Could not agree more - great aeroplane to take to an airshow!!
Tootle pip!!

PS: How about a thread on "the worst".

if we are talking engine power and reliability... the DHC1 chipmunk! :}

<ducks head to avoid incoming :)>


(ps just in case - I have always thought the Chippie was a sweet aeroplane to fly)

Before I headed off on a Uk - Oz lengthy jolly, behind a Gipsy Major Mk 10 -2, Middle Wallop was abuzz with Chippies with like engines. Talking with the engineers there, who also did a final check on mine, I was told there had not been a failure due to the engine itself. Those that did go down were by trainee pilots, carby icing, mag points , fuel probs etc peripheral stuff. A confidence builder !,?. Was for me anyway.
impulse mag points needed regapping in India, a bit of carby icing over the Timor Sea…but that old Gipsy did just keep on noisily humming along.

Nicest handling piston twin - Aerostar by far. Then Aero Commander. C414A nice & safe if un-exciting.
Never felt relaxed in Chieftain for some reason.
Worst - Seneca 1. What a total ****-box. Later models marginally better.
Single - haven’t flown Chippie etc., but of the usual GA stuff only the C210 had nice handling (haven’t flown a Bonanza but suspect that’d be the only one that would be as good or better).

I flew a number of well maintained chiefs on mostly passenger charter and some RPT. They were always very reliable and safe. I know more than a few that are in pretty bad shape doing freight work and outback. That might be the ones you would feel 'at risk' in.

I did the endorsement back in the ole days where the instructor pulled the mixture and you actually feathered and landed 1 inop. It handled well on one engine, even had an air return on one engine with 10 pob at a later date. Knowing exactly how much drag an open cowl flap or such creates is critical at max weight, that alone could be the difference between climb, level or not. They definitely did not like hot conditions, very easy for those oil and CHT temps to build up if you stayed low on a hot day, and opening the barn door cowls would slow you significantly.

Yes, my feelings were probably not related to the aircraft themselves. The ones I flew were in good condition and very well maintained (this was 20+ years ago).
I think it was because every takeoff was at max weight and we were flying out of very hot locations virtually every day, and I knew those engines were working to their absolute limit.
But apart from one return to the departure field 5 minutes after takeoff due to oil streaming out of the left engine they were pretty reliable aircraft, to be fair.

Every twin endorsement I did ended in the way you describe. The last one was more than fifteen years ago so maybe things are done differently now.

+1 here for the Aerostar.

C130A and C47 both queens of the sky

trashie, the jump from C47 to C130A for airforce must have been a jaw dropping revolution (says he, stating the bleeding obvious).

DHC-1, B55, B200, F27, B727 & B767. - none of them as good as a H269 ;)

For me it would be the BE36 on the one spectrum and the B777 on the other, reason being is they both fly on rails , solid -the Rolls Royce of airplanes.

I have not flown one but i nominate the hawker hurricane . Boom .

No votes for the 707?! :\ :}

I'd vote for the 707 as one of the nicest looking.

Particularly the little Qantas138b.

Especially at low speed! Superb handling. Know of one that during an endorsement, was stalled at 15,000’, tumbled nose over tail and didn’t recover until 7,000’. There’s a winner right there!

Best of some 50 light airplanes (regrettably not including the Chipmunk), T-34, especially with an Allison 250 turboprop engine (one of a kind) that doubled the horsepower; Worst, Cessna 150 converted to a tail dragger with a more powerful engine for glider towing - inadequate rudder for much of a crosswind (and in some cases, it wasn’t as heavy as the sailplane being towed, which occasionally raised the question of whether the tow plane pilot or the sailplane pilot was in charge of the proceedings); second worst, Mooney M20, because of the lack of control harmony, but if you weren’t a big person and only wanted to go places, adequate for the task.

Extra 300 for easiest, Pitts S2A for most fun.
PC12NG for best all-round working aeroplane!
Yes, I'm definitely biased....

Twins
Aerostar, provided your endorsement was done by somebody with plenty of experience on the type and had been outside the local circuit area.
PA-31/310, great aeroplane with wing lockers, crew door and cargo door.
PA-39

Singles
F33 Bonanza

Definition of “best handling” and for what
 

What is your defintion of “best handling”?

”best handling” for what purpose..?

Best handling jet for short strips that I have flown Boeing 727

“ Best handling” old school small corporate jet for hand flying Learjet 35

” Best handling” offstrip and short strips The Twin Otter

Agree that the Beechcraft 99 for unpressurized turboprops handled awesome