Re: [MV] UH-1H in CA F/S

From: Jim Breneman (jimbre_7@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Dec 03 2004 - 13:53:29 PST


--- sandman9 <sandman9@optonline.net> wrote:

> There is a complete one in Montana for $150000.00
> John Peterson
> MTA
> CJMMP
> MVPA
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "chance wolf" <chance_wolf@shaw.ca>
> To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List"
> <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 12:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [MV] UH-1H in CA F/S
>
>
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "sandman9" <sandman9@optonline.net>
> > To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List"
> <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> > Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 8:47 AM
> > Subject: [MV] UH-1H in CA F/S
> >
> >
> > > http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucalcat/
> > > John Peterson
> > > MTA
> > > CJMMP
> > > MVPA
> >
> > Yup. Minus every nut, bolt, screw and washer they
> could nick. I just
> read
> > that the UH-1 'Huey' fleet is forecast to be
> officially retired at the end
> > of FY2004, which means Davis-Monthan will be
> sitting on top of rows and
> rows
> > and rows more.
> >
> > They're actually at a bit of a loss to figure out
> what to do with them
> all,
> > as police departments are finding them too
> expensive to operate where
> > something like a Jet Ranger will do just as
> nicely, and the FAA doesn't
> want
> > to see tons of them released onto the market
> because they don't want to
> see
> > the military-origin parts find their way on to
> regularly flying existing
> > civvy-side 204s and 205s because "they're
> maintained to a different
> > standard" (or so I remember reading - I don't
> claim to be any sort of
> > expert.) Foreign (friendly) governments have
> little interest either, as
> > they've been the beneficiaries of a lot of later
> model Bell-family ships
> in
> > the more modern 'Twin' configuration (Bell 212s
> and 412s) thanks to the
> > largesse of the U.S. Government through the years,
> so going back to aging
> > singles can't be too attractive a proposition
> regardless of the price.
> >
> > Some have been doled out to local small museums
> across the U.S., but if
> one
> > fellow I know of is any indication, the Homeland
> Security pricetag that
> > comes with them isn't worth the trouble. He told
> one of our members that
> > The Authorities came by something like weekly at
> little or no notice to
> make
> > sure his museum exhibit hadn't suddenly flown off
> its pedestal or
> > disintegrated into a pile of black-market parts,
> so he told them to take
> it
> > back. If it were me, I think I probably would've
> suggested an appropriate
> > fleshy hangar too. :)
> >
> > In terms of a domestic swords-into-ploughshares
> market, I think they run
> int
> > o trouble there too because of the different
> maintenance schedules they
> had
> > during their life in the military vs. what an
> equivalent Bell 204/205
> would
> > have to have undergone in x-number of years of
> flying over civvystreet. I
> > *think* the FAA restricts non-Governmental use of
> the singles to things
> like
> > helicopter logging and pleasure flying under the
> 'Experimental' category,
> > but doesn't allow much else. In any event, I
> *think* it's illegal to fly
> a
> > single commercially over a populated area unless
> it's a Gov't agency doing
> > the flying (Police Dept., Dept. of Forestry.,
> FEMA, etc., etc), so again,
> > any potential commercial market seems a narrow
> one.
> >
> > I'd very much like to see some of them make it
> into collector hands as
> > either 'Experimental' category flying restorations
> for those with deep
> > pockets, or static examples so people can get a
> closeup of a huge part of
> > rotary wing history (and the first new chapter in
> modern military mobility
> > tactics) without having to travel half the country
> to see it. Knowing the
> > rampant paranoia in official circles at the moment
> though, I bet they
> either
> > sit at Davis Monthan until they're baked into
> aluminum puddles, or DRMS
> will
> > decree they're getting into the aluminum beer can
> business. That would be
> a
> > shame. Some of those ships have some serious (and
> documented) history
> > behind them back to the rice paddies of Vietnam,
> and the U.S. Gov't should
> > be aware that there are people who would line up
> to help preserve that if
> > given the opportunity.
> >
> > (The U.S. had something like 960-plus left on the
> books in FY2003 from
> what
> > I remember, with only some 330 of those in
> operational-ready condition.
> > That number's set to become zero by next April.)
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
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>

                
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