| If you consider yourself a self-confessed aviation | | | | Invisible to radar in stealth mode, it could shoot down |
| aficionado, then welcome to the club! Airplanes, | | | | cruise missiles and cover huge distances at supersonic |
| helicopters, rockets, jets… they name it, we know it. | | | | speeds. The F-22 is highly maneuverable, at both |
| Most certainly you have already gone to numerous | | | | supersonic and subsonic speeds. It is extremely |
| aircraft exhibits as well as international air shows and it | | | | departure-resistant, enabling it to remain controllable at |
| has always been your dream to own at least one truly | | | | extreme pilot inputs. . But a mere seven of these were |
| fascinating aircraft. Now buying any aircraft is no joke. | | | | to cost $1.67 billion. 6. <b>P-8A Poseidon</b>- |
| Owning one is a luxury you need to save up for, not | | | | ready your $290 million for this long-range |
| unless you are a "billion-dollar baby". But if you reckon | | | | anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and |
| you have saved up enough, here are the Top 10 of | | | | intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. 7. |
| the most expensive, not to mention extravagant | | | | <b>V-22 Osprey</b> - Part-plane, |
| aircrafts that might interest you. 1. <b>B2 Stealth | | | | part-helicopter, the $118-million Bell-Boeing tilt rotor takes |
| Bomber</b> - Northrop Grumman's Advanced | | | | off vertically but can fly further and faster than a |
| Technology 'Spirit' Bombers cost somewhere between | | | | chopper. It is designed to combine the functionality of a |
| $737 million and $2.2 billion with a cool $1.3 billion per | | | | conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed |
| aircraft, the most often cited figure. The B-2 is a | | | | cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. 8. |
| low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber | | | | <b>Gulfstream G550</b> - Nearly $60 million |
| capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense | | | | each, this is a strong aircraft with an international reach. |
| air-defense shields. It is capable of all-altitude attack | | | | Powered by enhanced Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan |
| missions up to 50,000ft, with a range of more than | | | | engines, the G550 have a range of 6,750 nm at Mach |
| 6,000nm unrefuelled and over 10,000nm with one | | | | 0.80 and a high-speed cruise capability of Mach 0.87. |
| refueling, giving it the ability to fly to any point in the | | | | All this clearly appeals to its many celebrity owners |
| world within hours. It has seen service against the | | | | who include Phillip Green, Greg Norman and Rush |
| mighty air defenses of Serbia, the Taliban, and Iraq. 2. | | | | Limbaugh. Owners of the slightly less expensive G5 |
| <b>Airbus A380</b> –designed to derive | | | | include Apple boss Steve software mogul Larry Ellison |
| great economies of scale by transporting greater | | | | and Hollywood's Jim Carrey. 9. <b>Citation X< |
| numbers of people than other planes for more or less | | | | b> - A cruising speed of Mach 0.92 or 607 mph |
| the same cost in fuel, it costs $300 million. While most | | | | means it's not just the fastest business jet in history |
| of the fuselage is aluminum, composite materials | | | | but now, the fastest civilian jet money can buy. A |
| comprise more than 20% of the A380's airframe. | | | | significant amount of effort throughout the design |
| Carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, glass-fiber reinforced | | | | process was directed towards reducing the Citation |
| plastic and quartz-fiber reinforced plastic are used | | | | X's total drag. The resulting design includes an |
| extensively in wings, fuselage sections (such as the | | | | area-ruled fuselage for efficient transonic flight, and the |
| undercarriage and rear end of fuselage), tail surfaces, | | | | aforementioned highly swept supercritical wing. The |
| and doors. From 2012, Airbus will offer, as an option, | | | | Citation X's wing is slung below the fuselage rather |
| improved maximum take-off weight, thus providing a | | | | than passing through it. This allows increased volume in |
| better payload/range performance. 3. <b>H4 | | | | the fuselage, a one-piece wing, and simplified |
| Hercules aka "Spruce Goose"</b> - Built by the | | | | wing-fuselage connections. 10. <b>Pilatus PC-12< |
| billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes, the world's | | | | b> - Able to cover 2,239 nautical miles between |
| largest flying boat was actually made of birch not | | | | refills, and at 310 mph, it's as expensive as single-engine |
| spruce. Costing an estimated $25 million at 1940s | | | | prop-jobs get at $3.5 million. Most PC-12s are used as |
| prices was the largest flying boat ever built with the | | | | corporate transports, but recent regulatory changes in |
| widest wingspan. It was built after a U.S. government | | | | Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States have |
| request in 1942 for a cargo and troop carrier that | | | | cleared single engine turboprops such as the PC-12 for |
| would not be susceptible to Axis submarines and not | | | | regional passenger transport operations in those |
| use critical wartime materials by substituting wood for | | | | countries. While waiting for the day when you finally |
| metal in its construction. 4. <b>VH-71 Kestrel< | | | | get one of these magnificent but rather expensive |
| b> - A high-tech replacement for the big green | | | | <a rel="nofollow" |
| presidential 'Marine One' we often see lifting off from | | | | onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(' |
| the White House South Lawn, the $241 million Kestrel | | | | outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=" you can delight |
| was scrapped by Obama when he discovered it was | | | | yourself by collecting <a rel="nofollow" |
| running 50% over budget, but he was overruled. The | | | | onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(' |
| total acquisition costs for the VH–71 Presidential | | | | outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=" model airplane< |
| Helicopter replacement program are projected to | | | | a> replicas! That's the next best thing to do, |
| increase from $6.5 billion to $11.2 billion. 5. <b>F22 | | | | anyway! It is as close as you can get to the real thing |
| Raptor</b> - It was designed primarily as an air | | | | (for the mean time), with a fraction of the cost! Have |
| superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that | | | | you picked one yet? |
| include attack, electronic, and signals intelligence role. | | | | |