What have you actually flown in?

Devil Dawg

Wow, Tom! That's quite a list. Based on the AWACS, I'm assuming you were a crew member?

No, at an air show in Chino California. I was standing around "talking stupid" with a bunch of other prior service guys, and said I had never rode in any aircraft powered by the Merlin. One of the guys grabbed me and dragged me over to a Mustang owner.

Insults were exchanged, and money changed hands, (weren't Mustangs with back seats all called "Cavaliers"?),,,,,and I was up in the air for about 20 minutes. He tried to make me throw up, I didn't tell him that I was a "Blacksheep ramp roach with back seat time" until we landed.

Oh, and I forgot one,,,,,,,,,a PBY Catalina, based out of Long Beach. I forget how much those tours were, but, they seemed pretty cheap back then.

Rex

TarnShip

Kevin, I am glad you posted again.

For just a minute there, I had you figured to be a "Really old Navy Pilot", lol.

I wasn't going to list at first, figuring that my list would bore people, but, I see some pretty cool lists in here.

All in the back seat or as cargo or passenger.

Phantom, Skyhawk (once Jato'd in a two seater), Hercs, C-141, C-1, US-2, C-39, well, okay, a fairly long list of the passenger and cargo planes used by the military,,,,,,,nothing "antique and cool" though, except a C-117 one time.

707, 27, 37, 47, DC-8, 9, 10,,, L-1011, etc,,,,,,,and some of the light civil planes, Cessnas, a Comanchee

that covers the Aircraft,,,,,,,,then I had a reason to ride in some things that "didn't belong in the air",,,,,the Huey, H-3, H-2, CH-46 (I only get in Helos if I absolutely have to, and I haven't had to since my discharge, rofl) We walked into the Chinook on display at Huntsville Space,,,,,,,and I spent the whole time inside there walking back and forth making rude comments about people that enjoyed looking back at that open ramp, waiting for the green light

I used to spend the money on rides at airshows in Cavalier Mustangs, and T-6s and stuff,,,,,,,but, I quit that after a few rides and now only fly on Airliners or Military cargo hops when Anne and I go somewhere we don't want to drive to (or if we don't have time to drive it)

Rex

Dang, Rex! That's a heckuva list there! I would LOVE to ride in a Cavalier Mustang! You were in Kissimee, FL, when you got to ride in one?

Greg, that's awesome that you got some front-seat time in a Hornet!! Never got to sit in one of those. When I was in the Corps, I worked on the Harriers' DECM equipment, so I got to sit in the cockpit of those quite a bit testing the DECM systems. Unfortunately, even though we had the only US Harrier training squadron (using the two-seat TAV-8B) at Cherry Point, I never got any flight time in the back seat of a TAV-8B. Lots of newspaper types and celebrities did, though.... And that's all I have to say about that.

Thanks for the FBO explanation. That explains a lot.

I forgot about a flight in a DeHavilland Otter on floats in Seattle a few years ago. No stick time in it, but did get to do a relatively hard 360 degree bank around the Space Needle to get some awesome pictures, and got to fly over Bill Gates' house. Well, at least the tour pilot said it was Bill's house........

Kevin, I am glad you posted again.

For just a minute there, I had you figured to be a "Really old Navy Pilot", lol.

I wasn't going to list at first, figuring that my list would bore people, but, I see some pretty cool lists in here.

All in the back seat or as cargo or passenger.

Phantom, Skyhawk (once Jato'd in a two seater), Hercs, C-141, C-1, US-2, C-39, well, okay, a fairly long list of the passenger and cargo planes used by the military,,,,,,,nothing "antique and cool" though, except a C-117 one time.

707, 27, 37, 47, DC-8, 9, 10,,, L-1011, etc,,,,,,,and some of the light civil planes, Cessnas, a Comanchee

that covers the Aircraft,,,,,,,,then I had a reason to ride in some things that "didn't belong in the air",,,,,the Huey, H-3, H-2, CH-46 (I only get in Helos if I absolutely have to, and I haven't had to since my discharge, rofl) We walked into the Chinook on display at Huntsville Space,,,,,,,and I spent the whole time inside there walking back and forth making rude comments about people that enjoyed looking back at that open ramp, waiting for the green light

I used to spend the money on rides at airshows in Cavalier Mustangs, and T-6s and stuff,,,,,,,but, I quit that after a few rides and now only fly on Airliners or Military cargo hops when Anne and I go somewhere we don't want to drive to (or if we don't have time to drive it)

Rex

MIflyer

Devil Dawg

MIflyer

Besides airliners...

Passenger on C-130 and CH-53E.

Aircraft with stick time is a much longer list -

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.

Cool list! I just gotta know - the Grumman Tiger....... An F11F by chance?

LOL no chance! That would be the Grumman American AA-5B.

