Mi Propio Jet de Combate L-39: La Historia Completa de N939CM

Video from the channel Orestes Lorenzo - Tras el Horizonte about Aero L-39 Albatros, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 31:55. Language: Spanish. Video type: Onboard.

Pilot Orestes Lorenzo presents his Aero L-39 Albatros, US-registered N939CM and built in 1991, and takes viewers along on a full flight from an airport without a control tower. It shows the radio calls on the common frequency with other traffic, the engine run-up, the takeoff, a progression of turns with increasing load to rebuild G tolerance, and a series of aerobatic maneuvers in an area away from the airways, before returning home.

The original cockpit was converted by Code One Aviation of Rockford, Illinois: repainted and relabeled switches in both seats, Garmin G3X Touch displays, a Garmin G5 backup horizon and a GTN 750 navigator, with ADS-B traffic, XM weather, and display redundancy. The wingtip tanks were replaced with high-performance tips, interchangeable with long-range tanks that add about 500 liters of fuel. The aircraft also carries a smoke system for airshows, a belly camera, audio and USB-C ports, lighter non-ejection seats (36 kg less), and a baggage compartment in the nose, where military communications equipment used to sit. In flight, Lorenzo breaks off a loop to avoid interfering with other traffic and completes a Cuban eight and several rolls; he explains that the aircraft remained docile even below 50 knots and recalls the 250-knot limit below 10,000 feet.

The L-39 first flew on 4 November 1968, more than 2,800 were built, and it served in the air forces of about 30 countries; in the United States there are around 250 in private hands. The video details the demilitarization required for its import: removal of the underwing hardpoints and the mounts for the GSh-23 cannon pod, instruments, wiring and military equipment, and the ejection seats' pyrotechnics under the control of the federal alcohol, tobacco and firearms agency. Lorenzo, trained as a MiG-21 pilot at the Yuri Gagarin academy and who also flew the MiG-23, has owned two L-29s and three L-39s. He closes by describing the civilian warbird community, present at Oshkosh and Sun 'n Fun, and the requirements to fly the type: an instrument rating, 1,000 flight hours and 500 as pilot in command before applying for the type rating with the FAA.