What is the coolest aircraft you have flown on?

Lots of cool aircraft.

 

besides normal commercial jets...when I was a kid, I was at a craft fair with family, they had helicopter rides for $25, I remember it was a MASH style bubble helicopter, it didnt have seat belts and it didnt have doors, but it did have a piece of rope across the door opening, lol

 

I flew in a C-141 from Ft. Campbell, Ky to Elmendorf AFB, AK, to Yokota AB, Japan, to Phan Rang AB, South Vietnam. One year later, went back the other way.

Flew on a DC-10 from Los Angeles to Philadelphia.

Miscellaneous Air Force cargo aircraft in Vietnam.

And, of course:



Yeah, Air Force dudes flew in Hueys, too. Although not into combat, like these guys. Hats off.

A TWA Convair 880 that had a port engine catch on fire between L.A. and San Francisco.

I've seen many varied antique aircraft fly over head from my house since I live under the flight path of a major military installation.

 

For me the coolest aircraft I rode in were:

C-130. Well, maybe not the coolest but it is a test to your resolve and discipline when crammed in shoulder to shoulder in full combat gear.

UH-1 Huey. Rode this the majority of the time. My unit was an air cavalry unit. This was our horse if we ever go to battle. (my time in the military was peacetime, so.... no battles for me.) Absolutely loved it (my asshole didn't) when the pilot would crest the ridge of a mountain and the wind from the other side would make the aircraft wobble sideways like a fish swimming upstream.

UH-60 Blackhawk. When we transitioned to this new aircraft you can feel the difference in power, especially during lift-off. Certainly cool but I missed the "whup whup whup" of the 2 bladed Huey.

 

One of my cow-orkers has personally flown the type of plane that was used in the film Con Air.

 

A glider. My Dad’s cousin worked for Martin Marietta in Denver years ago, (50+) , and he taught the Mercury astronauts how to fly gliders as that was apparently the closest thing to space capsules back then. One Sunday my parents and I went with him down to a glider park down by Colorado Springs, and he took us up in the glider which you’re behind an airplane getting pulled up by a tow rope, and then it’s released and soaring away you go based on wind currents. We flew around the Air Force Academy and some of the “low” mountains west of Colorado Springs. I just remember it was noisy, even with ear protection and being strapped in the back seat. It took all day to get three of us a glider ride for about an hour or so.

 

Don't know about the coolest, but definitely the coldest, a DC3 flight from Yellowknife, NWT for about an hour north to the mine jobsite in February...not sure about the temp in the plane, but it was about minus 46 degrees C when we landed on the frozen lake.....thank god for real cold weather gear!!!!.....
It was kinda cool to see the caribou traveling in single file across the frozen lakes from the air, lines that were 1/2 mile long or longer!

 

Hint: I'm an Akron native, and a fishing buddy used to be a big deal at Goodyear. We got a ride over the Atlantic coast of Florida in the old 6-passenger model that was flown manually, with the big wooden wheel mounted sideways next to the pilot. New ones are larger and look like less fun. It was almost too windy to fly that day, and in fact we had to stay up an extra half hour so the pilot could bring it down safely. Not a problem.

 

I also had a chance to ride in the Goodyear Blimp in maybe 1974. Sounds like it was the same one you are talkin about. I got to sit in the co-pilot seat and "steer" using that wheel for a minute.

 

I guess the MGM Corporate G5 a couple years ago

 

Pretty sure I flew Lufthansa when I went from Belgium to Kazakhstan in 1993, but during that trip - I *did* fly in an old soviet military helicopter. We all passed out during the trip because we were >10K ft without supplemental oxygen. Not for long, but, uh....That was some interesting sightseeing. We might have been contacted by ground control in China as well....

We definitely were frightened upon landing at Almaty - you have to drive past an airplane graveyard (most aeroflot) and we hit something wrong on landing so were sitting out on the runway a while staring at those plane bits. I really wish I remembered more about that trip....

 

The majority of my husband’s career was flying corporate planes. One businessman he flew for, owned an island in Canada. My husband’s summer flying consisted of flying float planes back and forth to the camp taking business associates there. My husband’s boss was very generous and many times he allowed the pilots to take their wives to the camp. It was an incredible opportunity. Not sure what kind of plane this is, but the pilot in the third float plane took this picture of my husband flying with me in the plane.

 

The closest I've come to 'cool' would be a US Army UH-1 in Korea, '79~'80.

 

northerngirl, I think that is a Twin Beech float plane. Not too many made but the original twin Beech was made in the thousands as the C -45 for WWII. Here is a photo of that bush plane. This doesn't show the twin rudders well at all.

 

Lucky to have survived that. Things where the wings turn more than the fuselage are never safe.

 

I don't know. Maybe the T-28B, because that's the plane in which the Navy taught me how to fly.

 

Mudhen, don't know if you saw this.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/06/12/head-of-naval-aviation-schools-command-another-navy-pilot-killed-plane-crash.html?ESRC=eb_200615.nl

Two seasoned good stick guys in a light prop near Selma AL Saturday. I have a friend who is checking with the FAA to see if any preliminary info is available.

 

Glider flight over the Santa Ynez Valley, California in 1988—among the best experiences of my life. And a hot-air balloon ride over Phoenix in 2018.

 

On our Honeymoon, we were on a 747 jumbo jet to Bali. Splurged on using my miles to get business class. Worth every mile.

The plane was huge, and not very many people were on it at all because of bombings in Bali 5 or 6 months earlier. Got to sit in the upper deck.

The crew gave us a bottle of champagne and a signed card. I miss flying Cathay.

I’m kind of sad that everyone is getting rid of the 747s.

D

 

Thanks for the link. First time I've seen that.