Whats your Dream Aircraft

While plane spotting at LAX today ( or being a plane nerd as my daughters call it) I was asked what my ultimate plane to fly would be... in the surroundings I was in I said 747-8 as we watched Lufthansa -8 take off... but later I thought would that really be it !! would it be a war bird ? or a jet ? a Heavy ? or a fighter ??

So what would yours be.....??? For me in no particular order are

1. Lancaster
2. Mosquito
3. 777
4. 747
5. Twin Beach 18
6. Spitfire 21 ( Griffon engine with counter rotating prop) (sexy as hell )
7. Mustang
8. Corsair
9...and the list goes on...


It goes without saying that when I win the lottery I will purchase at least one of the aforementioned and take you all for a ride

 

747SP - cheap to buy, speed in the air (fuel burn yeah yeah..), looks cool.

 

In descending order.
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For me the Mosquito has always been numero uno.

 

My "I'll never afford it" choice is the P-38

Attainable and in the plan: Cessna 140, followed by a Cessna 337. An O-2A if possible.

 

Not in any particular order;
P-51 Mustang
Beech Starship
MU-2
Pitts S2
GV

 

I'm easy, I have it down to just three

1) Civilianized MiG-29 with upgraded engines. Total Mach 1+ fun. Would love the notion of a privately owned F-18 Hornet, but civilian sales are not going to happen. The MiG-29 is on par with Hornet performance.
2) Mooney Acclaim Type S, best speed and bang for the buck. And in a strange way, I like the Mooney design. I'm weird like that.
3) Bell 430 - ultimate air shuttle, reminder of a cool TV show

 

The next one ��

 

Hmm...considering I just saw the Thunderbirds perform yesterday in Melbourne, FL, flying a viper would be a lot of fun. Any fighter would probably provide the same experience to a novice like me so really any similar to that.

 

Fg-1D Corsair
Spitfire Mk V
Sopwith F.1 Camel

I actually am blessed to have one of them.


But lemme tell ya, my old T-28 was one sweet flying airplane

 

Spartan Executive, Cessna 195, Monocoupe, F-4G or E to see what they fly like rather than busting my knuckles keeping them running. The Hughes Racer. And maybe a few sorties in an F-22 as long as somebody else pays for the gas.

 

I'm gonna say a stubby C-130J with external tanks for range.

I like to travel around the world and that includes going into a lot of places both large and small and the Herk would do it for me pretty well. The C-130 has the legs to get to most any remote place I could see wanting to go. It has the capacity to carry a good amount of stuff but can also go into some very small and unprepared fields. It's not much for acrobatics but it can fly down in the weeds with the best of them. For me it would basically be a flying RV that would take me from one fun place to another.

Fortunately I have been able to go on a decent number of adventures in the 130. Last week I was buzzing down the coast of Florida at low level doing some spec ops stuff. Two weeks ago I was in St Croix doing some other type stuff having a good time with a crew on the road. The C-130 has taken me through most of Europe, the middle east and a chunk of Africa in the last decade. A 777 would be more comfortable for long hauls and a F22 would be fun to blast around the sky in but ultimately they wouldn't really be able to do most of the stuff I would really want to do with a plane.

 

I love everything from vintage biplane to late model jets such as Warthog..

For me, if I had to have a single plane, and cost be damned, it'd be a globe trotting seaplane nicely kitted out with ferry tanks, modern avionics, FLIR and other fun stuff... it also has room for somewhere to go for a leak on the long haul and somewhere to lie down!

So far I've only found a Grumman Albatross to meet all the criteria.. added bonus are hairy chested radial engines, again cost and efficiency be damned, I want ruggedness and character along with ability!

I think with a couple of experienced and close friends as fellow pilots and rotating the workload and fun it'd make an awesome vehicle for visiting some of the most remote, unique and interesting parts of the planet that no other type could do.

 

Within the range of relaity of something I might actualy be able to possibly own or fly in theory one day a Beech 17 staggerwing. Or maybe also a twin Beech 18.
But I would not say no to a PC12.

