Coolest Airplane you ever flew or flew in

[BigSky56]

Helio courier for a plane, OH6 for rotarywing those loachs are crash worthy little buggers,unless you have a tranny seizure, they hit and roll. A freedom bird yes C130, missed the commercial flight, put in ear plugs then put on ear muffs enjoy your nap on a cargo pallet learned that from rides on C7's and C123's. danny

[Pitchy]

my favorite all-time plane and pilot...

Thanks bro,
Other than flying home on leave in commercial airplanes i got to go on a high speed taxi check in a F4 in the AF once.
Actually that`s all i got out of the above also.
I still plan on gliding on a home made wing someday.

[OJ]

I lucked out and found this one with only FTO (ferry time only - 20 hours) on the Hobbs meter - belonged to a duster who never put it into service - I almost assumed they came out of the factory with a thousand or so hours. Maybe not as fancy as jets, fighter planes, etc. - but it took me into a wider variety of places and was more versatile than most other planes - all the way from into San Francisco International (they made me perform exercises like descending in holding pattern at an intersection - knowing I had only one nav-com - think they had never seen a Cub before) to remote hayfields at ranch where I grew up - to help round-up and branding. Service ceiling was 19,000 feet above sea level.





Not fast and fancy as other planes in the fleet - but would perform things they couldn't do - on less fuel consumption too. Experimenting one day, found it wouldn't do 5 turn spins - OK for 2, 3, and 4 turns - but when I went for 5 turns, its momentum carried it to 6 turns - decided 2 turns were enough fun then.

Did get my commercial license though but never made any real money there though. Did impress a surgical patient of mine who had a farm east of CS - on a post-op visit, he voiced the thought I might be interested in coming out to his place some Tuesday afternoon - there was some pilot doing the craziest things above his place. He didn't freak out when I informed him it was his surgeon relaxing - for me - beats golf (which I tried for years to like - never worked) any day.

[Booger Bill]

Got to tell this one. Back around 1977 I flew my citaberia from california to wisconsin. A lot of old family and friends wanted rides. I took a cousin up. I spotted a short strip in the middle of a christmas tree farm. I think we both needed a pit stop so I decided to land. Turned out it wasnt a airstrip at all but a service road for the crop I guess. It was a squeeker and I was sure to do things right. I came in low and slow, chopped and flaired. There was maybe two feet off each wingtip to the christmas trees on each side. I was committed. A huge nice buck ran out in front of me. I was closeing in on it and it scratched out and ran ahead of me. My cousin sitting behind me was bellering in my ear, ya are gonna hit him! I might have clipped his tail at one point with the prop! The buck was speeding up as I was standing on the brakes. Once or twice the buck looked like it wanted to dart in the christmas trees to the side but evidently thought he was going to fast to attempt it and would scratch out faster yet ahead as we were closeing! He finaly made it. It took me two trys to get out of there! My cousin took some flying lessons after that.

[Pitchy]

OJ, i believe this is a super cub, a guy not to far from me owns it and it has real low hours on it.

[Booger Bill]

Heres what you all need! I like the model with the new rotex radial engine. It`s seven clyinder with 110 HP. Lots of good videos.
http://kitfoxaircraft.com/

http://kitfoxaircraft.com/video%20gallery.htm

[OJ]

OJ, i believe this is a super cub, a guy not to far from me owns it and it has real low hours on it.

Yep - you are correct. The Super Cub was under rated by most modern day pilots with their tricycle gear plane and they didn't know what they were missing. Not fast but, could get into high altitude short strips others couldn't and provided entertainment in many ways. It's a shame they quit making them the year after mine was made (1976)

I was getting ready to leave salt Lake City when a man brought his young (8 or 10 year old) son and spent much time explaining to him how he was looking at a piece of history in my Cub. He then asked what year it was made and I told him "last year". He looked shocked - like the comic strip guy in Pogo - who berated people for "destroying confidence in their father " and stalked away.

Once when I had just qualified to solo, I was practicing landings at our municipal airport one summer Sunday afternoon about happy hour time and everybody interested in flying was in the bar watching - at least I thought so. I learned you don't do wheels landings (as opposed to three-point landings) with even a 5 knot tail wind - I did a ground loop. Never having seen such, before I knew what was happening, the right wing tip was scrapping the concrete and I was sure I would die in a burning plane - the exit door being on the right.

The, in the blink of an eye, it was over, the engine was idling OK, and I was cross-ways on the runway. Then the controller in the tower brought me back to reality by asking what my intentions were - since I was blocking the active runway.

My impulse was to tell him I was going to get out of that plane, change shorts, walk away, and never get into another plane - however, I replied I would taxi to parking and was cleared to do that. That was over some 2500 hours as PIC (Pilot In Command) I have flown since - without incident or accident.

Then, it got even more funny. I taxied to parking at the east end of the runway and parked by the hanger - when a very excited guy ran up and told me I should have been there a few minutes ago - I would have seen some guy ground loop a Cub at the other end of the runway. I showed him the scraped wing tip and told him he should have seen it from where I was - he looked shocked and walked away shaking his head.

Damage was so slight, it was back in service before noon the next day - but it stuck in my memory a lot longer.

[Pitchy]

Whew, close call.
The guy that owns this plane is a handy fella, he built that three wheeler it has a flat head ford engine in it.

