Viability of G3 vs G4
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Close....I'm 45. Joined the guard on 2010 on a waiver when they were hungry for people. One year OCS, 18 months 2LT, 18 months 1LT, almost 4 years as a captain. Very close to being O4.
The guard's average age is higher than in the regular army. Especially when you have a skill they need. Lots of old timers.
The guard's average age is higher than in the regular army. Especially when you have a skill they need. Lots of old timers.
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WOW, you guys play with some big numbers. Now let me tell you how po boys in Arkansas do it. A few years ago my brother was wondering if he wanted a large cabin jet. We've had Citations and a Lear Jet between us. Didn't really know if large cabin would be too much work/too expensive to maintain/so much hassle taking the fun out of ownership. But after having everything else wanted to give it a try. I found a GIII at Gulfstream coming out of inspections. The owner wanted out. The pilot was there to take it home. We went to see it. It looked good, the pilot said he would be glad to keep flying it. Paid $400,000 for it. Flew it to Las Vegas, Cancun, New York twice, several short hops. Had a lot of fun. Had a great local guy on the field jump in for the maintenance. Had a wing tip light go out. Cost $40 to fix it. That was the only parts ever bought. They were going to outlaw GIII's soon without hush kits so sold it for $400,000. So I guess what I'm saying is maybe some people can do it cheaper than the pricing stated above.
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WOW, you guys play with some big numbers. Now let me tell you how po boys in Arkansas do it. A few years ago my brother was wondering if he wanted a large cabin jet. We've had Citations and a Lear Jet between us. Didn't really know if large cabin would be too much work/too expensive to maintain/so much hassle taking the fun out of ownership. But after having everything else wanted to give it a try. I found a GIII at Gulfstream coming out of inspections. The owner wanted out. The pilot was there to take it home. We went to see it. It looked good, the pilot said he would be glad to keep flying it. Paid $400,000 for it. Flew it to Las Vegas, Cancun, New York twice, several short hops. Had a lot of fun. Had a great local guy on the field jump in for the maintenance. Had a wing tip light go out. Cost $40 to fix it. That was the only parts ever bought. They were going to outlaw GIII's soon without hush kits so sold it for $400,000. So I guess what I'm saying is maybe some people can do it cheaper than the pricing stated above.
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WOW, you guys play with some big numbers. Now let me tell you how po boys in Arkansas do it. A few years ago my brother was wondering if he wanted a large cabin jet. We've had Citations and a Lear Jet between us. Didn't really know if large cabin would be too much work/too expensive to maintain/so much hassle taking the fun out of ownership. But after having everything else wanted to give it a try. I found a GIII at Gulfstream coming out of inspections. The owner wanted out. The pilot was there to take it home. We went to see it. It looked good, the pilot said he would be glad to keep flying it. Paid $400,000 for it. Flew it to Las Vegas, Cancun, New York twice, several short hops. Had a lot of fun. Had a great local guy on the field jump in for the maintenance. Had a wing tip light go out. Cost $40 to fix it. That was the only parts ever bought. They were going to outlaw GIII's soon without hush kits so sold it for $400,000. So I guess what I'm saying is maybe some people can do it cheaper than the pricing stated above.
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Rebuild a lot of Porsche motors in the Guard, do they? Don't get me wrong, I thank you very much for your service, but the only O-3 in our age group (or older) that I've ever heard of was Clark Howard, and that's a whole separate conversation.
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WOW, you guys play with some big numbers. Now let me tell you how po boys in Arkansas do it. A few years ago my brother was wondering if he wanted a large cabin jet. We've had Citations and a Lear Jet between us. Didn't really know if large cabin would be too much work/too expensive to maintain/so much hassle taking the fun out of ownership. But after having everything else wanted to give it a try. I found a GIII at Gulfstream coming out of inspections. The owner wanted out. The pilot was there to take it home. We went to see it. It looked good, the pilot said he would be glad to keep flying it. Paid $400,000 for it. Flew it to Las Vegas, Cancun, New York twice, several short hops. Had a lot of fun. Had a great local guy on the field jump in for the maintenance. Had a wing tip light go out. Cost $40 to fix it. That was the only parts ever bought. They were going to outlaw GIII's soon without hush kits so sold it for $400,000. So I guess what I'm saying is maybe some people can do it cheaper than the pricing stated above.
Big numbers? Or reality? Your story/point of view reminds me of a car purchase. I bought a Range Rover in 2011 still have it to this day. Never once has it had any serious issues or breakdowns, only in for scheduled maintenance. Friend of mine in 2013 bought a brand new range rover because I told him how much I enjoyed mine. First week of ownership back in shop.... to keep the story short over the course of 6 months he had it 2 months and was returned to dealer for lemon law.
Point of the story is you bought a aircraft on the cheap and you got to ride that purchase out without any issues. Can that happen without issues? Sure you just said so.
