Found on ebay....

[MikeD]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...556200424&rd=1

Good handling bird, though I'd prefer to have an A-37 Dragonfly version of the Tweet. The J69 turbojet engines on the thing are too loud, don't comply with any noise abatement rules that are trendy today, and the bird is underpowered. The A-37 on the other hand, used GE J85s (T-38 engines) minus the ABs, and is a total hotrod, as well as being a stronger airframe.

[EatSleepFly]

Wonder what you call yourself to ATC when you're flying the civilianized version like that. Tweet? Twin Cessna? Rich?

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Wonder what you call yourself to ATC when you're flying the civilianized version like that. Tweet? Twin Cessna? Rich?

[/ QUOTE ]

I figure Twin Cessna would be appropriate.

[airplay]

[ QUOTE ]
Wonder what you call yourself to ATC when you're flying the civilianized version like that. Tweet? Twin Cessna? Rich?

[/ QUOTE ]

"Experimental Jet", at least that's what the FDSO instructed to a friend who owns an L-39.

[kellwolf]

Okay, question. Mike, is the T-37 still in use by the US military? We were discussing owning warbirds the other day, and I think there is an FAA rule that says no civilian owned aircraft are allowed if they are still in active use by the military. Don't know the exact reg, so I don't even know if that's real or not.

[EatSleepFly]

My friend is flying them at Vance (I think) AFB in OK.

He's a Marine, but he got picked for some thing where they train with the Air Force. I don't really know the details, but I know he just started flying the T-37.

[applepwnz]

Oh man, I want that so bad!!!

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, question. Mike, is the T-37 still in use by the US military? We were discussing owning warbirds the other day, and I think there is an FAA rule that says no civilian owned aircraft are allowed if they are still in active use by the military. Don't know the exact reg, so I don't even know if that's real or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. The T-6 Texan II hasn't fully replaced them yet, and they're still in use at Colombus AFB, TX, Vance AFB, OK, and Sheppard AFB, TX. There were civilian F-4s flying when military ones were. The big stipulation is that they need to be demilitarized to an acceptable degree. And to that, the US doesn't surplus fighter-type aircraft, to include trainers. Most of those you find in civilian hands (not those loaned by the military to civilian aerospace companies) have been rebuilt from parts of wrecked planes, or bought abroad and imported into the US (like many old US warbirds that have found themselves back in the USA).

[BrettInLJ]

[ QUOTE ]


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...556200424&rd=1

Good handling bird, though I'd prefer to have an A-37 Dragonfly version of the Tweet. The J69 turbojet engines on the thing are too loud, don't comply with any noise abatement rules that are trendy today, and the bird is underpowered. The A-37 on the other hand, used GE J85s (T-38 engines) minus the ABs, and is a total hotrod, as well as being a stronger airframe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmmm... pay for FlightSafety Academy or buy the jet. What to do, what to do?

[rausda27]

Hey Mike, it s a coincidence that you posted this today.. I read this post this morning and then hopped on a Delta 767 jumpseat to get home. I asked the captain what he used to do and he was a T-37 instuctor. I said, "oh yeah, the tweet", and he acted surprised that I knew..see kids if you read JC you will always have something to talk about.

[BobDDuck]

We get a bunch of them at Gateway. Cross countries from somewhere or another. Pretty cool looking plane. It's funny, they were designed to be a civilian aircraft but the military took a likeing to them. The skymaster however was a military design that did much better in the civilian market.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey Mike, it s a coincidence that you posted this today.. I read this post this morning and then hopped on a Delta 767 jumpseat to get home. I asked the captain what he used to do and he was a T-37 instuctor. I said, "oh yeah, the tweet", and he acted surprised that I knew..see kids if you read JC you will always have something to talk about.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're welcome..

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
We get a bunch of them at Gateway. Cross countries from somewhere or another. Pretty cool looking plane. It's funny, they were designed to be a civilian aircraft but the military took a likeing to them. The skymaster however was a military design that did much better in the civilian market.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, the T-37 is technically the Cessna 318; the O-2 Skymaster is the more-commonly known Cessna 337.

Tweet is a fun airplane. I still remember flights in it to this day, and that was nearly 8 years ago. One big danger of it which one would never think just looking at the thing, is that it has the highest G-onset rate of any aircraft in the Air Force, even more than the F-16. Sure the F-16 can pull and sustain more Gs overall; but the Tweet has the fastest onset rate of Gs, which has caught many pilots by surprise when they rack on the stick (pulling out the bottom of a dive quickly in order to not exit a MOA, for example) and end up G-LOCing themselves (G-induced sleep from lack of blood in the brain).

Warbirds in general are very pricey both to purchase as well as to operate, though being able to have one in many ways makes that worth it, and it'd suck to be able to own such a beautiful airplane, while having to live in a van down by the river.

[FlyNavy]

Thing I've always wondered is how much of a maintenance headache civilian owned military jets must be. I wouldn't think you could just pop on over to the local FBO for maintenance on your Polish jet trainer! And insurance?

And how would one get conversion training, if at all? I guess you'd have to already have T-37 experience?

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Thing I've always wondered is how much of a maintenance headache civilian owned military jets must be. I wouldn't think you could just pop on over to the local FBO for maintenance on your Polish jet trainer! And insurance?

And how would one get conversion training, if at all? I guess you'd have to already have T-37 experience?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. And I don't know if the local Cessna FBO can work it either. Training-wise, you'd have to have previous experience, or be trained by someone with same, and with an LOOA. Plus, getting an LOA from the FAA (in lieu of a type rating, since there is none for this jet), the Feds are gonna be real leery to authorize you without some good proof of training, since the risk they'd be taking if you happen to prang the thing in and injure people on the ground, is huge for them.

Just look up the 24 September 1972 crash of a civilian-owned F-86 Sabre that crashed into a Farrell's ice cream parlor and killed 23 people, following a botched takeoff from Sacramento-Executive field, in order to know what I'm talking about.

[ETAV8R]

That would be awesome to own and fly. I don't like the paint scheme too much however. I really don't care for warbirds which are glossy.
Just doesn't look right unless it is polished aluminum.