C-5A pilot seat - is this a good price?

[Chris Brame]

My boss spotted this C-5A seat on Craigslist; is $300 a pretty fair price?





Build date on the data plate is 10-69.

[JohnB]

Yes, I'd say that's a fair, if not very good, price.
That's based on prices of (primarily ejection) seats I've seen in various places.

Seems like dealers always ask premium prices for aviation memorabilia, even if it's essentially worthless as anything other than a momento for aviation nerds.

BTW: I've seen C-5s at D-M, are some being scrapped....otherwise, I can't imagine how a seat became available...unless they were upgraded at some point?

[airnutz]

Yup, very good price. We've got a pair of MD-80 seats which we may sell, so I've been shopping prices on the web. Some people are asking "crazy crackhead" prices of $3500-$6500. These are not repair or NOS market prices but e-bay listed as "used" or "for parts, not working". Some comparables are $1500ish, but starting toward reasonable prices hang around $700-$850 average but $400-$500 is not unusual for DC-9, 737, 747 etc. Our set came out of a repair station with rolling transport bases for mobility around the shop. One of the seats has a couple of small cracks and I imagine something that old was cheaper to find a NOS/used replacement than to repair it.

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Are you sure that's a pilot's seat? Been a long time since I've been in a C-5 cockpit, but it doesn't look like one to me. Lots of non-pilot's seats on a C-5 flight deck...

I'll meanwhile check with a friend who is a C-5 command pilot.

[maxum96]

Looks like the seat in the OP's post is a C-5 pilot's seat.

Travis Air Force Base Heritage Center's C-5 cockpit trainer.

[Stephan Wilkinson]

My pal, a retired lt. col. C-5 command pilot with the NYANG 105th Airlift Wing, currently a Triple Seven senior captain for United, says as far as he can tell it's the slideable jump seat that can be positioned between the pilots' chairs. Not a pilot's seat.

Actually, now that I look back over the thread, I see that nobody ever claimed it was a pilot's seat. So it is indeed "a C-5A seat."

[airnutz]

I see that nobody ever claimed it was a pilot's seat."

'Cept for the heading of the thread.

Chris, what does the data plate say? Is it Lockheed?

[Chris Brame]

Here you go:

I'll admit the assumption that it's a pilot's seat was mine; I figured it was because it's notched in the center for the control column to pass through.

[airnutz]

In my limited experience on the subject I'd say that was a fair assumption about the control column notch. Other C-5 A flight deck photos i've seen, the observer seat was low-backed comparatively. Mebee the AF reduced costs by using the similar base unit and tweaked it to the application?

[sandiego89]

..... Mebee the AF reduced costs by using the similar base unit and tweaked it to the application?

On the aircraft infamous for the $500 toilet seat? Hmmmm. Seats seem rather position specific.

By the way, anyone near Dover should stop by the excellent museum there. The docents will let you in the C-5 cargo bay under escort. Flight deck is only open ~ once a month.

[airnutz]

..... Mebee the AF reduced costs by using the similar base unit and tweaked it to the application?

On the aircraft infamous for the $500 toilet seat? Hmmmm. Seats seem rather position specific.

I know! Pure crazy talk! Mebbee that was the solution after the public found out about the golden throne accessory? Some Senator went back to Washington with a solution to save the program "major" money, I dunno. Like I said in other pics I've seen of the C-5A flight deck, the observer seat was different, especially the back. In other manufacturer examples, like factory or IPECO, the observer seat didn't have the column relief. The mysteries of life...

[p51]

$300 for a seat in that good a shape? If I saw one like that for that price that was close enough I could drive to go pick it up, I'd LEAP on that deal.
I can't say what the actual value for something like that is, but I've never seen a seat in that good condition for sale for that little.

[Chris Brame]

Guess it must have been a good deal - my boss said it sold as we were discussing it.

He's not too sad - he went out and bought a Jensen Healey instead.

[JohnB]

He's not too sad - he went out and bought a Jensen Healey instead.

The upcoming troubles with the Jensen Healy will make forget about the seat. The JH is among the least heralded sports cars of all time.
Even assuming that much of its negative reputation is a result of "garage talk" (the automotive equivalent of hangar talk), the car was a dog.
Really, when they were new, a doctor who lived across the street bought one new. His first engine lasted 1500 miles. Combine that level of mechanical uncertainty with terrible styling and abhorrent build quality from the strike-prone UK workers and the general meltdown if the UK automotive industry of the 70s....and you have the perfect recipe for a car to take his mind off any other problems he may have.