, which are actually pretty fun sport planes if you can pay for the gas.
L39 etc.. makes sense, a fun plane.
F16s however? Rephrasing: Why is there a market for contractors to fly civilian fighter jets for military duties (target services etc..)? Sounds like Blackwater with wings (Blackwings, anyone?). ;)
Why is there a market for contractors to fly civilian fighter jets for military duties (target services etc..)?
The government thinks it is cheaper to pay inflated commercial rates than vote an appropriation to maintain a large cadre of trained pilots, hardware and support crew on the payroll for DET.
Anyone who has gone through the mind-numbing exercise of getting DoD approval to import military hardware will realise why it’d be much cheaper for the government to re-import whatever it wants directly.
“Referring to this”
No. I’d never heard of that one. I’ve heard of ex-military jets with deactivated ejection seats, in the UK. South African Lightning accident?
I think the F16 etc pilots are ex-military. Seniority and promotion might make service personnel more expensive
I wonder if the contractors concerned have it easier importing their hardware compared to others?
Maybe I was wrong about ejection seats.
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=8ebbab78-d8d2-42e1-a362-cffec3d2c6c3
I think the F16 etc pilots are ex-military. Seniority and promotion might make service personnel more expensive.
They are ex military, but a contractor is paid more than a service personnel (because you have to bake in variability and commercial margin in the figures).
I wonder if the contractors concerned have it easier importing their hardware compared to others?
Not really, they still have to get DoD approval. Which is a waste of money if you think about it – the Treasury is paying a private entity to come up with an approval dossier, then is paying DoD to review the dossier to basically approve a purchase that only happens because the state sees a need for it (so DoD could just as well execute a purchase directly like it did our F5s without wasting time and money on the two previous steps).
To paraphrase Silvaire, one can only praise the strongly federalist and lean-goverment american DNA that allows “we the people” to have a strong say on the matter, keep Washington in check and prevent such wastage of taxpayer money.
