Alright. I was telling a colleague about a small plane I once rode in, wherein the pilot was so laidback that he flew with a window open and his elbow resting on the door frame. Said colleague is highly skeptical that such a thing was possible, so I wonder whether anyone can suggest small planes that might fit this admittedly vague description.
The year was 1987.
The flight took place between Cozumel and Cancun in Mexico, so it was a short hop and we didn’t fly very high.
There were 3 or 4 rows of bench seats for the passengers, and you could get into the plane from either side - just like getting into the back seat of a 4-door sedan. The passenger luggage was heaped on the seats in back, so no separate cargo hold. One passenger ended up sitting up front with the pilot. :eek:
I could swear that the window next to the pilot’s seat was a triangular window that opened up by angling outward, like some older cars used to have.
I think it had a single prop on the nose.
Any suggestions for planes that might have fit this bill? Or did I drink too much tequila to remember clearly?
You aren’t necessarilly crazy. There are planes that you can fly with the doors and windows open. Piper Cubs and Aviat Huskies are two of them but those are smaller than you describe. How does this person think skydiving planes work? Some planes can cruise as slowly as a car on an interstate highway.
It’s no problem flying with the windows or doors open (it’s nice in the summer) Sometimes if we’re taking pictures we’ll just take the doors off a C172. Nice and breezy.
Some other options may be the De Haviiland Beaver or the Otter. Both are very nice aircraft. The Otter is significantly larger than the Beaver. They’re both pretty famous in Canada (They were designed built by a Canadian company, and the Beaver even graces one of our quarters)
That’s pretty standard procedure. Most places will do that. Why let a perfectly good seat go to waste?
… So are these close? We seem to have made the assumption that it’s a high-wing aircraft (the wing is above your head if you’re inside the plane)
Thanks, folks. Of the pictures posted so far, the Otter seems closest. The Cessna 208 looks a little too big, while the Beaver and Cessna 210 are too small.
Good to know that I haven’t gone entirely around the bend, in any case.
You can only enter each passenger seat from one side, but which side you have to enter on alternates down the length of the fusalage. Each door serving 2-3 rows. And yes they did put a paying fare in the right seat…which I grabbed for the return trip, as the leg room in back was sorely lacking.
Kevbo,, I thought I remembered the prop being on the nose, but it’s possible I was wrong about that.
Oh, and we did the flight to Chichen Itza too, only we were in a small jet that held about 80 people total, so it was much bigger than the Cozumel-Cancun plane. I wish the pilot could have cracked open the window on that one - we got stuck sitting on the tarmac with no a/c in 104 deg. F weather, with only warm beer to drink while we waited. I started to get sick from the heat, so as soon as we finally took off, I headed for the toilet at the rear. (okay, another plane to identify now… :p) The toilet took up the entire pointy end of the tail, and I could actually feel a bit of a breeze in there. :eek: But the cool air felt so good, I stayed in the toilet until we landed at Chichen Itza… startled the heck out of everyone else when I walked out of the toilet just as they were disembarking through the rear door.
I’ve flown Islanders, the window is a small “storm window” set inside the main side window and folds down so it doesn’t really match the description. You can fly with your elbow hanging out a bit though.