But reality and aviation would argue that is rare especially over the course of a few years, that wing tip light could of easily been a wing tip crack on a aircraft of that age and that $40... would of turned into $350,000 repair and now your BIG NUMBERS comment would go out the window.
At to be be very honest it sounds like you took on a very substantial amount of risk all for what? 10 trips it sounds like...equaling all of 20 hours of flight time? ARK to NY is what 2 hours flight time. X 2 so call it 5 hours total.
Jet 400k
Crew 250k
Fuel 50k
Fees/crew hotel 5k
hangar 10k
And that is just top of the head basic cost.
In the end let's call the cost of the Jet purchase a wash if you sold it for what you bough it for...good for you. But you still had to spend give or take $315k to fly 20 or so hours in a old ass GIII spending close to 16k a hour to operate. Now us Po Boys in California would of spent $6,300 a hour have no risk at all and flew on a new G650 for that type of coin.
And that is the point I think many of us try to make when a new member comes in here and tries to explain/justify why they wan to buy a old as jet that is extremely cheap to acquire. But you do you.
Well Said
Big numbers? Or reality? Your story/point of view reminds me of a car purchase. I bought a Range Rover in 2011 still have it to this day. Never once has it had any serious issues or breakdowns, only in for scheduled maintenance. Friend of mine in 2013 bought a brand new range rover because I told him how much I enjoyed mine. First week of ownership back in shop.... to keep the story short over the course of 6 months he had it 2 months and was returned to dealer for lemon law.
Point of the story is you bought a aircraft on the cheap and you got to ride that purchase out without any issues. Can that happen without issues? Sure you just said so.
But reality and aviation would argue that is rare especially over the course of a few years, that wing tip light could of easily been a wing tip crack on a aircraft of that age and that $40... would of turned into $350,000 repair and now your BIG NUMBERS comment would go out the window.
At to be be very honest it sounds like you took on a very substantial amount of risk all for what? 10 trips it sounds like...equaling all of 20 hours of flight time? ARK to NY is what 2 hours flight time. X 2 so call it 5 hours total.
Jet 400k
Crew 250k
Fuel 50k
Fees/crew hotel 5k
hangar 10k
And that is just top of the head basic cost.
In the end let's call the cost of the Jet purchase a wash if you sold it for what you bough it for...good for you. But you still had to spend give or take $315k to fly 20 or so hours in a old ass GIII spending close to 16k a hour to operate. Now us Po Boys in California would of spent $6,300 a hour have no risk at all and flew on a new G650 for that type of coin.
And that is the point I think many of us try to make when a new member comes in here and tries to explain/justify why they wan to buy a old as jet that is extremely cheap to acquire. But you do you.
Point of the story is you bought a aircraft on the cheap and you got to ride that purchase out without any issues. Can that happen without issues? Sure you just said so.
But reality and aviation would argue that is rare especially over the course of a few years, that wing tip light could of easily been a wing tip crack on a aircraft of that age and that $40... would of turned into $350,000 repair and now your BIG NUMBERS comment would go out the window.
At to be be very honest it sounds like you took on a very substantial amount of risk all for what? 10 trips it sounds like...equaling all of 20 hours of flight time? ARK to NY is what 2 hours flight time. X 2 so call it 5 hours total.
Jet 400k
Crew 250k
Fuel 50k
Fees/crew hotel 5k
hangar 10k
And that is just top of the head basic cost.
In the end let's call the cost of the Jet purchase a wash if you sold it for what you bough it for...good for you. But you still had to spend give or take $315k to fly 20 or so hours in a old ass GIII spending close to 16k a hour to operate. Now us Po Boys in California would of spent $6,300 a hour have no risk at all and flew on a new G650 for that type of coin.
And that is the point I think many of us try to make when a new member comes in here and tries to explain/justify why they wan to buy a old as jet that is extremely cheap to acquire. But you do you.
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It's been awhile since I operated the G-III, but wouldn't the Spey cores be worth $200K each? I would think the original seller could have parted it out for more than $400K just by selling the Speys and APU to Dallas Airmotive (or equivalent), and selling the rest to someone like Dodson.
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The guard is not full of people who joined at 18. In fact they raised the age to 42 recently.
You may be right
Time might have been a factor. The previous owner may have needed the $400K to pay for the inspections that had just been done. :-) I just have not seen any G-III's go that cheap. Not saying it couldn't happen. Insurance to operate it would have been $30-50K.
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In 2010 it seems like there were a ton of vacancies and it coincided with the urge to serve as best I could, even if in a reserve capacity. At the same time I joined there was one guy who was 41 that joined as an E2 first timer which was incredible .He is still in, I think .
The guard is also always short MPs we are very heavily tasked during the fire seasons here doing evacuations, traffic control , etc. It seems like half of California is on fire at any given time and my guys are very busy.
I have mentally decided to stay in until O5 at which point I will be 53. We shall see.......
