What's your best trip ever?

Grumman Mallard into Nassau Paradise Island

Here are a few pics from this neat experience…
On the flight ramp they were death on taking pictures. The side shot of the plane I took with a tiny digicam in my shirt pocket.

My nicest ride was in the Focke Wulf Stieglitz OO-JKT (now G-STIG). It was a flight from Kortrijk-Wevelgem (EBKT) to Midden Zeeland (EHMZ) and back. We flew in formation with P&W powered Boeing Stearman OO-STM, Stampe SV4C OO-SVS and Stampe SV4D OO-SVT. When we returned, we flew in close formation alongside the coastline at an altitude of around 50 to 100 feet (very low above the water!!!) We (the passengers of course because the pilots where busy flying the planes! 😉 ) all waved at the crowd which was standing on the beach and they all waved back. A very nice rid and a once in a liftime experience for me! 😎

It was like a dream.

J.V.

30 Min in a Tiger Moth at Duxford, and ferrying a helicopter from Shenandoha Valley, Virginia to Curacao, via Florida, Bahamas, Turks&Caicos, Dominican Republic, the Caribbean islands and Venezuela.

Best trip

Moggy,

Absolutely, I remember that I said when I had 49, I was only half finished,
After my first I said that I repaid Uncle Sam for the cost of my training, the rest were gifts from me

But wasn’t the 50th just a little better than the rest Jules?

Moggy

Beat trip

I had 50 best trips, each time I returned from a combat mission. Oh yes the scenery was superb.

Best Flight

Had to be my B17 flight experience in Reading PA – amazing, though the 45 minutes went by way too quickly

Also flew in a friends Harvard in LA – well actually an ex Navy SNJ – We were in a formation of 8 and made a mock attack on a WW2 Victory Ship cruising near Catalina Island .I never been in a steep bank 75 feet over the ocean before so seeing a wall of water on my left side was pretty spooky

Great flying over LAX at 4000 ft on the outbound and return leg

After that flight my admiration for the Harvard grew

Right where to begin? Let’s go for chronological order that is the easiest way. Aeros in a Chipmunk why? because aeros are fun.
Lightning T4 because the power is absolutely amazing and has to be experienced to be believed.
US Army Kiowa(jet ranger) at low level when the American pilot watches how the Brits do low flying in Helicopters. Brits: 150ft+ = fast jet country. Americans: Below 250ft= low flying. We were trying to get crow’s nests out of the trees with the skids I think and went round a German chateu at the levelt of the upstairs windows.
Harrier T4 because 450Kts at 250 ft gives you a real adrenaline rush, I was totally hyperactive for the rest of the day after that

Best trip? Mmmm. Most satisfying or most pleasurable ? Having had PPL since March 2004, thus far I’ll pick one in each category. Most satisfying, and still clear in the memory (unlike first solo!) is my qualifying cross country. Winter. Late getaway. Coventry to Gloucester – no problems. Gloucester to Conington no problems with nav. Into the overhead and the radio is giving problems. Sometimes they respond, sometimes they don’t. Is it me or them. Not sure. Don’t panic. Think. Remember the training. Stay at 2000 ft, keep a lookout and sort it. Radio o.k. now, into circuit pattern, downwind, level off…and the seat slides backwards ! So it’s true what I’ve read! Don’t panic. Think. Stay cool. I tell Conington. Perfect landing with legs at full stretch. Phew. Fuel up. Pay fees. Power checks now reveal ignition problems. I get a lucky lift home in a 182 ! Return next day with instructor to pick up mended aeroplane.
Fly home in more challenging VFR with instructor following in another aeroplane. Get home, taxy in, shut down. I stayed cool. I didn’t panic. Hats off to my instructors. I quietly congratulate myself on a job well done.

Most pleasurable? Flying a friend’s 76 year old mum from Coventry, then overhead her home in Monmouth. Long in the planning, we wanted it to be a surprise. Three times the weather prevented us making arrangements to bring her to the Midlands. On the day we cracked it, she still didn’t twig, even when I appeared from inside the hangar at Coventry. They had convinced her that there was a chap at the airport who fixed mountain bikes (they had strapped one to the top of the Volvo, for effect !). She had been up in a microlight about a year before, her only flight experience. We had blue skies, great viz and she loved every minute of it. We stopped for lunch at Gloucester and then returned to Coventry. She rang me one week later to remind me how exciting it had been. It brought a tear to my eye and will forever remind me of how privileged we are to be able to do what we do, at whatever level.

15 minutes with Brian Lecomber in an Extra 300L

Flying a Chalks Ocean Airways Grumman Mallard turboprop from Ft Lauderdale into the harbor at in Nassau, Paradise Island. (and back) Low over the clear ocean into the harbor right over the sailboat masts, landing smoothly beside ocean liners. Watching the gear go down and powering up the steep ramp right to its own customs hut by the Atlantis Resort. Only holds 16, no cockpit door, Luggage up in the nose came out a bit wet.

Totally awesome. I watched seaplanes all my life in Miami and finally got to ride in one. It was a life’s dream come true.

I was so excited, but my wife was terrified and nearly did not get aboard… LOL LOL

One of my most unusual, yet enjoyable trips wasn’t in an aeroplane! Whilst on holiday in Co. Wicklow in 1998, the owners of the cottage I hired had a couple of one-man hovercrafts for use for about an hour at a time. They had cut a track in a grass field on the farm and I spent a fantastic, if knackering hour poling one of the aforementioned machines around. Absolutely wonderful fun. AF Junior was only five at the time, so the owners put a crash helmet on him and took him round as a pasenger!

