So I'm waiting on the ramp in Khartoum the other day and checking out a Yak-40 nearby, and as I study it I have an epiphany....."I'm looking at the perfect corporate airplane!" Why?, well it should be obvious, since it incorporates many features of airplanes some of you think are so great. For instance, it has.....
....the nose of a Gulfstream
....the empenage of a 727
.....the wing of a DC-3
....the cabin space of a Global
....the windows of a Falcon
....the tires of a B-17
....the avionics of a Lear 23
and most importantly,
....the performance of a WSCoD!
...and, and, AND.... Yak-40's are cheap as dirt to buy, so applying the same, now-famous "Less $$$ for a Legacy = Just as Good an Airplane as a Gulfstream" Formula we have all been priviledged to learn here on these threads from LegacyDriver to a WSCoD, it's clear that Yak-40s friggin' rule!
In fact, the more I think about it, probably the only reason Fortune 100 companies don't literally stuff their hangars full of these winged gems is the xenephobic bad-mouthing they recieve on these threads just because of it's pinko-commie heritage. News flash; The Cold War is over folks!
Well, the airport landscape is gonna change...I can feel it... so listen up you arrogant, close-minded WSCoD/G-whiz/Falcon/Challenger drivers with your Girlie-man toys and cockpit gizmos and egos! Not only can you mount a Trimble GPS on the glareshield like on the one I saw, but the Yak-40 is a REAL aiplane...derived from a REAL airliner....get it? I'm talking about a REAL honest-to-god, Chunk 'o Tundra-bustin', Cossack-haulin' Soviet Steel AIRLINER built to conquer a manly place like Siberia, not some flimsy aluminum eggshell Pretend-airliner that's been piano-wired together in some wussy tropical zone like Brazil where they probably can't handle their Vodka and wear shorts to work.
Furthermore, I feel, I'm sure, and doubt that anything can match the Yak for reliablity, since if one can make it all the way to Sudan where I saw it, they can surely make it anywhere. That, in addition to it's aforementioned attributes, should be good enough for any CEO dammit and if they choose to purchase an aicraft other than the Yak-40 it's obviously a waste of money for the sake of an ego-stroke, and given it's solid features, personally there's nothing I'd rather crash in or try to break in half on landing.
Yes, once the beancounters at most corporations realize how cheaply these awesome machines can be aquired compared to, say, a WSCoD, with lots of money left over to do other stuff, in no time flat the ramps at Teterboro and Van Nuys and Luton will be lousy with 'em, teeming like Caspian Sea beluga sturgeon. This is my prediction, and frankly sometimes I'm so smart I scare myself!
Yaaaks Forever!