The guard is also always short MPs we are very heavily tasked during the fire seasons here doing evacuations, traffic control , etc. It seems like half of California is on fire at any given time and my guys are very busy.
I have mentally decided to stay in until O5 at which point I will be 53. We shall see.......
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Not that long, probably 6 months, I forgot to mention the Hawaii trip in the GIII, decided maybe this large cabin stuff would work and bought a Falcon 900 on the cheap. It's been wonderful too. Many trips to the BVI and Hawaii and Tahiti. I had never flown oceanic before so that was exciting/educational. Yes, it's true, sooner or later if you keep it long enough you will run up next to a large inspection. Just did the "C" inspection, which this time included the landing gear, and did paint too. The bill was a little under million. But in theory you won't have another inspection that large for another 12 years. There are dirt cheap GIV's out there. I looked at one last year that was beyond belief, a little over 1 million and just had the 72 month done and nearly 10 years left on the engines. It made no sense. The guy died and they just wanted rid of it. Find a deal on one and have the time of your life.
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It's been awhile since I operated the G-III, but wouldn't the Spey cores be worth $200K each? I would think the original seller could have parted it out for more than $400K just by selling the Speys and APU to Dallas Airmotive (or equivalent), and selling the rest to someone like Dodson.
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The previous owner was rich beyond belief. I think the bill to get it out of Gulfstream was $441,000. I still have a copy of the bill. What I couldn't believe was the terms on the bill. NET 30. Gulfstream doesn't give you net 30 terms unless you are bad rich. The owner's father had just died in his GIV and he said he wasn't ever getting back in the GIII. So I went to look at it.
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Big numbers? Or reality? Your story/point of view reminds me of a car purchase. I bought a Range Rover in 2011 still have it to this day. Never once has it had any serious issues or breakdowns, only in for scheduled maintenance. Friend of mine in 2013 bought a brand new range rover because I told him how much I enjoyed mine. First week of ownership back in shop.... to keep the story short over the course of 6 months he had it 2 months and was returned to dealer for lemon law.
Point of the story is you bought a aircraft on the cheap and you got to ride that purchase out without any issues. Can that happen without issues? Sure you just said so.
But reality and aviation would argue that is rare especially over the course of a few years, that wing tip light could of easily been a wing tip crack on a aircraft of that age and that $40... would of turned into $350,000 repair and now your BIG NUMBERS comment would go out the window.
At to be be very honest it sounds like you took on a very substantial amount of risk all for what? 10 trips it sounds like...equaling all of 20 hours of flight time? ARK to NY is what 2 hours flight time. X 2 so call it 5 hours total.
Jet 400k
Crew 250k
Fuel 50k
Fees/crew hotel 5k
hangar 10k
And that is just top of the head basic cost.
In the end let's call the cost of the Jet purchase a wash if you sold it for what you bough it for...good for you. But you still had to spend give or take $315k to fly 20 or so hours in a old ass GIII spending close to 16k a hour to operate. Now us Po Boys in California would of spent $6,300 a hour have no risk at all and flew on a new G650 for that type of coin.
And that is the point I think many of us try to make when a new member comes in here and tries to explain/justify why they wan to buy a old as jet that is extremely cheap to acquire. But you do you.
Point of the story is you bought a aircraft on the cheap and you got to ride that purchase out without any issues. Can that happen without issues? Sure you just said so.
But reality and aviation would argue that is rare especially over the course of a few years, that wing tip light could of easily been a wing tip crack on a aircraft of that age and that $40... would of turned into $350,000 repair and now your BIG NUMBERS comment would go out the window.
At to be be very honest it sounds like you took on a very substantial amount of risk all for what? 10 trips it sounds like...equaling all of 20 hours of flight time? ARK to NY is what 2 hours flight time. X 2 so call it 5 hours total.
Jet 400k
Crew 250k
Fuel 50k
Fees/crew hotel 5k
hangar 10k
And that is just top of the head basic cost.
In the end let's call the cost of the Jet purchase a wash if you sold it for what you bough it for...good for you. But you still had to spend give or take $315k to fly 20 or so hours in a old ass GIII spending close to 16k a hour to operate. Now us Po Boys in California would of spent $6,300 a hour have no risk at all and flew on a new G650 for that type of coin.
And that is the point I think many of us try to make when a new member comes in here and tries to explain/justify why they wan to buy a old as jet that is extremely cheap to acquire. But you do you.
The previous owner was rich beyond belief. I think the bill to get it out of Gulfstream was $441,000. I still have a copy of the bill. What I couldn't believe was the terms on the bill. NET 30. Gulfstream doesn't give you net 30 terms unless you are bad rich. The owner's father had just died in his GIV and he said he wasn't ever getting back in the GIII. So I went to look at it.
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The plane was already RVSM. A local guy (a good man and experienced in this) did the manual for the airplane and coordinated with the FSDO. Of course we already had our RVSM training.