Here’s what it’s like to rent a MiG-29 to fly to the stratosphere

After Gizmodos article with the title “Here’s what it’s like to rent a MiG-29 to fly you above the clouds in the stratosphere” by Casey Chan – covering the MiGFlug Edge of Space flights – we often have requests like:

  • How is it possible to rent a supersonic fighter jet?
  • I don’t even have a pilot license, so how can I fly a supersonic jet?
  • Isn’t that dangerous to fly the jet without proper training?
  • Can I fly a fighter jet without being a pilot? Can I actually rent it?
  • Is there insurance coverage when I damage the jet?

Well – it is obvious – there is a bit of confusion.

Edge of Space Flight

Edge of Space Flight

Can I actually rent a fighter jet?

It seems this part of the Gizmodo article is especially confusing to some:

MiGFlug is the company that rents out MiG-29s and other jets for people to rent so they can be a pilot for a day. You can learn more about how to do it (and oh you should do it) on their website and see more videos on their YouTube page.

And there have been several articles who copied the Gizmodo content, and it seems the writers didn’t even understand themselves how it works. So – as you can imagine, renting a supersonic fighter aircraft isn’t quite as simple as renting a car at Hertz. Actually it almost is, but you rent it with a “driver”.

And here is how that looks: Customer (right), pilot (middle), interpreter (left)

And here is how that looks: Customer (right), pilot (middle), interpreter (left)

What is included in the “Fighter Jet Rental”?

First of all – you have very experienced and professional Fighter Pilots when you fly with MiGFlug. And that “driver” is more an Ayrton Senna (or Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso or whoever you prefer) than a taxi driver. They are top notch. With the MiG-29 as an example (pictured above) – they are test pilots with a huge amount of flight hours. Customers can experience up to 9.2g with them (you can try to beat this mark if you feel like), but that’s not mandatory. They try to find out what you really like and deliver a custom-tailored program then. You should have as much fun as possible. And yes – you can control the jet during a part of the flight without having a pilot’s license. All the jets we offer have dual control. On the command “your control” – the stick is yours!

Also included in the “fighter jet rental” is the jet (of course) including fuel, all preparations, briefing, training, interpreter services (in Russia), equipment, transfer from your hotel in Nizhny Novgorod to the Sokol airbase and back, and a quick last medical check to ensure that you are doing fine. The whole duration is about 5-6h.

If you are interested – here you can learn more about the stratosphere flight (Edge of Space flight).

For those who don’t know – here is what the MiG-29 Edge of Space flight looks like (you can order a photo/video package with your flight):

Are there other fighter jets to rent?

Yes – there is a lot of other fighter jets to “rent”. At a lower price than the MiG-29 Fulcrum. Actually some of them less than 10% of what the Edge of Space flight costs. Other jet models that are available include: Aero L-29 Delfin, Aero L-39 Albatros, Hawker Hunter, Vampire, Lockheed T-33, Jet Provost, MiG-15 Midget. A nice overview with prices and locations is available here.

[CSSBUTTON target=”http://www.migflug.com/en” color=”#F22F2C”]Book your own Jet Flight Now![/CSSBUTTON]