Went for service today In Reus LERS, and finally saw the above aircraft in action. Well, ‘action’ meaning 5 guys sweating to try to get (and fail) to get the thing to work..
Wonderfully restored. A Spanish ‘Hawker Hunter’ I guess.
Spoke to the pilot who was planning to fly her today, but had to abort. After start up, an attentive person spotted a very slight gas leak. Turned out to be a minuscule crack in a fuel tube.
A real aviation nut and very pleasant guy, this pilot. Told me he lived 3 hours away, and so he spends 6 hours driving back and forth, and then flies (rents) her for about 30 minutes, which is what he can afford, at 600 liters/hr. This was not one of his best days, spending the whole day and then just creating some noise and 100 odd liters on the ground. “ Well, at least my wife’s happy getting rid of me for the day”.
Apparently these machines are a real maintenance nightmare. I suppose we all here are well off compared to this.
Very interesting. I’ve never seen one but like a lot of Franco-era Spanish planes it has intriguing technical and development background…. I recently bought an original fold-out 1950s brochure for the CASA Tigre engine from a book seller in Spain for a somewhat extreme price 
The flying and maintenance situation described for the Saeta sounds similar to that for a Fouga that’s based near me (same engines I guess). The upside in that case is that two partners bought it for $25K each and they get their jet fuel at FBO cost. Still, as owners it’s good to have another plane for utility!
I had a chat with one of the guys while visiting the aeronautical museum at Barcelona airport, just in front of the corporate terminal. I was surprised at the relatively small hourly cost of 1200€, considering it’s a vintage fighter jet. They’re real enthusiasts, organizing and open doors day one sunday per month in LELL. They have a Polikarpov flying, among other things. Very interesting stuff!
Back in November 1975 I flew my recently acquired Bolkow Monsun from White Waltham to Teneriffe to attend a business conference. How easy it was to land a light aircraft at airports now reserved for CAT! After business was done I thought it might be interesting to do a day trip to see the Sahara, and as the country now known as Western Sahara was then Spanish territory flight planned VFR to El Ayoune.
Despite ATC clearance for the flight and a reasonably welcoming controller at El Ayoune with taxi directions to follow a military jeep I soon got the message I wasn’t welcome. They parked me on the pan opposite a flight line of, maybe, 12 Saeta HA-200’s of the Spanish Air Force that looked as though they were ready to do business.
Lots of hassle with the Spanish Legion military who were running the base ( they made the French Foreign Legion look like kindergarten kids) and then locked me up for the night in a very unpleasant room until I had to go to see the “Commandante” the following morning to plead my case that I was simply a tourist.It turned out that the King of Morocco had lead a march of 300k military and civilians to take the territory while I was sunning myself in Teneriffe. Hence their suspicions about an Englishman flying in to the main Spanish Air Force base there. Eventually it was agreed I could flight plan for Lanzarote, and I got out of there fast!
The HA-200 I think had twin Marbore VIc engines, which I had in the Parisjet I owned for 15 years. I planned 750litres for the first hour, climbing to FL230 and the 550 litres for the remaining 90 minutes.
Marchettiman wrote:
I had in the Parisjet I owned for 15 years. I planned 750litres for the first hour, climbing to FL230 and the 550 litres for the remaining 90 minutes.
You had a Paris Jet? Wow. Now that calls for a full Pilots Report, in a different thread however!
I recall one of those in Switzerland many years ago and was drooling all over it several times when it was parked on the apron at ZRH.
