Helicopter question?

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limbaughfan

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Ok I have a question, I once read on either this forum or TFL (I don't remeber which one) that there was a story in Readers Diegest that stated there are 20 something legally privately owned fully armed Apache helicopters. Is it true that fully armed helicopters are legal, and if so are they NFA?
 
I keep seeing one in the Blue Press and their associated soft p0rn. Nice chain gun, but not "fully armed" by any stretch of the imagination. The chain gun is certainly NFA (manufacturer).
 
I don't doubt it. I hear Dillion owns a few jets with functional rockets. That said, the Apaches are probably not genuine surplus, or at least not the weapons.
 
Although I knew a man that had a P-51 Mustang that still had the six 50 cal installed, I doubt that there are any "fully armed" Apaches in private hands.

Seems that I do remember about someone that owned an Apache. It must have been unbelievably costly to keep in the air.
 
Privately owned? Probably the Saudi family has a few for their own defense if their military tries a coup. :confused:
 
It is possible, but the cost would be extensive. That said--no permit or tax stamp that I'm aware of will ever allow anyone to fire live ammo while airborne over U.S. territory. If you have a multi-million dollar aircraft--and the resources--you can have the live guns, too. Case in point, the p-38 'Glacier Girl' was rescued from a hole in a glacier and all her weapons recovered ---WELL AFTER 1986. Restored, she is stated to have functional arms---now, just how were they registered??? With LOTS of $$$.
 
I haven't seen any privately owned Apaches, and I doubt there are any, but I have seen Cobras for sale. Trade-a-plane has a Cobra project for $37K, and a flyer for $1.35M:

<<< Airframe: 6204 Hrs TTSNEW

Engine: Lycoming T53-L-703 Turbine
1,800 shp (derated to 1500 shp)
TBO Time Remaining: 439 Hrs

Main Rotor Blades: Kaman, 8903 Hrs Remaining

Tail Rotor Blades: 1726 Hrs Remaining

Exterior: Painted in U.S. Army markings from when it first went into U.S. Army operational
service in 1978 with A Company, 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY.

AVIONICS:
VHF-King KY 196
Full military avionics

EQUIPMENT:
Dual flight controls – front seat instructor override controls
Armament Systems (demilled):

* M-197 20MM gun system, converted to butane/oxygen gas firing system for air shows
* Telescopic Sight Unit (TSU) Houseing and gunner’s cockpit sight
* Air Data System (ADS) sensing head
* Head Up Display (HUD) Targeting Sight housing
* 7 shot (2) and 19 shot (2) 2.75’ rocket pods
* Tracor Chaff/Flare Dispenser Housing

MISCELLANEOUS:
New paint, July 2007
Performance: Speed 190 kts Vne, Range: 300 sm
Army maintenance manuals and pilot operating manual (TM-10)
Experimental Exhibition Certified
Annual inspection completed May 2007, current on maintenance program
Complete records on component parts
Click here for link to Component Times

HISTORY of s/n 76-22599:
This is one of the few production TAH-1P Cobras procured by the U.S. Army to serve as Cobra flight transition trainers. The aircraft is unique in that it has a flight control over-ride system in the front seat flight controls for an Instructor Pilot. The TAH-1P Cobra is identical to a fully mission capable Cobra attack helicopter except functional weapon systems were not installed in the production TAH-1P.

The aircraft is painted in its U.S. Army markings when it first went into U.S. Army operational service in 1978 with A Company, 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY. The aircraft latter served with the 7th Combat Aviation Battalion, 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, CA. The aircraft last served as a Cobra transition trainer at the Army Aviation Center, Fort Rucker, AL.

The aircraft has performed extensively since 1999 on the U.S. air show circuit with the Sky Soldiers Demonstration Team of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation (AAHF). >>>

:)
 
ANY helicopter is a very expensive proposition. Everything on the bloody things have time on them. Maintenance alone is astronomical. Not to mention you either have to have an A&P license to work on them or pay big bucks to someone who does.

A buddy of mine buys, rebuilds, and sells surplus ‘copters. What he pays just for parts is positively staggering.
 
