There used to be a non-IATA airline named Skycraft out of Oshawa, Ontario, that flew to Windsor, Ontario, among other places. (I suspect a lot of GM people used it.) The company I worked for in Oshawa sent me to Head Office in Detroit for a time, and flew me home every other weekend. Most of the time they used a Shorts <not sure of model> which seated thirty people and was about the same size as a Greyhound bus.
Once, though… we came back from Windsor in a six-passenger-seat Learjet. Coooooolll… There was no door to the cockpit; I could see indicators and controls, and out the front windows. We flew south of Toronto during early night, same level as the clouds. It was amazing passing between those fluffy giants, all underlit from the side by the lights of the megalopolis off to our left.
I have over 2000 hours, and the best time of all of it is the aerobatic airplanes BY FAR. I used to fly a buddy’s Pitts S1-S, and Duane Cole taught me my basic aerobatics in his Decathlon.
I’ve got some simulator time in F-16 (Misawa; the fighter wing gave me a cool plaque to commemorate the event) and KC-135 (survival school instructor found out I was a pilot and set it up for me). My only turbine time is 45 VERY unofficial minutes in the right seat of a Dassault Falcon 20 during a friend’s check-ride with the coolest FAA examiner EVER (he kinda looked the other way).
I have gotten to do some other cool stuff in and around airplanes: an RC-135 intelligence collection flight along the Saudi/Iraqi border (a war-zone), I sat in several warbirds (remember the ME-109 that George C. Scott’s character got out of in the opening scene of “The Hindenberg”?). I flew on a LearJet that was a “Soviet Naval Aviation Tu-26M Backfire” that “fired” F-16s as “cruise missiles” attacking a carrier battle group in the Sea of Japan. KC-135 mission refueling B-52s over the Great Lakes. Spare cockpit seat on a C-17 coming home from Saudi Arabia.
And some good ole-timey fun aviatin’ was in a fine old 1941-vintage J-3 Cub. Li’l-bitty 65-hp Continental engine, 72 knots top speed, and cranky to land. But a real beauty. I loved her. VERY cool airplane ya got there, Mr. Piper.
I can’t even remember all the other stuff right now, but it’s been some great times!
Been fortunate enough to have ridden in Don Sheldon’sPA-14(before my cousin flipped it at Bonanza Creek), a C-130 Hercules (Herc it, don’t jerk it), an AT-6G, and my uncle’s old Aeronca Champ (stall speed seems no more than a fast walk).
The wildest ride i ever had though, was in the hopper of a Piper Pawnee ag-plane.
The plane I flew on during trips to and from Germany this summer. Continental, 7-something-7, it had little TV screens on the back of each seat and I got to watch “Mary Poppins” THREE TIMES!
I am too afraid of flying to go up in anything else. Sorry.
Damn, not sure why I’m bothering. You folks have been on some cool iron.
My most interesting flights have mostly been to and from drilling rigs in South America. Pilatus Turbo Porter fixed wing, DH-6(?) Twin Otter, Aerospatiale Puma helo, one time a Peruvian Air Force Bell 212.
Hands-down best ever was an hour-and-a-half flight up the Amazon, again in Peru, at treetop level, in the right front seat of a Hughes 500. Yee-hah!
BTW, if anyone ever wants to give me a ride in a P-51 Mustang, I’m ready. Anytime, anywhere. I’ll even pay for the gas.
IANA Pilot, but Mrs. Squeegee gave me this for my birthday a few years ago.
It was very cool. The SF260 was quite aerobatic, and (real pilots can laff here) I’d practiced on my flite sim for a month so I wouldn’t be a complete dolt in a cockpit. Of course the real experience was somewhat different than expected; it was way EZ to overcontrol the aircraft, much more so than I expected – move the stick about 2" right and you’re quickly in a 90 degree turn.
I did, however, manage to do an Immelman(sp?) on my opponent (you basically flip upside down and dive, a fast way to turn 180 degrees) and he never knew what hit him. My 15 seconds of dogfighting glory!
Yow! Definitely fun for us armchair pilots.
