Apparently his Blackhawk was lonely …

This Is an interesting problem. We are at the end of surplus military equipment that is useful in the civilian world.

Over the years so many startup businesses and airlines were viable because of cheap surplus airplanes and helicopters.

How does this continue? Civilian Ospreys are unlikely and with more stealth technology driving the designs they won't carry over into fire bombers.

C-130s could still be useful but there won't be any C-47s, C-46, Beavers, Otters, Beech 18s, C-54s, Boxcars, etc.

The same for airlines. In the 1950s and 60s, 70s airframes were retired with a lot of life left that allowed startup Cargo and package shipping operations.

The Dash 8s were kept in service long enough they did not carry over to these small operations in the same numbers. Beech 1900s and Merlins are going almost gone. Shorts are gone. What replaces them? I still hear Queenairs in the upper Midwest though.

Bring back the DC-3!

Edit to add: If I live to be 90 years old, one of goals is to go for a flight on a 100 year old DC-3.

Flew in a a Metro out of Roswell, N.M. once. It was a water injection takeoff and we all held up our feet. Also flew in C-47's on ROTC field trips, which carried parachutes for us on flights over high terrain.