Long Rangel Plan - All the airplanes I have flown

So as to not hijack the Twin Otter thread, here is the list of airliners I have flown on and plan on modeling over the next many years.

DHC Twin Otter Aloha Island Air

Beech 1900 Midwest Connect

Shorts 330 Mississippi Valley Airlines

Farichild FH-27 Britt Airways

Convair 580 North Central Airlines

Fokker F-100 American Airlines

DC-9 10 series Aero California

DC-9 30 series New York Air

DC-9 50 series Ozark

MD-80 TBD

B 727-100 series American Airlines

B 727-200 series Pan Am

B 737-200 Vanguard Airlines

B 737-300 Southwest Airlines

HS Trident British Airways

B 757 National Airlines (1998)

B 720 Western Airlines

B 707 TWA

A 300 Eastern

A 320 German Wings

A 330 Swiss

B 767 Continental Airlines

L-1011 Delta Airlines

DC-10 40 series Northwest (bowling shoe livery)

B 777 United Airlines

B 747-100 Northwest Orient (as delivered)

B 747-200 Condor Flugdienst

very impressive . In your opinion which one was the easiest and hardest to fly.

ooops. Should have said flow on. I’m am far from a pilot.

Some of the planes and airlines were one time affairs. Others were paired as they were a first on the type, like the NW DC-10 and 747. I’m missing an regional jet or 2, but those flights were forgettable.

Ok still a lot of planes lol

In my opinion as a retired pilot, it takes more guts to fly behind someone you don’t know than it does to be in the beak yourself.

That is a neat idea. Kits are available for some, but not a couple. I have a number of hours in a Grumman AA1 Yankee and I owned an Ercoupe. The later was kitted many years ago, but I have never seen one. I believe the Yankee was never kitted.

Oh Boy!

What a list! I would’ve loved to fly the 727-100. And the L-1011! I have models of both. Have you ever flown in the office of a Hercules C-130? Now there is for it’s size, I thought a very forgiving Bird!

Biggest bird I ever flew was a 747-400-- to the Boneyard! Well, actually the storage area for overbought airliners. I think it was a Quantas. Passengered in a 747-800 that became pieces upon landing, and an old 707 United Bird, Years ago.

Flying is to me very relaxing. I started as a Sail-Plane Pilot in Germany during my Service time. I made sure I got that, then came home and got into powered flight! Smallest plane I ever flew was the BDs we’ve been talking about herein.

Oh Boy!

After what happened to me some years back when I was much younger, I have to say" Sir, have you got that Right" !! If I ain’t in the Beak I ain’t flyin anywhere!

My list is short, but includes several classic or near-classic airliners:

Lockheed Electra IIs: Western Airlines between Phoenix and San Diego, and Pacific Southwestern Airlines between San Diego and San Francisco.

Douglas DC-3s: Frontier Airlines between Tucson and Silver City, New Mexico, and Ozark Airlines between Columbia, Missouri and Kansas City.

C-121 Lockheed Constellation: Military Air Transport Service from Travis Air Force Base near Francisco to Tachikawa AFB, near Tokyo, via Hickham AFB, Hawaii and Wake Island. Between Travis and Hickham, I got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat for about an hour while he went for coffee. Most of the flight, all 26 hours of it, was flown at only 5,000 feet. My seat was near the trailing edge of a wing – I don’t recall which one. All night long, between Hickam and Wake Island, long, incandescent exhaust flames trailed into the darkness.

Boeing 707: Continental Airlines from Tokyo to San Francisco.

Lockheed C-130E Hercules: Marine Corps medical evacuation flight from Da Nang, South Vietnam to Clark AFB, Philippines. I had been wounded in a firefight with VC and PAVN troops.

Lockheed C-141A Starlifter: U.S.A.F medical evacuation flight from Clark AFB, Philippines to Travis AFB, with a stop in Hawii for fuel and handing out of Purple Hearts to wounded Marines.

Twin Beech: Return flight, in the cockpit, from Prince George, British Columbia to the northern BC Communities of Ingenika and Fort Ware.

DeHavilland Twin Otter: Flights around Prince George and area with my Grade 7 students, most of whom had never been on an airplane.

DeHavilland Turbo Otter float plane: Return flight, from Vancouver, BC’s Coal Harbour floatplane base to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

I would have loved to have flown a DC-3. I considered buying an hour of dual time, but the cost was beyond what my wallet could handle.

I’ve built several models already and have three more in my stash.

One can still fly on DC-3, which is pretty amazing. Both of my parents did. Also DC-6 on their honeymoon. My father came to this country in 1956 on a Lufthansa Lockheed Costellation so I should put that in my list to build.