One of the most common questions I get is “what is your favorite aircraft?” I never pick just one, offering “well, I don’t have a single favorite–that just wouldn’t be fair. How about I tell you my favorites list?”. If their eyeballs don’t either glaze over or roll back, I give them my “short list”. I’ll give it to you here, with a brief justification for each.
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (seriously):
- T-28 Trojan. As you can read about, this is the airplane that I give most of the credit to for really preparing me for my flying career.
- The Mighty P-3 Orion. Like your first girlfriend, I just can’t forget her. The T-28 taught me how to fly, the P-3 taught me how to teach.
- DeHavilland DHC-2 (U-6) Beaver. Taught me how to teach TEST PILOTS.
- Boeing 747-8. For many years the 737 was my “favorite Boeing” but the 747-8–an airplane I got to really know well–is just so amazing…how well it flies and how big it is.
- Robinson R-44. A nod to the helicopter side of my flying, I like this one the best, perhaps because it’s the one I have the most time in. That said, the Bell 505 may eventually replace the R-44 as my favorite helicopter…we’ll see!
- Northrop T-38 Talon. An amazing airplane that handles like a dream, but you gotta respect her.
For those that stick with me this far, I then pull out my “top 10 Qual Eval flights”. As you will read, many of the airplanes I was able to fly happened in what is called the “Qual eval program” at the Navy’s Test Pilot School. You can read all about Qual evals in various posts but here’s my top 10 qual evals:
- Shin Meiwa US-1A
- Fairchild Republic A-10
- Avro Shackleton
- Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
- Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog
- Mi-24 Hind
- SAAB SK-37 Viggen
- Lockheed CF-104D Starfighter
- Rockwell B-1 Lancer
- McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache
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