Collection Gift Guide: The Red Menace
12/01/2004
AIR USAA combat pilot will tell you that speed is life. For the rest of us, though, the need for speed is not about survival as much as it is a way of keeping score. We pursue speed relentlessly, as though our accomplishments are measured by the speed of our personal computers, boats, automobiles, and aircraft. Ask anyone. Faster is better–and more fun.
For achieving speed, nothing beats supersonic military jet aircraft. It is every pilot’s dream to strap on a jet fighter, push the throttle, pull some g’s, and punch through Mach 1. It is nearly–though not entirely–impossible to acquire a current frontline fighter. Don Kirlin’s curriculum vitae includes time spent as a naval aviator, an airline pilot, and president of the Classic Jet Aircraft Association; as the president of Air USA, he currently sells and services Eastern Bloc military jets. An unrepentant velocity addict, Kirlin understands quite well the thirst for speed: He possesses a MiG-21, the most widely used supersonic fighter aircraft in the world. Desiring something even faster, he has acquired a pair of low-time MiG-29 “Fulcrum” aircraft, the current Russian frontline air superiority fighter.
These aircraft don’t just offer fractional airspeed improvements of another hundred mph only to sneak over Mach 1. Consider that the top speed of a Citation X, the swiftest of the civilian single-pilot jets, is Mach .94, while that of the MiG exceeds Mach 2.3 at altitude, or you can blow out your neighbor’s beachfront windows with a sea-level pass at Mach 1.06–over 800 mph, for those keeping score. The MiG-29 can climb to 65,000 feet in one minute as the Tumanski turbofans incinerate 600 gallons of Jet A in the afterburner. This prodigious thrust accelerates the MiG past Mach 1, in a vertical climb. The MiG is the performance equivalent of our F-16, but it is said to possess superior low-speed maneuverability.
Both of Kirlin’s MiG-29s are assembled, but not flyable at the moment. Although they appear a little shopworn, they are exceptional aircraft in excellent condition. One has only 40 hours on its airframe; the other, about 100 hours. They are complete and undamaged, and Air USA carries a supply of spare parts, including engines and all-important ancillary components. The aircraft have even been registered with the FAA and have assigned “N” numbers.
Kirlin plans to have them flying in about a year, using his team of Russian and Czech factory-trained technicians to do the work. Of course, for a buyer who wants the fastest civilian registered aircraft available, this timetable puts him well ahead of the game, because it has taken years for the planes to reach the United States. After being disassembled, crated, and loaded onto a train for what should have been a two-month journey to the United States, they were impounded at nearly every border they reached. Four years later, a heavy Antonov transport aircraft was hired, and the crated MiGs, precious spares, and support equipment were spirited on board and flown over the troublesome borders. After successfully negotiating U.S. Customs, they finally landed at Air USA’s Quincy, Ill., headquarters.
Kirlin has acquired, refurbished, certificated, and sold more than 40 L-39 jets and two MiG-21s. A crew of six works nonstop to ensure aircraft are delivered on time and within budget. Besides the depth and experience of Air USA’s service personnel and its spares inventory, the company can offer training in every jet that it sells, including the MiG-29. An FAA-certified MiG-29–the fastest civilian registered aircraft anywhere–can be had for much less than the price of a stripped Gulfstream V, and the MiG-29 is more than twice as fast and 10 times as much fun.
Air USA
217.885.3800
www.air-usa.com