Are ejection seats allowed in a demilitarized military plane? I thought that they were prohibited in the US with the exception of active military planes. Ejection would be the way to get out of a un salvageable situation. Bailing out of this aircraft or attempting to land dead stick really are not options.

Ultimately, the best use for those two is museum pieces. I can envision one at National Museum of the Air Force and the other at Udvar Hazy Museum. Deep pockets are needed and one who can easily afford them is aviation enthusiast Paul Allen who is close buddy and co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates. A cut rate deal of 7 million can be negotiatied for the pair and they can be flown to their respective museums by USAF pilots or hauled there by truck..

Best Regards, John Morgan

You’re correct, with the hard points removed there is no accommodation for extended range drop tanks.

I guess I should clarify the US restriction, they’re not restricted from flying outside the US, they’re restricted from being sold to any non US buyers – for obvious export reasons.

As for the training required to operate them, the guys at Pride indicated that you’d have to have a minimum of 1000 hours PIC and experience in high G conditions. They said that anyone who had been flying something like the L-39 would easily be able to transition into the Flanker. There is no type rating required to go faster than the speed of sound, you would have to go out into international waters. There is apparently a restriction on Mach if you have a US Pilot Certificate unless you receive special permission from the FAA – not a type rating, but “special permission”. I assume that if you did go faster than sound over international waters and didn’t have special permission, you would be violated when you got back into US airspace.

I’m not sure why the information was taken down, I do know that the jets have not been sold as of this comment.

Hope that helps!

Since the hard points have been removed, does that mean the option to mount external fuel drop-tanks has also been eliminated?

Why the restriction on flying outside the US? I’m guessing that this is because the planes in and of themselves are classified as weapons and export rules apply?

Any idea what the requirements are for a pilot wanting to fly these? I’m assuming at least 1000 hours like the L-39s Pride also sells. Love to hear if some other type rating is necessary to fly supersonic (and given the restrictions on leaving US, where one might be able to actually do so)

Pride’s own info about the Flanker’s has been taken down from their website. Does this mean they have already sold?