(Although I notice from thier website that the prices have just about tripled since I experienced it. Ouch.)
Took a KC-10 Stratotanker fm Ramstein AB, GE to Dover DE as a space-A passenger. The only passenger space they had was couple seats just aft of the cockpit and the pilot invited me up front to get the really good view. Memorable trip.
Also took a C-130 around Saudi Arabia once. As mentioned before, those get old quick. What makes it memorable is that on this trip there was an AF photographer aboard. For a while they opened up the side door and he strapped himself to the frame to get some unobstructed shots, so I was sitting a few feet from an open door at about 5000 feet.
1946 Commonwealth Skyranger. It’s a small two-place tail-dragger that my friend owns, all tubing and canvans with a spruce spar in the wing. Very fun to fly.
Hope you folks don’t mind me bumping up my own thread again, but I just got back from a ride in another excellent airplane.
I ran into my old flight instructor Dave today, who I haven’t seen in over a year. He said he was just getting ready to take a Stearman PT-17 around the pattern, and did I want to go along?
“Who do I have to kill?” I asked.
The PT-17 is an open cockpit biplane. This particular plane is a 1941 model, 9-cylinder, 225 hp. I sat in the front cockpit, and was impressed with how bad the visibility was. Must be even worse from the back seat where Dave was. He continuously made S-turns as we taxied so he could see where we were going.
In flight the Stearman’s controls were heavy, but in a good way. It was responsive, and more docile than I was expecting. Fairly loud, and I loved the view from the open cockpit!
On landing I was again impressed by the lack of visibility - landing a plane without really seeing the runway can’t be easy. Especially in a taildragger with a narrow wheel track.
So that’s another cool plane under my belt! Can’t wait for whatever I strap on next.
Hey Grok, i’m glad you restarted the thread - its interesting stuff!
Personally, the coolest flight I’ve had was in the back of a RAAF Herc with 80 or so cadets in the back - they didn’t want to turn on the heating because “the pilots might get hot”. Hence, all us cadets were stuck in close-to-zero (celcius) temperatures, wearing short sleeved shirts cos it was summer on the ground. The flight wasn’t particularly exciting though.
I’ve also managed to get a ride in a RAAF Macchi MB.326 jet trainer - 60’s era, but still bloody cool to ride in, especially with flight suit and g-suit, ejection seat, helmet and oxy mask etc.
Other notables: Tiger Moth (1930’s era open biplane trainer), right-hand seat time in a Cessna Conquest (twin turbine) during stall testing, and a flight out to the desert in Western Australia in the jump seat of a Dash-8.
All good fun.
Lots of pilots in my family, and spent a few years as a consultant, so I’ve been in loooots of different planes.
The coolest would have to be…
the Concorde - flew it (BA) NY to Heathrow at speeds up to Mach 1.99. And I thought it was comfortable, too.
the STOL/Acrobatic plane of a friend’s father when I was a kid. Nothing like looking out the window and seeing the ground upside-down.
If I had to pick between them, I’d say #1, geek that I am.
Sore point in my life - STILL (after 10 years)
I was promised a ride in an F-16, but then the squadron commander reneged (weasel!). That would have definitely been the COOLEST!
(And every time I see some reporter or actress get a vanity flight, I get pissed off all over again.)
I worked at the US Air Force Museum (WPAFB)whilst I was in college at Wright State University.
For the employee Christmas party the first year I was there they opened many of the aircraft for up close viewing.
So I’ve been ON but not flown in many of the aircraft in the museum, the coolest being the F-117 which was just put on display a few months before this, the YF-12 and the AWSOME B-36, the B-24 and B-17. I wish that they would have opened the XB-70, and the '52. I’ve sat in almost all the fighters that are on ground display in the ‘Modern Flight’ gallery. Oh that was a cool place to work.
Coooooolll… There was no door to the cockpit; I could see indicators and controls, and out the front windows. We flew south of Toronto during early night, same level as the clouds. It was amazing passing between those fluffy giants, all underlit from the side by the lights of the megalopolis off to our left.