I did a little digging and this has gotten juicy. This is a bit long, but worth the payoff, I think.

This plane was surplussed and transferred to Royal Air Museum, Inc/Mark Daniels with a bunch of others: 3 Lears, a C-12/King Air, a Gulfstream C-20D, and an X-34 orbital spaceplane. Oh, and 729 telephones.

Daniels then attempted to sell the Gulfstream to a third party (against the terms of the surplus agreement), and was busted by the feds. He plead guilty to that charge and appears to have been sentenced to probation.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65 ... useum-inc/

As far as I can tell, "Royal Air Museum, Inc." is bull$xxx. It was supposedly located at Tri-County Airport in Bonifay, which is a small airport with some T hangars, an airport authority office, and a skydiving operation. There is no building big enough to house any kind of a museum.

If you google "Royal Air Museum Mark Daniels," the first hit is "World Jet, Inc vs. Rockstar Ventures" in which Mark Daniels is also listed as a defendant. Those docs are behind a paywall, so I can't see any details.

And, finally, a search for "Rockstar Ventures Mark Daniels" leads quickly to Vince Neil's wikipedia page, which includes this tidbit: In December 2015, Neil, along with Rockstar Investment Group president Mark Daniels and vice president Robert Hewko, were sued by Sohrob Farudi for fraud over a $500,000 investment towards the Las Vegas Outlaws arena football team..."

So the story's pretty clear to me: Daniels set up a bogus nonprofit company to get surplus planes for free, then tried to sell them. N21VN was probably dressed up either as a demo plane, or because Neil was involved and he used it as his personal plane.

Chip, I don't think I'd ask him about it next time you see him

this is the problem with being rich for being famous, rather than famous for being rich

it wasn't brain cells and intuition that made him his fortune, and alas, a fool and his money, will soon be parted

This was 2016 @ KHND. I know it was owned by a "private firm", but was solely operated by Vince until approximately 2020 last I personally know.

Mike

This was 2016 @ KHND. I know it was owned by a "private firm", but was solely operated by Vince until approximately 2020 last I personally know.

Mike

It's his same old tired schtick. "Hyuk hyuk I'm just a country boy that stumbles across these flying machines."

Really pathetic.

Correct. Sell and also operate them on charter.

Defrauded the US Gov't and got caught.

https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39 ... ion%20(GSA).

That’s a whole lot of deterioration for only about 3 years of being parked, even outdoors.

I have had a strong suspicion that there is little truth on Jimmy's YouTube channel. It's entertainment...if you are into that type of thing, not reality.

Royal Air Museum, Inc. was convicted in July, 2023, of defrauding the US government and was sentenced to 5 years probation, $4,000,000 restitution and a $1,000,000 fine and is now trying to sell, on Barnstormers, a Lear Jet 23 for $500,000 and an F-104 for $2,500,000.

I have heard that investors in Royal Air Museum, Inc. were also defrauded of their investments.

The 23 is dressed up all NASA-like but had nothing to do with NASA. Without hush kits it does not meet Stage 3 noise regulations and is useless in the USA. It does not have RVSM capability, so it can't be flown above FL280.

It has "EXPERIMENTAL" emblazoned on the side, but it's not Experimental.

It has "Astronaut Col. Buzz Aldrin" under the left cockpit window. I don't think Buzz knows this.

I wouldn't be surprised if the "Motley Crue" Learjet was never a "Motley Crue" Learjet but rather was dressed up to look like one and hopefully bring in a fraudulently-high sale price.

Welcome to Beechtalk Jim.

Dang. I totally missed this comment at the time! Well played Arnie. Well played.

The 35's ar lovely flying machines, but not financially viable for any sort of operation in 2024, except a well-established air ambulance certificate with a robust client base.

They were bulletproof in the 70's and 80's but the wiring and ducting is now ancient, and RVSM solutions are costly if not already completed and certified. Add to that the 12,000 hour inspection that involves de-mating the wings and fuselage. Even if the inside is flawless (It usually is) the labor involved is breathtaking.

Garretts are great, but they'll eat you alive. Can't fly it single-pilot, and it's not exactly a beginners jet the average owner/pilot can easily step up to from their King Air. Even an experienced Phenom/Citation driver is going to be playing catch up for the first 500 hours.

Nobody successful is going to spend their money on an impossible to find current and qualified babysitter, while making the local service center wealthy beyond belief, for what? Some extra climb performance and .2 Mach?

Jimmy is lucky they're not something he caln legally go fly. We'd get to read all about that.

On a separate note, who is this "Cletus" that posts incriminating evidence of him operating an MD-500 on the ground at idle without a Venezuelan DGAC rotary wing pilot certificate, in an airframe wearing a Venezuelan registration number?

I'm sure it's OK, there aren't ANY accidents involving fixed wing pilots and idling helicopters.


I would really love to see some surveillance and enforcement that might save some lives in the youtube arena.

Gotta be Cleetus McFarland. All kinds of gearhead stuff on his YouTube channel including, obviously, an abandoned jet.

Hah!

He may get the 2.5 for the Starfighter, I have no idea what it might be worth, but that Lear 23 was worth less than that in the 1990s, before noise limits and RVSM, when you could still fly it. Typically, a 23 back then was worth whatever the two CJ610s were worth at the time. The airplane came along as a free add on.

You simply cannot operate a 23 below RVSM, it would have an endurance measured in minutes, all while burning enough fuel to go cross country in a modern jet. There's no way that I know of to make a short body Lear RVSM compliant. The hush kit is no problem, but that is.

Hah!

He may get the 2.5 for the Starfighter, I have no idea what it might be worth.