Shoot, what a let-down......  Heeheeheehee!  Still an impressive list. Way to go!

Dawg, FBO is fixed base operator, the operations that handle non-airline aircraft at airports, or the only 'terminal' at small airports not served by the airlines.

For me, PIC time in a lots of varied single engine civilian stuff, plus a lot of Piper Seneca time, and a tiny bit of right seat time in a King Air, but perhaps the most notable is I got to sit in the front seat of an F-!8 at an airshow I was working security at many years back. Sounds lame but was an awesome feeling just sitting there.

Got to watch a live fueling op in  the back of a KC-135 next to the fueler once, that was a hoot. With all the military experience here, probably lots of you have seen that. Big deal to me, though.

Most aggravating (and perhaps funny) one though is towards the end of flying days, took 4 or 5 hours of dual in a Piper Cub, and my buddy/instructor never did turn me loose. (Hey, it was 20 knots plus every time we went up, in my defense). I always say since I never truly figured out a taildragger, despite my 30+ years of flying, I wasn't ever really a pilot.

Interesting thread, this.

Mostly airline flights for me.  However, I did work for a private ambulance company for awhile and we did patient flights around the country.  King Air 90 and 200, PC-12.  

Observation flight in EC-135.  As a kid did a few flights in aircraft owned by friends and family, Beechcraft Bonanza V-35, Cessna 310.

Others I have been in: Cessna 208 Caravan, 717, 727, 737, 757, 767, 777.   A318, A319, A320.  DC-9, MD-80, DC-10.

Devil Dawg

MIflyer

Besides airliners...

Passenger on C-130 and CH-53E.

Aircraft with stick time is a much longer list -

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.

Cool list! I just gotta know - the Grumman Tiger....... An F11F by chance?

LOL no chance! That would be the Grumman American AA-5B.

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.

Rob Gronovius

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.

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..............

MIflyer

Besides airliners...

Passenger on C-130 and CH-53E.

Aircraft with stick time is a much longer list -

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.

Cool list! I just gotta know - the Grumman Tiger....... An F11F by chance?

GMorrison

Some older airliners like DC-2,3,4,6,7 and 8. Everything Douglas or Boeing since then, except 787. Looking forward to that.

Older Boeings like 707, 720, 727.

Vickers Viscount, DH Beaver, Duck, Otter.

Sud Caravelle

Cessna Golden Eagle. Various other Cessnas.

B-24.

Those Sikorskies that ran from LAX to the roof of the Disneyland Hotel.

No stick time in anything.

Cool! A Viscount and a Caravelle! I've only seen pictures of those. 

Was the B-24 "Diamond Lil"?

panzerpilot

E-3 AWACS. C-130. C-5.

I 'Almost' got to ride with the fine folks with the RCAF, in a canadian F-18, until the officers got wind of our deal. Grrrr.

Cessna 150, 152, 172, 172RG, 182, 402, Caravan (great plane)

Taylorcraft, Piper Cub, Baron, Apache, Grumman Lynx, Cheetah, Mooney, Citabria, Seminole, Duchess...

ATR, Saab340, EMB 135/140/145, 737...

Wow, Tom! That's quite a list. Based on the AWACS, I'm assuming you were a crew member?

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

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!

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!

Don Stauffer

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 :-(

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?

Pawel

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!

Have a nice day!

Paweł

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.

pyrman64

Cessna 172, Cessna O-2a Skymaster, Lockheed C-130, T-38 Talon, UH-1 Huey, Aerospatiale Dauphin, MBB BK-117

I'm impressed, pyrman! How did you get to ride in a T-38?

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.

Besides airliners...

Passenger on C-130 and CH-53E.

Aircraft with stick time is a much longer list -

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.

Some older airliners like DC-2,3,4,6,7 and 8. Everything Douglas or Boeing since then, except 787. Looking forward to that.

Older Boeings like 707, 720, 727.

Vickers Viscount, DH Beaver, Duck, Otter.

Sud Caravelle

Cessna Golden Eagle. Various other Cessnas.

B-24.

Those Sikorskies that ran from LAX to the roof of the Disneyland Hotel.

No stick time in anything.

E-3 AWACS. C-130. C-5.

I 'Almost' got to ride with the fine folks with the RCAF, in a canadian F-18, until the officers got wind of our deal. Grrrr.

Cessna 150, 152, 172, 172RG, 182, 402, Caravan (great plane)

Taylorcraft, Piper Cub, Baron, Apache, Grumman Lynx, Cheetah, Mooney, Citabria, Seminole, Duchess...

ATR, Saab340, EMB 135/140/145, 737...

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!

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 :-(

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.....

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!

Have a nice day!

Paweł

Cessna 172, Cessna O-2a Skymaster, Lockheed C-130, T-38 Talon, UH-1 Huey, Aerospatiale Dauphin, MBB BK-117

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.