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

hook_dupin said:
I was at RAF Lakenheath for my first ops assignment. It very much rocked.
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Right on. Have been trying to talk the Mrs into an exchange tour (Kadena Eagles being at the top). Didn't like the sound of that at all, wanting babies and all in the near future (we both just turned 30).....that and my front office hates pretty hard on anything like that which isn't wise for the career, which for those particular two (a very rare two great Americans) come from a place of giving a ** about us so I take them at face value. Next soft sell is NTPS and VX at China Lake. We shall see :) At least that has the blessing of the big man.
 
3. Circumnavigating the Earth west to east, east to west, and crossing the Equator in the same month.
2. Observing the look on hundreds of faces of troops as they walked down the stairs onto U.S. soil after taking them the entire distance directly from the war zone. Saying "welcome home" never felt so good.
1. Being the pilot on my son's first ever airplane ride.
 
brown1 said:
3. Circumnavigating the Earth west to east, east to west, and crossing the Equator in the same month.
2. Observing the look on hundreds of faces of troops as they walked down the stairs onto U.S. soil after taking them the entire distance directly from the war zone. Saying "welcome home" never felt so good.
1. Being the pilot on my son's first ever airplane ride.
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All very very cool. Envious of 1-3 :)
 
///AMG said:
Well played. Did you do Empire for your fam tour? Sounds like a blast. Reminds me of some stories told to me by a former skipper from the 83rd WEG. Guy was a JO shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, and flying out of Bitburg at the time. Said they got to do DACT with basically any and all comers from the FSU blocs. MIG-23/21/29/25 all at the merge for him as a 1lt in light grey -15's. Sounds like an incredible time to be alive. He said they shared their tactics pubs from the motherland, and it was pretty embarrassing reading. He also said they were better pilots than the Soviets gave them credit for (poor aircraft notwithstanding).
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I picked up about a quarter of all that.
 
bunk22 said:
Agreed with the above, daytime in good weather is fun, daytime in bad weather not so much and night is never fun.
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After the first two or three hundred ...or maybe the fourth hundred ...they all become almost routine ...until with NO FORWARD VISIBILITY, account monsoon rain and inop wiper ...Yankee Station, low state ...you're offered the option (by the boats CO) of controlled ejection alongside ...or accepting a GCA (CCA?)...talked down by your favorite "paddles"! I opted for the talk-down ...he called glideslope and line-up to the ramp ...then screamed "Land It! ...Land It! ...Land It!!" (Which, of course, I did.) (A4B Skyhawk w/VA-95 aboard Intrepid.)
 
Boris Badenov said:
Landed a broken down, screwed up, should-have-been-in-the-boneyard-in-1980 BE99 in a hurricane at KPNS. Total coincidence that the identifier was KPNS, btw. DHL van couldn't drive out on the ramp because of the wind. In retrospect, dumber than owl poop and I wouldn't do it again, but as a memory? First tier. There are others, but they, if I had done them, which of course I wouldn't have, were all illegal.
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Is this story perhaps related to why you hate the -99 so much? Remember the making-deals-with-God discussion we had in Vegas?
 
rondebmar said:
After the first two or three hundred ...or maybe the fourth hundred ...they all become almost routine ...until with NO FORWARD VISIBILITY, account monsoon rain and inop wiper ...Yankee Station, low state ...you're offered the option (by the boats CO) of controlled ejection alongside ...or accepting a GCA (CCA?)...talked down by your favorite "paddles"! I opted for the talk-down ...he called glideslope and line-up to the ramp ...then screamed "Land It! ...Land It! ...Land It!!" (Which, of course, I did.) (A4B Skyhawk w/VA-95 aboard Intrepid.)
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Yes but that was before capuccino machines on the boat!
 
I was flying in one of the warning areas off the coast of Jax and 4 Superhornets, a Kfir, couple A-4 Skyhawks, and an EP-3 came zipping by about 500 feet above me and 1,000 ft off my nose. I was in the Tecnam and I doubt they even saw me. But it was pretty cool to see.

I got to fly in the FE seat on the B-17G "Liberty Belle" a year or so before its last flight/crash (RIP)... That was pretty unforgettable. The sound of those 4 Wright Cyclones and the view from the nose and tail are just awesome.

Just recently I was able to fly a Lockheed Electra Jr. That was pretty awesome as well.

In my 2.5 years of flying, I'd say I've been pretty lucky to experience what I have so far.

Next up for me is to fly in my friend's P-51, and I'd also like to get into the Collings Foundation B-24 at some point. Love that aircraft. And one day I'd like to buy a flight in an F-4 Phantom. The Collings Foundation has one but its like 10,000+ for a 45 minute flight so it will take a lot to get me to spend those bucks.
 
I don't do many exciting things, but a few that stand out:

- Flying into Sun 'n Fun
- Flying a 182 to the Abacos with Rocketman99
- Commuting to upstate NY in a Warrior from CT years back, beat the hell out of driving.
- Driving a 747 sim
- Taking a joyride in a Citabria around SFO
- Countless weekend trips to KEYW
- Taking a nap by the refueling boom in a 135. Nice view, but a bit cold for napping.
 
My spontaneous personality has lead to many a cool story, but I plead the fifth.

But it was pretty awesome when me and DPApilot took some 5-hour energy models flying randomly. There were 3 of them, so we took 2 at first, one waited at a gazebo by the taxiway while I flew the first 2 around. Tower let me shut down on a taxiway, one model hopped out, the other one hopped in, and this older pilot who was there with his grandson just stood at the gazebo trying to figure out what was going on. It was pretty awesome.
 
ChasenSFO said:
I plead the fifth.

But it was pretty awesome when me and DPApilot took some 5-hour energy models flying randomly. There were 3 of them, so we took 2 at first, one waited at a gazebo by the taxiway while I flew the first 2 around. Tower let me shut down on a taxiway, one model hopped out, the other one hopped in, and this older pilot who was there with his grandson just stood at the gazebo trying to figure out what was going on. It was pretty awesome.
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Didn't know 5 hour energy had commercials...let alone male models.
 
coolest thing so far for me was:
1. the CFI Spin-flight with a 6 turn spin
2. long commercial XC in a PA44 Seminole including clear skies and an approach to minimums and beyond^^(the rabbit thing ;) )
 
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