For the pilot/ aircraft owners among us, what do or did you fly?

[mquiet]

Used to fly: C-172, 182, Mooney, Beechcraft, and Piper archer. Then transitioned to boating year round. Not sure what I sav d financially by switching. But it is all fun.

 

[Halfhitch]

One thing I see as an advantage with boating over flying is if the engine shuts down while underway the anxiety levels of everyone on board is considerably lower.

 

[OllieC]

I pulled parts about 35 years ago for Aircraft Spruce in Fullerton CA, between jobs and school. That’s about as close as I’ve come to owning an experimental or certified aircraft. If you’ve owned an plane you may have ordered materials from them.

 

[BEH]

I always had the dream of getting my private pilots license, but sadly never made the jump. Love reading about those of you that have done it.

Me too

 

[Timeflys]

Well, here goes….from my avatar, some might deduce that I was an airline pilot in a previous life, now retired. I have flown a few types, though not as varied as some due to a relatively stable career. As with most professional pilots, I re’cd my private license, commercial, multi-engine instrument rating and then into instructing, then flying for a turbo prop operator, a regional airline, with mergers, and with a international airline flirting with bankruptcy. A total of 41 years and around 27000 hours flying time. I was lucky to have retired prior to Covid with one of the worlds major airline. Here are the types flown:
Aeronca 7AC
Cessna 150 172 182 340
Beechcraft B95
Piper PA28 PA30
Saunders ST27 (that will keep you guessing!)
Fairchild FH227
Lockheed L188
Boeing 737-200, 37-200C(with gravel kit) 767-300ER
Airbus 320, 330-300

Btw…there wasn’t one day I didn’t enjoy the “job”.

 

[Riptide III]

Spent 29 years in the Army. 4 in the airlines. Hated it. Went back to Army
Piper warrior, arrow, tomahawk
Cessna 150, 152, 172, 182rg
Zlin
C-12
C-23
UC-135
UH-1 Huey
AH-1 Cobra
OH-58
Canadair Regional Jet CRJ200
Boeing 737-200

 

[KevinC]

I took off 67 times in a airplane before I ever landed in one. Landing was scary.

That's funny. When I was growing up my Dad never likely flying so I asked him why. I new when he was young he was a paratrooper in the armed services so I knew it was not a fear of flying. His response was just that... "He did not like the landings".

-Kevin

 

[Shoyrtt]

I took a ground school class at the local CC back in the late 80s and my father in law used to take me up in his Piper Cherokee 6 and let me take the stick. My race car partner has a Beechcraft Debonair that we have used to fly around the west. I also have a good friend from high school who is a pilot for the CHP and flies their Cessna T206. I flew with him a lot in rental Cessna 150s and 172s when he was needing hours to go from a patrol officer to a flight officer. The problem I have is I always get a bout of air sickness. I have to take my barf bag along for the ride and get it out of my system every time I fly in a small plane. I still love to fly, I just don't think I'll ever get licensed.

 

[Carpediem44DB]

I took a ground school class at the local CC back in the late 80s and my father in law used to take me up in his Piper Cherokee 6 and let me take the stick. My race car partner has a Beechcraft Debonair that we have used to fly around the west. I also have a good friend from high school who is a pilot for the CHP and flies their Cessna T206. I flew with him a lot in rental Cessna 150s and 172s when he was needing hours to go from a patrol officer to a flight officer. The problem I have is I always get a bout of air sickness. I have to take my barf bag along for the ride and get it out of my system every time I fly in a small plane. I still love to fly, I just don't think I'll ever get licensed.
View attachment 119243

I had a contract for about five years working on the Cessna TU206Gs for Golden Gate Division out of Napa. Always loved it when one of them would break down away from the base and the CHP flew me to fix it on the A350 Helicopters.
There was little to no concern as to the cost involved, on their part.
CD

 

[Carpediem44DB]

I pulled parts about 35 years ago for Aircraft Spruce in Fullerton CA, between jobs and school. That’s about as close as I’ve come to owning an experimental or certified aircraft. If you’ve owned an plane you may have ordered materials from them.

We buy all of our supplies for the school planes from Aircraft Spruce. They used to cater to the home built community but now are mainstream distributors for just about any component, certified or not. They put a lot of local parts houses out of business over the years when they started selling parts for certified aircraft.
CD

 

[Bt Doctur]

was working on my ticket in a Yak-52 till the crash

 

[bajturner]

Great reading about you guys that fly. Not long after graduating from university, my good friend's father offered me to take his Aeronca Champ that he had restored, once he was done flying. It was a dream of mine to own and fly a plane, and would have been a perfect follow-on to my education. I started the school, did a few hours in a C-172, but with a young career that demanded a lot of hours I never was able to follow through. Closest I got was designing dynamics models for computer simulation!

I think that ship has sailed for me (in more ways than one!)...

 

[kevin27]

I dont have a pilot license but have had my A&P for over 25 years. I love airplanes and always wished I flew but the medical is the issue so I do boats. I work for a major airline so it its commercial jets for me. Taxi Qual on most jets my airline operates. Love every minute of it.