 

Nice choice.... I read the Wiki on the Albatross and found this, seems like an awesome adventure.

 

Thanks!

How cool.. yes exactly the thing to do!

I've built a model to study interior in more detail and have a roughed up map of what i'd ultimately like to do.

In an absolute ideal world:
- Acquire & restore/outfit something with some history, I expect that to be somewhere in the US most likely

- Go (say) Canada to test cold climate & icing conditions

- Go (say) Caribbean to test warm and humid conditions

- Fly North Atlantic loop which will have both climates and interesting places.. Iceland in particular seems an interesting place, ditto such places as Casablanca

- Fly home in prep for circumnavigation.. do this via Alaska, then North Pole jump, then thread way back down under avoiding the usual suspect trouble spots in the middle lol

No small task "just" getting it home will be a major adventure!

- Fly North Pacific loop to pay homage to WW2 historic sites.

Bonus fun stops are stop and swim at epicentre of the Bikini Atoll biggest nuclear tests, also on way to Guam put down over the Marianas trench for swim in deepest part of the world, 11km underneath all the way to the bottom, better not drop anything here!

- Fly southern hemisphere circumnavigation.

No hurry to rush this one, lots to see and do and it breaks down into 3 natural parts:
(1) Australia -> South Pacific -> Sth America.. lots of places to snorkel at the most beautiful islands

(2) Sth America->Patagonia, Tip of Antarctica -> Africa. Cold and rugged and remote beauty.

(3) Africa -> Indian Ocean -> Australia. Bonus stops are side trip to East Africa and fly past Kilimanjaro, stop have lunch on plane lake in Uganda.. over Congo rainforest and back again! Many interesting places to visit.. Zanzibar, Seychelles, Maldives..

Might even be worth taking a break between these 3 major sections.. fly commercial back home, attend to business, rest up... look forward to next section with fresh eyes and keenness.

Anyway these are the overall dreams.. aim high.. let's see where the arrow actually lands!
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F14

G-650

Love the wings on both

 

Good stuff you have there. I really enjoy planning out routes of flight to go places and see things. I have an large bin of charts that covers pretty much the entire globe and it's always enjoyable to go through them when I'm planning a trip someplace new. From a practical point of view I will likely never have the resources or opportunity to fully explore all I would like but I give it a good shot whenever the opportunity presents itself. One thing I really liked about my time flying in the regular Air Force and now in my current job is the comraderie of taking a plane on the road with a good group of people. The military side of things also gets you some places that, if given the choice, you might not want to go but aren't too bad once you are there and most people will never get to see.

 

Yes exactly!

I've got several good friends lifelong pilots ex-Airforce and now commercial jet, and one is owner of flying school.

I have shared the simple outline of my overall plans but no more than that as I need to do a lot in my own backyard and hope to show competence and a record they like as well as upgrade my business to fund it all and then, if successful, put out some feelers to see if they would be interested.. I hope so.. it would be great to have such experience on board and sharing with friends all in one.

 

Blackbird

 

I'll take a Firefly, as long as it's in good working order (and I can have Kaylee as the mechanic).

 

OK Don,

As a follow up question, Ginger or Mary Ann????

Dream aircraft, Sukhoi Su-35BM.

Now back to the real world, I am actively hunting for every 2006-2008 Cessna 400 SL or SLX that is for sale right now.

I want to faster and have air conditioning. Flying in the summer in Las Vegas is grueling without air conditioning.

Cheers,
Marc

 

Probe coming in after tanking...
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Since I currently own no aircraft, I could say an aircraft that flies well something like a Maule M9, or if pipestral gets its act together on the panthera.

But idealy some type of utility tailwheel plane an dthen somethign bigger faster and turbine powered to go places.

 

+1

Commercials:

a) Boeing 747-200
b) Boeing 727-200
c) Boeing 737-100 (with Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines)
d) Gulfstream G650ER

Fighters:

a) Lockheed SR-71B
b) Lockheed F-104G Starfighter
c) Grumman F-14B Tomcat
d) Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa

PS: Grumman HU-16 Albatross and Learjet 24 are always special to me.

These for me