I was thinking about this as I was tinkering on a CH-53E model tonight. Excluding airliners (I’ve flown in so many of those that I have no idea of all the different types I’ve flown in), I’ve flown in an N3N biplane (with stick time), a 1928 Waco biplane (no stick time), a Cessna 150 (stick time), a 1957 Cessna 172 (stick time), a Cessna Caravan during a parachute drop (nope, I was in the co-pilot’s seat for that one. Ain’t NO WAY I’m jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft!!), CH-46D (Pedro at Cherry Point), CH-53D, UH-1N, and a small 4-seat helicopter when I was about 7 years old (don’t remember what type it was).
Interesting thread. My list is all military types. C-130, C-17, VC-10 and Tri-Star. Also a few helo’s. Chinook, Lynx, Wessex, Sea King, Puma and Merlin. I almost got to fly in a ML-26, but a couple of other lads got that trip.
Well, ain’t that nice - all of those military aircraft! I’ve been a cargo in some airliners 747, 737, a small Embraer, Airbus A340 and some Soviets - Tu-134 and Tu-154. Also a Cessna Skyhawk, some two seat gliders (Bocian, Blanik) and three times I jumped off an An-2 (Colt). Sure do hope there are more to come!
When taking lessons in a high school aviation class-Cessna 150, 210,337 and a Piper Navaho, with control time in all. The FBO owned the Cessnas and my doctor owned the Piper but was not instrument rated so the FBO went with them when the weather went south, and then could use the bird when the doc was not.
Military limited to C130 (noisest thing I have ever crawled into either on the ground or air) and C141 (from Clark to Udorn and back to Clark a year later).
Airliner- Stretched DC8, 707,727,737. Showing my age now…
15 hours in T-37 as student pilot, got to handle stick a few times in T-33s.
Lots of hours on a 150 when I tried civilian pilot training to convince myself I wasn’t as bad as Air Force said. Then switched to Grumman AA-1a. Maybe twenty hours or so. Then bought an Ercoupe. Loved that plane, many hours in it.
Can’t afford to fly any more. Cost of hanger/tiedown to high. Served on an airport commission for awhile, then the company I worked for got into airport surface business. Learned about politics of airports.
Used to be, a town or city looked at an airport as an important infrastructure asset. Then, taxpayers complained about taxes too high. So in an attempt to lower residential property taxes, the cities began to tax airports at higher rate (they had cut them a low rate before). Drove private airports out of business. Cities bought some of the airports. Began to see airports as a taxable asset. Keep raising rates. FBOs have to charge higher rates in order to pay taxes, hanger and tiedown rates go up as city milks these as assets! So I don’t own an airplane anymore
Oh, besides airlines, in the early nineties I got to ride in that neat NASA bird, the re=engined DC 8 with those big new turbo fans, from a 757 or something like that, at Moffet. That was fun. But our equipment didn’t work, so got left behind when crew and contractors with working equipment got deployed to east coast to test gear in a hurricane
I’ve always wanted to fly in a helicopter, C-130 (JATO takeoff), hot air balloon, glider, open cockpit bi-plane, and a 2 seater fighter jet. Heck, I’d love to go up with the Black Diamonds aerobatic team jet. LOL!
Cessna 150, 152, 172, 172RG, 182, 210, and Citation CJ1.
Piper PA-28-161, -180, -201RT, Seminole, Twin Comanche, and Meridian.
Grumman Tiger
Beech T-34B and Duchess.
Pilatus PC-12
Learjet 25, 35, and 36.
There might be a smattering of other types where I have an hour or two, but those are the major ones. Adding the King Air 200 to the list sometime in the next month or two.
I’ve jumped out of perfectly good C-130s and C-141s. I was cargo in a C-5 Galaxy. I have flown in a few Army helicopters, Blackhawk, UH-1 and CH-47 Chinook. Non-military non-airliner, I know I’ve flown in a couple of single engine sightseeing planes, but couldn’t tell you what they were.
Pawel, how do the Russian airliners compare to the Boeings? Also, what’s it like to ride in a Colt? Even as ugly a plane as it is, I find that aircraft very fascinating.
Impressive story, Don. That’s quite an unusual background in aviation you have. Lot of stuff that I didn’t know about small airports. I still see quite a lot of them around the areas that I’ve lived, though. I have one about three miles from where I live now, and when I lived in small-town Georgia, there was one there as well. Didn’t realize there was so much political stuff behind the scenes concerning them. By the way, what does “FBO” mean?
Man, I would LOVE to do a JATO take-off in a C-130!! I got to see one done at an airshow at Cherry Point many years ago, with Fat Albert doing the honors. That is one loud demonstration - almost as loud as a hovering Harrier!
Gotta say, Rob, you’re a braver man than I for jumping out of planes or helicopters! I’ve got a very good friend back in Georgia who used to be an Army jump instructor (he’s retired now - retired as a MSgt), and just loves it. You couldn’t pay me enough to do it even once!
I would definitely love to fly in a Blackhawk once, though…
I’ve been in a few Piper Cherokee’s and probably a couple Cessna’s although I wouldn’t remember… I’ve sat in Bill Reeseman’s Red Bull MiG-15. He was a great guy. Unfortunately he had died a year or two after that. I also sat in a P-51D of The Horseman flight demo team. Big plane.