If you have a multi-million dollar aircraft--and the resources--you can have the live guns, too. Case in point, the p-38 'Glacier Girl' was rescued from a hole in a glacier and all her weapons recovered ---WELL AFTER 1986. Restored, she is stated to have functional arms---now, just how were they registered???
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The "Glacier Gal's" guns were demilled when the plane was recovered. As I understand it, the sideplates were destroyed and I believe most of the remaining parts were allowed to be brought in as essentially "parts kits."

I don't know that the plane has "live" guns. If it does they are either the original parts rebuilt on pre-'86 sideplates (receivers) or other registered guns of the same type. In either event the owners of the plane were not able to bring the original guns into the country as working guns.
 
In most cases helicopters such as the Cobra or Apache would be "demilled" (essentially destroyed) before being released for sale. The demilling process destroys the airframe and the helicopter is then only good for scrap or possibly a few parts. The same process is used on U.S. fighter aircraft.

From time to time specific aircraft slip through the cracks in the process and get into private hands without being correctly demilled. There was an article in U.S. News and World Report (and possibly reprinted in Readers Digest) a few years ago about how failures in the demill program led to live missles, weapons guidance systems, and other munitions being sold in working condition on the open market. They mentioned a guy out west who wound up with a functional Cobra helicopter and was fighting with the government to keep it.

There is also a T-38 trainer in private hands that was not correctly demilled after it was "written off" following an accident. It is the only flyable T-38 in private hands.

Even if someone can get the helicopter any NFA weapons are STILL NFA weapons. You'd want to destroy that chain gun pronto before the ATF gets on your ass.
 
Trebor: There is also a T-38 trainer in private hands that was not correctly demilled after it was "written off" following an accident. It is the only flyable T-38 in private hands.
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I remember that one. It seems that someone was paid to let it slip through. Man, was there ever a stink raised over it!
 
Even if someone can get the helicopter any NFA weapons are STILL NFA weapons. You'd want to destroy that chain gun pronto before the ATF gets on your ass.
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I call that bold talk from a one-eyed fat man! Lol molon labe would have a whole new meaning when they're trying to disarm a fully-loaded Apache:)
 
helicopter

I used to work in a job where evrything was moved by helicopter. Pilot siad to me, "People think this thing burns jet fuel, it doesn't, it burns money"
 
unspellable
I used to work in a job where evrything was moved by helicopter. Pilot siad to me, "People think this thing burns jet fuel, it doesn't, it burns money"
__________________
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True.
My Bell 407 burned about a gallon minute and that is one of the cheaper costs of operation.
The pilot's pay is the least expensive operating cost.:(

407_on_EB160.gif
 
I dunno....

I personally know of several military planes in private hands. My grandfather owned over 150 WWII planes at one time. I know the guy who owns an F-4 Phantom and flys it at air shows. I know there are others that I have seen or heard of. There are lots of Migs in private hands.
 
I would guess that "merc" groups like Blackwater might have some,or CIA front groups. In the Iran/Contra hearings arms, drugs and money were handled by "private" groups.
No one really knows what the "Company" has in private hands.
 
How do the NOTARs compare in operating cost to the standard helicopter?
I would think it would be lower considering the absence of the tail rotor and all the hardware involved.
 
JohnL2
How do the NOTARs compare in operating cost to the standard helicopter?
I would think it would be lower considering the absence of the tail rotor and all the hardware involved.
Click to expand...

One way or the other the energy produced to keep the body from turning is going to have to be paid for.

The big thing is not having that large buzz-saw hanging out the back and hitting objects and people.

When operating out of an area like this (Rocky Mountains) it's easy to get a tail-rotor strike.

G3b1_2s.gif

And to keep this gun related, this was my helicopter armament.
And you wondered what ever happened to Sergeant Schultz.:D

BuckMP40206png.gif
 
there are several russian MIGs in private hands, RED BULL even owns a mig 15, there is also a nice f-86 sabre privately owned around here, supposedly the russian jets are comparatively easy and cheaper to get in flying condition, tired of all those m-16 vs ak47 threads, how bout some F-86 vs MIG-15 or F-4 vs MIG-21 for zombies threads
 
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