Yes, you cannot do this anymore either…

I was on a 777 from LHR to BOS pre-9/11 (Sept 2000). As I settled into my seat, I could see cockpit door was open. I asked the purser, if I could take a quick peek inside. He said he would ask the Capt and get back to me. I figured that was a polite way of saying no and stretched out in my seat, and buried myself in the book I was reading.

In about a few minutes, the purser came back and said that the Capt would love to have me visit but that I would have to wait till we were airborne and over Shannon. I was stunned and excited.

Sure enough, I was called to the cockpit and was strapped down in the center seat (jump) and both he and the co-pilot took turns explaining their FMS etc. I was very fascinated by all that stuff, but this was pre-flying days for me so I never got to ask about airspeed and fun stuff like that.

Instead, while chatting we both realized that we like to boat. He has 35′ sail boat that he keeps on the Med and we have a power boat for coastal cruising off the NorthEast seaboard and based in the Boston harbor. He then said, that he sees a lot of islands as he comes into land at Logan (BOS) and asked if I could identify them for him from the air. I know the place rather well and agreed and was wondering how I could do that. Just then he said, that he would like me to join him on the flightdeck 150 nm out and sit in the jump seat all the way to the ramp.

Another thing I learned. According to this Capt, BA could essentially fly everybody free in economy if all seats in FC were fully paid fares (not upgrades or other freebies). Don’t know it is true and perhaps was true then but certainly may not be true in today’ fuel costs etc.

I was stunned and mumbled a thank you and left for my passenger seat.

Sure enough, just as we neared BOS, the purser again took me to the flight deck and strapped me in. I got the experience of my life. I could see BOS and its islands ahead, heard ATC reroute him, saw them enter that into the FMS and felt the a/c respond to the new vectors. I did my stuff and pointed out the islands. I instinctively shut up as we turned final and finally heard the descent called out and touchdown on the RNY. We taxied to the ramp and I waited for them to finish their checklists and could not thank them enough for their kindness for affording such an unique opportunity for me.

My only previous experience, in seeing a plane land, from such vantage, was in 1996 during my intro flight in a rickety C172!

My thrill was further enhanced when I saw the look on two of my former colleagues who saw me emerge from the cockpit as they were deplaning. The only downside to the experience – I was essentially the last one off the plane. These two colleagues were so curious, that they waited for me at Customs. It was so much fun. My regret, I did not get the name of either the Capt or the Co-pilot. My bad.

Such was life before 9/11.

You can’t do this any more….

A flight in a Bell 47G from Hyde Field around Washington D.C. when taking helicopter instruction.
Soon after take off you establish contact with National Control (Reagan National Airport) and once you’re past the Wilson Bridge northbound, drop to 200 ft for the VFR helicopter corridor over the Potomac.
You’re flying along watching indound National traffic DC-9s & 737s hearding towards you on the other side of the river bank…(remember in the US we drive on the right!!) Once past National you do a low turn over the Jefferson Memorial..people fishing and playing with toy boats in the tidal basis look up and wave.
Soon you’re beside the Lincolm Memorial…a glance to your right and you’re looking down the “Mall” towards the Washington Monument and the capitol Building…next you’re beside the kennedy center and note you’re below the roof level. Next it’s follow the river as it bends to the west in the georgetown section (it was here i was passed by a Park Police Bell 412…zipped past on the right). You follow the river past langley and the CIA HQ barely visable to your left, then you follow the infamous beltway (a hi-way also known as “the 8-lane death strip”). You follow it south past lots of suburbia sprawl…looking down at hugely expensive houses and seethe occasional ambulance helicopters on hospital pads. Finally, you follow theroad to the east and cross the river and drop down to Hyde. With that. yopu’ve made a anti-clockwise trip around the Virginia area of the nation’s capitol.

This was all pre-9-11 of course. Pity, great sights and fun.

Every Yak 52 flight!
Flying around Britain last year ina Dr300, well almost, we never made it round Scotland due to the weather. Made it up to Wick but had to return back down the East coast, then went across to Prestwick. A great weeks flying.

Yes that maybe the one, however the formation aero’s were by a pair of Mustang’s. I may get to post some pics when the forum sorts it’s life out.

Its got to be the P51 formation in that case surely??? Wish that was one of my options!

Either a 3 ship P51 formation to Kemble and back on a beautiful December day in 2003 or the trip to Woodchurch in 2004 in the Stearman, or maybe the formation aerobatics over Thorpe Abbotts on the way between Old Buckenham and North Weald in September 04.

As I cant choose myself I can’t really expect you to can i?!!!
Mine is a toss up between lazy aerobatics in a Stearman over the great plains of East Anglia at sunset, unlimited aerobatics in an Extra, flick rolling in a Pitts at dusk, the cliffs of Dover in a Cub, my first ever trip in a light aeroplane as an air cadet, my first solo in a Grob 109b when I was 16, my qualifying cross country in a 152, or formation in a Yak 52.

I have all the same problems as you Steve – didn’t realise how hard it would be until I actually sat down and thought about it!!!

Best ever… really not sure I can pick just one.

First flight ever, in a Chipmunk out of Manston, flying in the same skies that just 42 years earlier had been filled with Spitfires, Hurricanes and Messerschmitts…

Back seat in a Jaguar T2 through the Welsh valleys…

First solo in a Slingsby Venture at Henlow…

Rolling and looping a Yak 52 last year… and then going back up an hour later and doing it all again (still grinning even now)…

Finding out that you really CAN steer a Piper Cub by sticking your hands out of the windows…

First cross-channel trip as P1…

Taking my son up for his first flight, both as passengers in a Dragon Rapide (well, had to keep the family tradition going, first flight HAS to be in a de Havilland)…

Now come on Flying Chick, surely you’re not going to make me choose are ya? 😉