What's the coolest thing you've done in an airplane?

fish314 said:
Too many to choose from!

Some of the top ones:

1. Aerobatics, formation, and aerobatics in formation (though it was like 500' loose formation when we went over the top).
2. Jumped out of one (Me and Rocketman99 went to a place in alaska that offered tandem).
3. Aerial refueling … but only as the tanker.
4. Watching aerial refueling from the receiver position as an extra crew member in the jump seat.
5. BFM in an F-15 (I was on an incentive ride in the back seat).
6. Taking a Cessna 172RG 300+ miles over water to an island destination (in JAPAN!! With Rocketman99)
7. Wing landings… through actual IMC to < 500' ceiling.
8. Getting to fire the .50 cal out the side of a Pave Hawk helicopter (another incentive ride).
9. Solo'ing my first student.
10. Solo'ing my first student on the wing.
11. 1st Air refueling of the 1st bombers on the no kidding 1st night of the war… and the first A/R of their world record 44+ hour combat flight (Oct, 2001).
12. 2 aileron rolls in <1 second in a T-38 (another incentive ride)…. and a 10,000' loop.
13. Flew an ultralight at EXTREMELY low level over a lake… (took my foot off the rudder pedal and dipped a toe in the lake).

Some still on the bucket list:
1. Break Mach 1 (Unfortunately, don't think I'll ever actually get the chance to do that one).
2. Fly, hover, and land a helicopter.
3. Fly the air refueling as the receiver… especially in a heavy or in a probe equipped airplane.
4. Fly over a pole… (North Pole, South Pole, doesn't matter… just not "telephone pole" or "guy named 'Wojokowski' ").
5. Circumnavigate the globe on 1 trip. (I've hit every longitude, but not on the same trip and not all in one direction).

6. SPACEFLIGHT!!!! (Yeah.. again, not going to happen, probably).
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If you get #6. #1 should come for free.
 
Early morning flight over the hills of WV and VA drinking coffee updating FB and reading JC as the sun comes up. Getting paid for my time didn't hurt either.
 
Either spin training for my CFI, or taking a considerably old Piper Aztec from Anchorage to Daytona Beach, FL in 4 days.
 
Solo cross countries down the East Coast were awesome.

Flying in formation with a Pitts in a 182 jump plane and turning to see that he was still right on my wing after I dropped and peeled off.

Seeing the Harley anniversary festivities from the air.

Checking my dad out in a 152 and hearing him exclaim "COMEON, Trav!" as I pull the throttle out on downwind. 8D
 
I've done some very fun things in airplanes and helicopters, but (not to sound cheesy) the absolute coolest thing I've done in an airplane was ride one home from Iraq.

*Edit: And, uh, I guess Afghanistan too.
 
-As a fresh Instrument Rated pilot taking a Cessna 172 with my friend all the way from Columbus, Ohio to Longview, Texas in a day with a 35 knot headwind the whole way. :eek:

-Spin training in the Citabria for my CFI.

-Riding in a Cessna Citation at 41,000' at 1AM to St. Louis when you're suppose to be at Aerodynamics class in less than 6 hours. It was a beautiful stary night and I was able to see all the way over towards Dallas off one wing and all the way to Little Rock off the other side of the plane. It just makes you feel so small and it wakes you up to why flying is so amazing.

I'm taking an aerobatics course this semester. So I'm sure I'll have some more cool ones to add to my list.
 
I'm sure anyone could have guessed this, but first cat shot and trap on a boat (not in that order). I'd say most of the "firsts" were pretty cool.....initial solo aerobatic and tactical form flights in flight school, in flight refueling, shooting a live AIM-7, night strafe (not fun but cool in theory), first night trap (also not fun and maybe not even cool), etc.

Three really stick out in my mind though as maybe not the coolest, but some of the most memorable:

1. Flying across the country with my old man in his Bonanza when I was a kid. We did this quite a few times to visit relatives back east, but I guess it is just kind of one memory. I learned a ton about flying on those trips, and probably more about gen Av flying than I have anywhere else. First time I ever had the controls of an airplane for a long period of time. Awesome feeling for a kid who wasn't even in his teens at that point.

2. Dissimilar 2 v 1 hop while at the FRS. Took off right into a squal line at Miramar, flew out to Yuma with my lead, and fought a wily F-5 for about 20 mins. Got the call from them that Miramar was nearly socked in with driving rain so we headed back. Split up for individual PARs, and broke out at mins over the rabbit lights to a monsoon. Touched down and was below 50 kts before I was confident I was going to stay on the runway. I guess that flight was just a big sense of accomplishment, and it sort of tied in everything that I had learned up to that point in one hop. Good debrief over a beer at the squadron bar, and then had a great drive home after.....I loved it when it rained in SD.

3. Airborne promotion to LT/O-3. My old skipper loved doing it, and it was really cool.....2 other JO's (one as a photo bird), the CO and me. Said the oath and all on aux radio....think I even took my hand off the stick and raised it :) It was just one of those things where it was cool looking back, and thinking that 10 years before, when I had kind of set out to do this, that I would have probably never guessed I would be doing that 10 years later over the Atlantic flying alone in a Hornet.
 
///AMG said:
, shooting a live AIM-7,
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The great white hope!

What amazed me was the delay between pushing the pickle and when it actually came off the aircraft with a big, audible clunk. Unfortunately for me, I was the wingman on my missile shoot, so I had to be in the background of the photo. :(

AIM-7MH2v1.jpg
 
Another cool thing we get to do as a CFI: Get out and let the student solo for the first time. Did this yesterday for a kid in high school with his dad watching.

"You want to solo?" "Now!?!?" "Sure, I'll get and out and just keep doing what we were just doing, just don't talk to me because I won't be in this seat." "uh, okay..."

Some one did it for me, it's fun the be on the other side of it.
 
I did a few aerobatics and spin training flights; that ranks pretty high for me. Soloing students is also pretty special. They know its coming, the logbook has been endorsed, but that first time you pull into the ramp and jump out and let them go is always pretty special. Lastly, any log distance XC in a GA aircraft ranks high for me in terms of being memorable. Maine to Arizona and Florida to Maine are two I really enjoyed.
 
I dunno, probably flyings floats, that or when I was flying wheels in Juneau - pretty much every day in JNU was cool.
Flying the 1900 single pilot was pretty cool.
Flew my first official company training flight in the PC-12 yesterday, that was pretty cool it's fun to fly.
 
Inspecting power lines in a 172.

For me, real flying is being 85ft AGL within a wingspans distance of a high-voltage transmission power line. Then following that power line through the valleys, over the hills, around the sharp bends and over the water all at 85ft AGL. That's fun.

Some of the coolest sights is flying out in Western Oklahoma with no houses or towns to avoid, just open land with gently rolling hills and it's just you and the power line and you look over and see a herd of wild Mustang horses running across the land. That's pretty cool.
 
Cal Goat said:
So far... probably flying a 210 all the way up to Barrow, AK and back (and flying all over Alaska along the way) and getting paid to do it.
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Your 210 didn't end up looking like this one did it? ;-} Found this one on a flight this week currently rotting away on Exuma, Bahamas.

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Yeah, it did take forever. I was prepared for how long the delay was going to be, but it was still pretty weird. Then it was like a space shuttle coming off the wing.....it's a damned big missile!

Hacker15e said:
The great white hope!

What amazed me was the delay between pushing the pickle and when it actually came off the aircraft with a big, audible clunk. Unfortunately for me, I was the wingman on my missile shoot, so I had to be in the background of the photo. :(

AIM-7MH2v1.jpg
Click to expand...
 
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