Comment

Comment by Grant Besley on March 21, 2013 at 7:38am

I owned an early model Cessna 180. I loved it's versatility and load carrying ability. It was a wonderful short field performer and the gear absorbed the bumps of the unimproved strips. That airplane hauled me, my family, and my friends all over the US, Canada, and Alaska. It possessed reasonable speed and could be miserly on fuel at long rang power settings. The 180 always seemed to spark a conversation on the ramp or in the FBO so it was easy to meet new people and have great adventures.

Comment by Kathy on February 1, 2013 at 11:28am

I love the Beech Baron B55 Colemill conversion with winglets and vortex generators.  It's a fun flying plane, that is easy to fly and perfect for flying with friends for that classic $100 hamburger.  I also like the Piper Warrior for its handling characteristics.  The more docile a plane, the more I like it because the plane is more fun to fly and the passengers enjoy the ride more. 

Comment by christopher John Chadwick on January 23, 2013 at 9:42pm

My favorite aircraft to fly was a F-19 Taylorcraft with a 0-200 Continental with a Scott tailwheel owned in partnership with a former brother-in-law. It made a great poor mans bush plane and, like the guy who loves flying his rebuilt and re-engined J-3, it would land and take off anywhere. We landed in cut cornfields in Iowa, dry lake beds in the Mojave desert, all kinds of dirt strips throughout the Southwest. Best part - getting to feel the pulse of this wonderful USA circling those old time silver water tanks that almost every small town has (and has their name on) -- what better way to verify a checkpoint with some old time navigation -- and when the folks on the ground wave - and you wave back with vigorous aileron waves -- it seemed like the whole town joined in!!! The T

Comment by Tim Hodgkins on January 17, 2013 at 5:05pm

Really depends on what I'm trying to do. For work,of all the planes I've flown,the Amphibian Caravan is without a doubt the most fun,dependable ,just plain cool. For flying from my back yard,my PA-11 is the best. Calm mornings,cool evenings,door open,what else could you ask for.For personal transportation,the Comanche 250 is hard to beat.
Maybe I like most planes,the only one I was never fond of or got fond of, was the CASA 212

Comment by brice e edsten on January 16, 2013 at 9:12pm

One of my students and I rebuilt a basket-case J-3, but as a PA-11, with an O-200 in it. Had to run it EXPERIMENTAL for a while to get a one-time STC. As rebuilt, it could be soloed from either seat, so I used to taxi it with the tail up, complete the run-up and everything without touching the tail wheel. Then proceed to takeoff on one wheel, fly the traffic pattern a constant bank, land on the other wheel, and the fly the pattern again, banked the other way! The Cub has wonderful aileron and rudder control, so even doing a left-hand pattern with a 15 degree RIGHT bank isn't as hard as it sounds. Next time around the patch, another touch and go, but this time just the tail wheel. That's a little trickier, and I would miss on about a third of those attempts. With the 100-horse coffee grinder in front, the Cub would easily get in and out of all the grass strips in the area, and the fancy red, white and blue paint job we had got us lots of attention. A wonderful, fun airplane, and we rebuilt it ourselves, which made it all the better!