What was/is your favorite airplane to fly?
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: flyover country USA
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The Stearman and Staggerwing have been mentioned - but I have a very few hours in the rare Spartan 7W and it is sheer delight. Control forces call for fingertip handling. 
A-4 Skyhawk (But I'm a Phantom guy by trade.) Can't beat Ed Heinemann's application of the KISS principle. You flew it all the time. No one maintained the A/P.
You strap on the A-4, roll to the catapult and off you go, just like a bird.
On the other hand, the Phantom rides down the glide slope line it's hooked to a wire. No fuss, no bother.
For a prop, the A-1, Skyraider is tops. Lots of power and stable as a rock once you learn to manage the torque on takeoff.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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The nicest/easiest to fly - C208 Caravan. In terms of handling qualities Cessna engineers got her just right. Perfect balance of control forces/stability/maneuvrability. Would make an ideal primary trainer, but for the operating cost...
Not so easy to handle, but my all time favourite - Extra 300. To quote the late Duke Elegant, "cranky little slut on the ground and a hard ridin' whore in the air"
(o.k., He said that about a Pitts, but I think this description fits the Extra very well)
Pilatus PC-12 - a great blend of short field performance and decent cruise speed/range, makes perfectly smooth landings everytime due to huge low-preessure tires and shock absorbers. Perfect for short/unpaved runways. A bit heavy on ailerons, but that's the only caveat.
A320 - actually quite nice to hand fly (though feels a bit strange and "spongy" at times) and has a very comfortable cockpit. I have yet to fly a Boeing though...
Helicopters (if it counts) -
Hughes 300. very responsive, yet not too twichy. V eryeasy to control (for a helicopter), with virtually no innertia at all - it just follows your thought/hand. Not so nice for autorotations (sinks like a brick)
Bell-47 - opposite of the Hughes - sluggish, spongy, with huge control delays, very (I mean VERY) slow in crusie. Yet once you get used to it it's a real joy to fly, with unmached visibility thru the bubble canopy. Very benign in autorotations. More like a flying carpet than a helicopter...
Not so easy to handle, but my all time favourite - Extra 300. To quote the late Duke Elegant, "cranky little slut on the ground and a hard ridin' whore in the air"
(o.k., He said that about a Pitts, but I think this description fits the Extra very well)Pilatus PC-12 - a great blend of short field performance and decent cruise speed/range, makes perfectly smooth landings everytime due to huge low-preessure tires and shock absorbers. Perfect for short/unpaved runways. A bit heavy on ailerons, but that's the only caveat.
A320 - actually quite nice to hand fly (though feels a bit strange and "spongy" at times) and has a very comfortable cockpit. I have yet to fly a Boeing though...
Helicopters (if it counts) -
Hughes 300. very responsive, yet not too twichy. V eryeasy to control (for a helicopter), with virtually no innertia at all - it just follows your thought/hand. Not so nice for autorotations (sinks like a brick)
Bell-47 - opposite of the Hughes - sluggish, spongy, with huge control delays, very (I mean VERY) slow in crusie. Yet once you get used to it it's a real joy to fly, with unmached visibility thru the bubble canopy. Very benign in autorotations. More like a flying carpet than a helicopter...
Last edited by Stuck_in_an_ATR; 29th Dec 2011 at 18:30.
Join Date: Jan 2002
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Different classes, and different reasons.
L-1011-500; because it was the best all-round flying aircraft.
L-188C: perfectly balanced controls, tons of power.
DC-6B: because that was what made me a professional pilot.
Beech D-18S: because that made me into a pilot.
Auster Aiglet (like a Cub, but with inline engine); cos that's what I soloed on.
L-1011-500; because it was the best all-round flying aircraft.
L-188C: perfectly balanced controls, tons of power.
DC-6B: because that was what made me a professional pilot.
Beech D-18S: because that made me into a pilot.
Auster Aiglet (like a Cub, but with inline engine); cos that's what I soloed on.
Join Date: Nov 2011
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It's less about the plane but the circumstance....Point A to B?
Walk out, hop in, by myself at FL450 reading a book, Oregon to Florida in 4.5 hours.
Citation Ultra.
R22s are pure fun though.
Walk out, hop in, by myself at FL450 reading a book, Oregon to Florida in 4.5 hours.
Citation Ultra.
R22s are pure fun though.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Piston: Loved the Chippy, The Beech Baron was a pleasure to fly but the Navajo, when trimmed out, was very pleasant also, had a lot of fun in the BN2 Islander, Beech18, another pleasure to fly but a pig on one.
Turbo Prop: Only ever flew the SC7 Skyvan, (The original 'Shed'), fun but very slow and noisy.
Jet: Favourite all time aircraft has to be the B747-400, followed by B767-300ER then B757-200, B737-200 & -300.
That would be pre B747-400 then?
Turbo Prop: Only ever flew the SC7 Skyvan, (The original 'Shed'), fun but very slow and noisy.
Jet: Favourite all time aircraft has to be the B747-400, followed by B767-300ER then B757-200, B737-200 & -300.
the only wide body that wasn't underpowered
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Auster 9 and Gripper
Prop (unfortunately not VP). The Auster AOP 9 was great fun, even if slightly prone to spring a 'ground loop' on you - saw a mate suffer that on a carrier once in the S China Sea. He was helped out, white and shaking, with the sea rushing by 60ft below him. 12 psi tyres let you land almost anywhere. Climb performance required an adrenalin injection in the tropics though, especially in mountainous areas.
Jets - Trident, without a doubt. The "Gripper", once airborne, was fabulous. Not a huge rate of climb, but what a rate of descent! With 1 and 3 in reverse, we got 22,000 fpm once with a windscreen problem. Noisy and heavy on the fuel, but who cared in the days when 'security' was not much more than "You can't take that with you, it stinks (or wriggles or weighs a ton)" and .88 in the cruise until the first fuel scare.
Prober
Jets - Trident, without a doubt. The "Gripper", once airborne, was fabulous. Not a huge rate of climb, but what a rate of descent! With 1 and 3 in reverse, we got 22,000 fpm once with a windscreen problem. Noisy and heavy on the fuel, but who cared in the days when 'security' was not much more than "You can't take that with you, it stinks (or wriggles or weighs a ton)" and .88 in the cruise until the first fuel scare.
Prober
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Schempp-Hirth Ventus b, with wingtips: Yes, wants to be 'flown' all the time, but isn't that why we go gliding? Fantastic on the straight runs, too!
Cessna 404 Titan. You're perched high up with a great view, taxiing out with your side-window hinged up, listening to that lovely rumble. Lands anywhere. Loads of range, lots of lifting-capability. Only Cessna twin with genuine engine-out capabilities.
Somebody mentioned the venerable Kingair 200. Say no more.
Learjet 31a. Does everything it says on the tin, and more. Delightful handling, lots of power (not silly, like the 60, but more than plenty).
The day-job, oh well... good performance, I suppose.
Anybody willing to let me have a go in their Aero 145? Please, please?
Cessna 404 Titan. You're perched high up with a great view, taxiing out with your side-window hinged up, listening to that lovely rumble. Lands anywhere. Loads of range, lots of lifting-capability. Only Cessna twin with genuine engine-out capabilities.
Somebody mentioned the venerable Kingair 200. Say no more.
Learjet 31a. Does everything it says on the tin, and more. Delightful handling, lots of power (not silly, like the 60, but more than plenty).
The day-job, oh well... good performance, I suppose.
Anybody willing to let me have a go in their Aero 145? Please, please?
