ops.

Regarding the OV10 ejection seats. An old friend of mine at one time was the highest time OV10 pilot in the world, with over 4,400 hours in the airplane, 2,500 over Vietnam. He loved its ejection seats, and had a wingman punch out inverted at 300 AGL and walk away from it in 1973. I'm sure it would be easy to adapt more modern seats to it, but it's still an unpressurized airplane limiting its range and suitably as a COIN airplane compared to more modern designs.

Even with a combination of drop tanks, Hellfires, Zuni rockets, and/or 250 pound bombs on it, the A29 is a pretty good airplane, and unlike the T-6, carries a pair of M2, .50 guns internally. Both of them can sit up at FL210-260 for a long time with less pilot fatigue than the OV10.

They cost about $2,500 an hour to operate.

Dam iPad.

https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=1674

All this with no mention of the IOMAX Archangel.

Why does the Skyraider always get brought up when it comes to light attack?  They are big planes which were quite complex and expensive when new. Believe it or not a brand new AD4 cost the Navy almost twice as much as the Air Force was paying for an F-86.


  It's a shame nobody tried PT6s on an OV-10,similar to how the Argentines decided to take a few Pucaras and replace the Turbomecas for ISR planes to replace the Mohawks*





  *Many years ago I read a news story of a company in Florida that was operating Mohawks on contract to the US government but never saw anything else about it. I figure that OV-1s are such distinct aircraft that someone somewhere would have taken pictures of them somewhere but never saw any. Who knows,such a cool plane;wish someone would buy the ones Argentina put in storage.

  More rambling,the Cal Fire OV-10s with the new 5 bladed props are such great looking planes. I guess someone bought those OV-10Gs that you used for tests in Syria and Iraq and are now doing private CCT training with them. That's pretty cool,we use L-39s painted like bees ???????

 

The CAL fire repurpose for observers to direct fire fighters and loads is really a well suited role.
Nice to see.

Cal Fire has been flying OV-10s since 1993 and acquired their last one in 2011.  They fly quite an assortment of aircraft, Grumman S-2 Trackers with turboprops, AH-1 Cobras, and Sikorsky S-70s.

 I went to school in North Carolina for a year in the 1990s and remember seeing an O-1 Bird Dog controlling a wildfire somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Funny thing is I honestly can’t recall what was dropping water as I was more interested in the Cessna. A few days ago I saw a post on Instagram that was a picture of a North Carolina forestry service T-34C Turbo Mentor now being used for that purpose.

I'm totally ignorant on the subject but why wouldn't something much simpler like 172 be adequate to serve as a spotter aircraft?

And over Syria and Iraq. The plane that nobody wants but everybody wants !

And the USAF killed it, most riki tik ! Paging Randall Haskin, Hacker, your expertise on the Enforcer is needed !

Because the federal government doesn't give out Cessna 172 for free.  They give out no longer needed aircraft to states.  See the "public law" marking under the cockpit?  Same reason states have old cobras, Huey's, oh-58, oh-6, etc.  they only pay operating costs - no need to buy/lease aircraft, no insurance needed, etc.  they often get parts for free also if they are still available in the federal supply system.

Haskin is totally overrated.

I've flown both PT-6 and Garrett powered airplanes. There is not a spit of difference between the two in the real world.

Garrett per hour costs are usually lower.

I did not manage the airplanes, only flew them, so cannot comment on the cost per hour.

Anecdotally, Garett failures are usually more catastrophic.

However, they are cheaper on power by the hour or purchase terms.