[Booger Bill]

He sure likes red doesnt he! I also had a couple ground loops. My first one was back in the 60s. I also had just a few solo hours. I belonged to a club that had three planes. A luscombe, a 150 and a 170. I ground looped the luscombe but just scraped the wingtip and busted a wheel. They determined I was the first guy to fly it right after another guy put on a new tailwheel. They said he hooked up the chains too tight on one side. Being a new pilot I probley didnt notice that I had to compensate heavy to keep the plane straight on taxing and take off. When I landed the tailwheel must have been almost crosswise.
The secound one was in my citaberia. I had a close friend that set me up with his cute boss on a blind date. It was my secound flight after getting it out of its yearly annual. I picked her up and flew to another airport for the usual 50 dollar hamburger as we used to call it. I made a normal for me landing and things went to hell. On inspection we found the gear had snapped off. The axle was welded to a plate that was bolted to the gear leg. It was found the weld had cracked and rusted completely through. It wasnt found in the annual. Right after that I got a letter from some lawyer that had the same thing happen to a client that had the same model plane. Then the FAA made everyone with the same model change them to a onepiece forged one. Actualy, that was the beginning of the end of my flying as for various reasons I had nothing but bad luck with the plane after that. First it took forever to get it fixed and then I decided to get it recovered, that took years, then the guys daughter ground looped it, then he was suppose to fix the damage, still isnt done. Meanwhile I moved out of state, he had sickness in his family etc. I have issues with my blood thinner and am trying to get my physical. I even bought the new metal spar wings for $18,000s, left him $5,000s for upcomeing parts he would need etc. It still isnt finished. We are talking something like 15 to 20 years here!

[jackruff]

Not nearly as cool as some already described, but I flew in a Southern Airways Martin 404 from Gulfport to Jackson to Greenwood to Oxford when I was a student at Ole Miss in 1967. Southern still flew DC3's into Oxford in those days, and they flew right over my dorm. You could see oil leaking out of the engines as they flew over! The Martin, having a pressurized cabin, was sort of luxurious compared to the old DC3's.

[samb]

OJ if I was told you only get to fly one airplane type for the rest of your life I would choose your Super Cub! Nice bird, Kudo's to your years of safe flying.
Sam
PS if I win the lottery I will buy a Super Cub and build a cabin in the Yukon.

[olyinaz]

Yep - you are correct. The Super Cub was under rated by most modern day pilots with their tricycle gear plane and they didn't know what they were missing. Not fast but, could get into high altitude short strips others couldn't and provided entertainment in many ways. It's a shame they quit making them the year after mine was made (1976)

OJ, I hope you wont mind if this young(er) pilot takes issue with that and offers another view. I cannot think of a pilot that I know, and I know and work with thousands of them, who does not LOVE the Super Cub! It is an icon. It is beloved. And it's still in production:

http://www.cubcrafters.com/aircraft

http://www.aviataircraft.com/husky.html

The "Christen" (now Aviat) Husky is the most well known modern production Cub, but the Cubcrafters shop cranks out some really nice and well known airplanes also.

The new "Carbon Cub" even updates the old gal with carbon fiber replacing mild steel in various locations in order to drop 250lbs from the aircraft's empty weight. That's like NOT having your beefy friend in the passenger seat all day, every day, and it really puts some pep in her step!





To say that "I want one" is extreme understatement.

Oly

[new pig hunter]

coolest airplane I ever flew in: EA-6B Prowler, back seat, port side. Daytime launch & recovery from the USS Constellation (CV-64) in July 1973, off the coast of Vietnam.
EE-HAH, Cowboy, what a ride !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFKIOnsHotU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS6jjYXCKVM

Cheers,

Carl

[Canuck Bob]

A tie, In the late 70's I flew north of the Arctic Circle in a DC-3 in February. The other was the open framed ultralight I soloed in, EZ Flyer based on the old Breezy homebuilt.

http://www.ezflyer.com/page6BYA.html

[Pitchy]

I`m sure jealous about all you guys that have flown all those cool aircraft.

[Washita]

N3N Navy biplane trainer--the very same one used in the Cary Grant movie, North by Northwest, where Grant's character was buzzed in the wheat field. Flew the route used by the Japanese when they bombed Pearl Harbor. I was supposed to get a ride in an SNJ (the Navy version of the Army AT6), but the pilot didn't show up. This was my "consolation" flight!

Flight provided by "Planes of Infamy" on Oahu back in '93. I don't know whether or not they're still in business.

Forgot to add a point of interest: much, if not all, of the aluminum used in the N3N's frame came from the wreck of one of the Navy's rigid-frame airships that crashed in the 1930's. I don't remember which one. Akron, maybe?

[Old Time Hunter]

JU87.....

Tell me you were on the correct side,....Terry? Then again, most of the prisoners went by cattle car. VIP status?

This is the coolest one, for me.....

[stew71]

The coolest one I've ever been aboard was a Beech King Air 350.



The coolest one I've ever flown...my good ol' Cessna 172M.

[trapper45]

First assignment out of pilot training is still the favorite: EC-47 operating out of Thailand, '73-'74. Quite a transition from T-38 to taildragger.

[Premo]

Concorde, not a interesting story, just a business trip in 1980. Very cool plane though. Gave everyone onboard a set of 4 coasters as a "plesant and usefull reminder of your flight on board the Concorde- the flagship of the Brittish Airways fleet-the utlimate in air travel". Still have the coasters.

[hfcable]

flown in a lot of things, L19s, grumman goose, grumman widgeon, cubs, beavers, otters, dc3, navions, cessnas, c128s, C141,helos of many types.....but the funnest was two weeks flying in and flying a T-34 trainer, with a highly skilled airforce hot dog, who let me do all the things i had always wanted to do ....snap rolls, power dives, barrel rolls......that was the most fun i have EVER had in an aircraft!