Comments on: Fight’s On! http://www.neptunuslex.com/Wiki/2007/07/02/fights-on/ Start 'em up Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:24:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Max Damage http://www.neptunuslex.com/Wiki/2007/07/02/fights-on/comment-page-1/#comment-2566 Max Damage Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:55:48 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/Wiki/2007/07/02/fights-on/#comment-2566 That's 78 million dollars per aircraft. Let's say instead that I purchased 3000 aircraft for three million each, say some cheap old Mirage or Mig or even a century fighter. Let's say I'm also short on spare parts, manpower, air bases, and my pilots aren't that skilled. At 15-1 odds in my favor using old-and-cheap, I wonder what the chances are of being lucky? Given India, China, and a host of other countries have a lot more bodies than they do aircraft, and the labor is cheap, somebody is going to start running this sort of calculus. Which reminds me, we spend a cool million dollars in training a standard-issue fighter pilot. How do we come up with that figure, anyway? Figure a crashed jet every 17 trainees, or is that just the cost of maintainence and fuel over their training flight hours? Cost of instructor salaries? How about the concrete for the runway they learn on, or the carrier they qualify on? Hey, can't be an Air Force pilot without an Air Force, so calculate their portion by total Air Force budget divided by the number of airmen? As you can see, these figures can quickly turn ridiculous, which anybody who's ever negotiated a contract can tell you, which makes me suspect the numbers being given. - Max That’s 78 million dollars per aircraft. Let’s say instead that I purchased 3000 aircraft for three million each, say some cheap old Mirage or Mig or even a century fighter. Let’s say I’m also short on spare parts, manpower, air bases, and my pilots aren’t that skilled. At 15-1 odds in my favor using old-and-cheap, I wonder what the chances are of being lucky? Given India, China, and a host of other countries have a lot more bodies than they do aircraft, and the labor is cheap, somebody is going to start running this sort of calculus.

Which reminds me, we spend a cool million dollars in training a standard-issue fighter pilot. How do we come up with that figure, anyway? Figure a crashed jet every 17 trainees, or is that just the cost of maintainence and fuel over their training flight hours? Cost of instructor salaries? How about the concrete for the runway they learn on, or the carrier they qualify on? Hey, can’t be an Air Force pilot without an Air Force, so calculate their portion by total Air Force budget divided by the number of airmen?

As you can see, these figures can quickly turn ridiculous, which anybody who’s ever negotiated a contract can tell you, which makes me suspect the numbers being given.

– Max

]]> By: Jeopardy http://www.neptunuslex.com/Wiki/2007/07/02/fights-on/comment-page-1/#comment-2564 Jeopardy Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:25:46 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/Wiki/2007/07/02/fights-on/#comment-2564 So, how lucky is that Indian Air Force Colonel that will get a chance to fly each of these? Talk about a good job if you can get it... So, how lucky is that Indian Air Force Colonel that will get a chance to fly each of these? Talk about a good job if you can get it…

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