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surplus helicopters?

vtdeucedriver

Well-known member
2,523
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Location
Vermont
I know when my unit transitioned from Hueys to 'Hawks, we flew all six down south for storage (sadly, two went by flat bed). Many of these end up as foreign military sales, or as parts. Even if you can get one for private or commercial use, it is certified as "experimental" and therefore, not for hire - that is no passengers. That limits its use for some commercial use.

Every once and a while you'll see a "restored" and flying Huey for sale and I've seen them going for $250K to $500K - really depends on how much time is on the big dollar components - like the engine, transmission and blades.

By the way, the cost to fly one is somewhere around $1500 per hour....yep, per hour.

Still playing the lotto, so whe I hit the big payout, you'll see a "UH-1H Huey" in my SS signature!

Get inline!!!! I will have one too.....................That and a Howard 500.
 

airmech3839

Member
842
5
18
Location
Augusta, GA
I have seen them for sale in Trade-A-Plane and along with cobra gunships( no guns of course) been awhile though! I've always wanted a huey to fix up!!

Air Cav!! Death from above!!
 

jasonjc

Well-known member
5,325
283
83
Location
Gravette Ar.
The local sheriff here got 4 OH-58A's back in '96 or so. They then sold off 2 of them for a spot light or some thing like that(big stink). They still have 2 of them that they fly.
 

AN/ARC186

New member
997
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Location
Graham,Washington
Any of you propeller heads that are serious about wanting one in ready to fly condition need to go look here:

http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucitdsc/

They currently have two (2) for sale, direct from the the government (NASA)...
A propeller is a meager,weak device that needs the assistance of airfoils in order for the craft to attain flight.
A rotor is a device that achieves flight by beating the air into submission.
We sir, are rotor heads!!:mrgreen:
 

littlebob

New member
1,548
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Location
Baton Rouge LA
I know when my unit transitioned from Hueys to 'Hawks, we flew all six down south for storage (sadly, two went by flat bed). Many of these end up as foreign military sales, or as parts. Even if you can get one for private or commercial use, it is certified as "experimental" and therefore, not for hire - that is no passengers. That limits its use for some commercial use.

Every once and a while you'll see a "restored" and flying Huey for sale and I've seen them going for $250K to $500K - really depends on how much time is on the big dollar components - like the engine, transmission and blades.

By the way, the cost to fly one is somewhere around $1500 per hour....yep, per hour.

Still playing the lotto, so whe I hit the big payout, you'll see a "UH-1H Huey" in my SS signature!
I agree with the operating costs, a friend of mine charter/leases them with about a dozen in all parts of the country. I also know of a guy here in Louisiana that bought a surplus one and was planning to use it for his Helo instruction(OH-58) and found out there were restrictions on the purchase. It could only be flown to and from
HMV events. He was able to bring it to the Display of the Vietnam traveling Wall when it came to our area, but had to get a retired Marine pilot I know checked out in it. I think the bordering parish(county) has one that they use and one for parts.
once they have to start putting up the money for more parts they will find out they can't afford it. I think they have an A&P to work on it, but these things don't fly cheap.
 

Boog

New member
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Location
Eastern NC
Authorized agencies can draw out equipment that can't be released to the general public.
Some of the Skycranes and other heavy lift choppers were sold to private companies but there is a lot of paperwork and "big brother" involved.
There are several like new Huey tail sections at Redstone that will probably go through a shredder.
When it comes to surplussing some of the stuff our booberment bought the lunatics are running the asylum.:cookoo:

Man, that's crazy!!

We're still replacing tails here at Cherry Point, paying top $$$$ I'm sure!!

Unbelievable........:roll:
 

Avn-Tech

Active member
194
31
28
Location
California City, Ca
Charlie,

I see TH-55's come up for sale every once in a while, but they are not cheap to rebuild and fly.
All of the rotatably parts are life limited and need replaced often, like all helo's.

Places to look:
Barnstormers
Ebay
Trade A Plane

Good Luck, If you get one I have several hangers you can keep it in!

Laterrrrr
Avn-tech
 

Yohan

New member
266
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0
Location
NY
There's a scrap guy about 45 minutes from me who has maybe six chopper fusilages in his yard. I don't know what they are- narrow bodies and completely stripped with no tail pieces (unless he has them stored somewhere else). He told me they are composit bodies so he can't get any money for scrap from them. They look like the choppers used by TV news channels. They would be fun for the kids if one were set up in a play area with sand and such.
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
3,618
80
48
Location
Abilene, Texas
March 18th, 2010.

Maddawg:

Back in the late 1970's or early 1980's, the usual way to dispose of Hueys at Chambersburg or Letterkenny was to hoist them to the top of a crane boom, drop them about 75' in free fall, disconnect the hoist cable and then run over them with a tank or large bulldozer. The idea was to reduce them to nothing but scrap, and it ensure NO parts whatsoever were salvageable. Likely today they just guillotine them like they do the B-52's.
Uncle would be really unhappy is sales of any of these items crimped the sales of civillian birds.....
Good luck on your hunt, but I don't know how lucky you're gonna be...

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan:D
 

maddawg308

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
10,852
723
113
Location
Front Royal, VA
There's a scrap guy about 45 minutes from me who has maybe six chopper fusilages in his yard. I don't know what they are- narrow bodies and completely stripped with no tail pieces (unless he has them stored somewhere else). He told me they are composit bodies so he can't get any money for scrap from them. They look like the choppers used by TV news channels. They would be fun for the kids if one were set up in a play area with sand and such.
Probably Bell Jet Rangers or surplus Kiowas.
 

JeepMan

New member
452
1
0
Location
Upstate New York
Remember Prez Bush Sr.s war there in the desert? Remember how they used hundreds if not thousands of choppers and M1 tanks?? I bet they changed out rotor blades like candy because of the sand and I'm sure the same for the turbo jet engines as well due to the sand. Notice that Prez Bush's Jr. war was a HUMVEE war which are much cheaper to replace as a whole then the thousands of rotor blades/turbine motors.
 

jasonjc

Well-known member
5,325
283
83
Location
Gravette Ar.
Remember Prez Bush Sr.s war there in the desert? Remember how they used hundreds if not thousands of choppers and M1 tanks?? I bet they changed out rotor blades like candy because of the sand and I'm sure the same for the turbo jet engines as well due to the sand. Notice that Prez Bush's Jr. war was a HUMVEE war which are much cheaper to replace as a whole then the thousands of rotor blades/turbine motors.

I was there, we took real good care of our blades and did not have to replace any of them.
 

DUG

Senior Chief/Moderator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Location
Mesquite, NV
I personally am looking for the recently retired H-53 when I win the lotto. I think they are just awesome.
I know where there is a tail section of a H53 Alpha. Low, low hours. When it crashed she was near new.
 
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