# What Do You Think of Small Planes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 31, 2004, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903 "2004-01-31T10:49:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/21 "2004-02-01T02:05:32Z")
> [@](#): > > this is mostly flattering, and I’m glad to hear from ya’ll, but the folks who don’t like the little planes have to be out there somewhere… If it makes you happy, I don’t really like ANY planes, but I’m willing to live on the same planet with them. As long as I don’t have to fly in them. I view small plane pilots as being somewhat in the same category as bungee jumpers…people who get a thrill out of something that would make me lose sphincter control. The thing is, though, I have enough odd pleasures of my own (D&D, reading science fiction and fantasy, etc.) that I recognize it’s in my own best interest to tolerate the odd interests of other people. ---
**Author:** ![RotorHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@RotorHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RotorHead)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/22 "2004-02-01T02:36:01Z")
I’m a bit biased, being a pilot and all. Love them. This morning I headed down to the airport and borrowed the twin Aztec from the flight school where I used to teach. (Still do occassionally, but not a regular thing). Flew out to the coast, got some good seafood for lunch, flew back. Gotta love it. Would have been a 4 1/2 hour drive each way. All the same, I would rather fly a slower helicopter, but I won’t be complaining. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/23 "2004-02-01T02:51:26Z")
> [@Shyabrick](#): > > One of my favorite quotes is about the DeHavilland Beaver. “The most efficient aircraft ever produced at converting fuel to noise.” You heard that from that bitch Joan Fontaine, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/24 "2004-02-01T03:09:44Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I don’t really like ANY planes, but I’m willing to live on the same planet with them. As long as I don’t have to fly in them. I view small plane pilots as being somewhat in the same category as bungee jumpers…people who get a thrill out of something that would make me lose sphincter control. What **Lynn** said. I am in awe of anyone who goes up in a small plane, let alone pilots one. ---
**Author:** ![indyz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/fbc32d/32.png) [@indyz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indyz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/25 "2004-02-01T03:14:05Z")
I love small planes, as do most skydivers. I’ve got a couple hundred jumps from various Cessna 182s and 206s, Shorts Skyvans, CASAs, de Havilland Twin Otters, Beech King Airs, a Pitt Special biplane, and an Allouette II helicopter (4 seater). Hanging on to the outside of a plane going 80 mph is a neat perspective on aviation that most people will never get to see. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/26 "2004-02-01T04:33:39Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > I recall once hearing on the radio about somebody near the Carolina coast who took off in an ultralight and apparently got disoriented and was last seen heading EAST. Right. Out over the Atlantic ocean. Apparently had no compass (!), no radio, nothing. Pretty hard to look for an itty bitty thing like that over the vast ocean. They kind of gave up after the time when they figured his fuel ran out. Legal. But dumb. Very dumb As I said, there is a distinct whiff of Darwin when it comes to ultralights. That’s why ultralights are single-seaters only in the US - the FAA will allow you to kill yourself, but they don’t want you to take anyone else with you. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/5daacb/32.png) [@Old\_Goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Goat)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/27 "2004-02-01T06:45:36Z")
Worked in western Alaska for years. Only way to get anywhere is boat or plane. Much prefer the plane. Spectacular views you would never get from a large aircraft. Caribou herding up in the fall, looking for bears. However, any flight over 3 hours can get cramped and there is the noise level. Also rode in Hueys from Cam Rahn inland. Loved the view. No door. Hot dogging pilots used to try to scare us by treetopping. Whoopee! Until one of them crashed. Only thing I dislike about small aircarft is fog. I get instantly dis-oriented. I would never be able to land a tail dragger because I couldn’t see the runway. ---
**Author:** ![BytopianDream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@BytopianDream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BytopianDream)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/28 "2004-02-01T07:32:13Z")
My very first flight was in a twin engine 6 seater airplane. It was cool as cool was. I really liked being able to see everything. I took a commercial non-stop cross USA country flight during the summer. It was boring and I couldn’t see squat. Which sucked. I loved the only time I flew in one. I have a pilot friend that wants me to fly with him some day. He flies the bitty birds. When we actually can manage it, it’ll be great. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/29 "2004-02-01T07:59:26Z")
The first time I ever flew was in a tiny four seater…think VW bug with wings. I was at Southern Illinois University and they have a flying school, so students needed to fly and would sometimes offer flights if you chipped in for the gas money. Anyway…a woman I knew flew with me and they were to land at my small, hometown “airport” which was nothing more than an old, unused highway. We took off in clear skies and half an hour later, we were in the middle of a fucking blizzard. The woman I was flying with was sucking down valium like it was Pez candies, the two student fliers tried to go above the clouds but the plane wasn’t able to do so. We flew blind (the had radio contact, but nothing else) and it was freezing in that thing. We got the the hometown and the winds were horendous…couldn’t land after three attempts and had to fly to the next largest airport which was Joliet. They radioed in, all other flights were diverted and we landed, at about 80 miles per hour with the sound of tires zipping like hoards of killer bees. We came to a full stop about 3 feet from a cyclone fence. A week later, the same guys landed at my hometown highway landing strip to pick us up for the return flight. My father practically had to force me at gunpoint to get back on that deathtrap (he was in the Air Force during the war) and oddly enough, the flight back was perfect. We didn’t fly that high, so you could see people in cars driving down below and it was really kind of nice. I didn’t mind flying after that…until I was in a jet bound for Luxembourg that had the engines catch fire and almost crashed. Since then, I don’t like to fly, but I do. I just dread it for about three weeks before I fly and the whole time I am in the air, you don’t want to sit next to me…trust me. I am the white knuckled guy breathing in the paper bag. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903/30 "2004-02-01T08:29:38Z")
I like them. I’m not prone to airsickness in general, but I’ve found that I’m even less prone to it in smaller planes–most likely because you tend to get better views out of them, just from window access and lower altitudes. One of the first things I do in the future after getting my eyes replaced with bionic implants will be getting a private pilot’s license. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-small-planes/226903.md?page=1)