Coolest flight you've been on?

[Blackhawk2001]

I got to watch "dash cam video" of a 130 doing a combat take off on a less the great run way. Sides of the runway had markers, if you were not at a certian speed by each one you were pretty much going to die by runing into some huge craters....... you also had to line up with marks on the pavement to help avoid the other craters that are in the "useable" section of the run way.

Never seen anything like it....

Another was a 130 combat landing that was pretty nuts..... when you landed and pulled onto the taxi way you had to do a max effort turn once you were ont the taxi way... if not you would end up an a HUGE ditch that at night you can't see well even with NVG's due to how far up you are sitting....... apparently everyone was amazed that at the time nobody had crashed into it...... that was in Afgan.

I'm not a very good passenger - I get really nervous during takeoff and landing - and I'm constantly listening for things to go wrong (comes with being a rotary-wing pilot). Some years ago, we took a day-trip to the Bahamas and on the way back, the aircraft had to do a go-around because they couldn't get a "three-locked" indication on the landing gear. My wife tells me that I was just reading a book and suddenly got white as a sheet when I heard the crew recycle the landing gear.

Probably the time when my "experience" was driven home to me, was when I was traveling back to my work base, after returning a leased helicopter to the factory. Got on a puddle-jumper flight from the International Airport during a typical summer night in Louisiana - thunderstorms all over. At the first stop, I struck up a conversation with the two pilots of the aircraft. Turned out I had more flight time than the two of them put together. THAT was confidence-inspiring...

 

[Tactical Dave]

I'm not a very good passenger - I get really nervous during takeoff and landing - and I'm constantly listening for things to go wrong (comes with being a rotary-wing pilot). Some years ago, we took a day-trip to the Bahamas and on the way back, the aircraft had to do a go-around because they couldn't get a "three-locked" indication on the landing gear. My wife tells me that I was just reading a book and suddenly got white as a sheet when I heard the crew recycle the landing gear.

Probably the time when my "experience" was driven home to me, was when I was traveling back to my work base, after returning a leased helicopter to the factory. Got on a puddle-jumper flight from the International Airport during a typical summer night in Louisiana - thunderstorms all over. At the first stop, I struck up a conversation with the two pilots of the aircraft. Turned out I had more flight time than the two of them put together. THAT was confidence-inspiring...

Some regionals only require around 500 hours to be a first officer if that makes you feel better haha. I think there are some that require less.....

Im fine flying on most American based airlines....... some of the ones across the pond you would never catch me even near....


A Russian bird the other day had all three engine flame out....... one at cruise and the other two on final.......... it landed but since it had no thrust reverses went off the runway and crashed into a bunch of houses killing a few people on the ground....

 

[Mike H]

Float plane, 1971 King Salmon Alaska
Hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley Cali. 2006