That’s a question I’ve heard repeatedly throughout my life as a pilot and aviation nut. I suspect most pilots have been asked the same thing.
It’s an understandable query — one that seems to spring to mind for a significant portion of the non-aviator population. And why not? It’s a logical question to ask of a pilot. It’s a great starting point for a conversation.
If the response is honest, that conversation might be a whole lot longer than the person asking was ready for.
What’s my favorite airplane? If we’re looking for a performance-based answer, it might be the Piper Seneca. My first flirtation with multi-engine aircraft was a big boost in horsepower from the Cessna singles I’d been flying up to that point. For a young man with aspirations of aeronautical adventure, the leap from 100 hp to 400 hp caught my attention on the very first takeoff.
Pushing the throttle up to maximum power on the C-152 gave me a sense of satisfaction. Acceleration occurred, slow but steady. Pushing the two throttles up on the Seneca induced real excitement. The airplane pulled forward with an oomph the classic Cessna trainer could never achieve.
Or are we considering a favorite because of its rarity? In that case, I’d have to put a Waco biplane based in central Connecticut as my first choice. This big, beautiful biplane belonged to a gentleman who took meticulous care of his classic steed. As he taxied out across the ramp one day, he waved me over. I ran to the airplane and asked how I could help. “Jump in,” he said. So I did.
The rudder was heavy. The ailerons and elevator were light. The throb of the round engine was far different from anything I’d experienced before. The view of a set of wings below and another set above put me in a different world. And the knowledge that this airplane had rolled off the production line when my grandfather was still a young man gave me the satisfaction of knowing I was flying a museum piece.
On the other hand, if we’re grading favorites based on the most audacious experience I’ve ever had in the air, I’ve got to go with the Piper Super Cub on amphibious floats. Specifically, the completely refurbished model the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) turned into a sweepstakes airplane in 2019.
It was a complete surprise when that aircraft came into my life. Suddenly part of my job was to fly and care for an airplane that would receive national attention when it was awarded to its new owner. No pressure.
I had the honor of flying that airplane into SUN ‘n FUN where it was put on display at the AOPA campus. But before I did my duty for the company, I had a bit of fun, too.
The great and powerful Ben Sclair, publisher of General Aviation News, met up with me at my home airport for a short flight before I delivered the Super Cub to the big show. It’s the only time Ben and I have flown together — a memory that puts that flight and that airplane high up on my list of favorites.
And as long as we’re on the subject of Pipers, my 1940 Piper J-3 Cub is a standout. First, because it came to me out of the blue. There was no plan. It just fell into my lap, more or less. After checking the records I found I was the 28th owner of that particular aircraft. It had stories to tell, no doubt. I knew few of them, however. It was cloaked in mystery with a fabulous historic patina.
Easy to fly but challenging to fly well, it was as stock a J-3 as I could have ever hoped to find. The electrical system consisted of a handheld radio I tucked into the pocket behind the front seat. My right arm served as the starter. To this day I can hear that slow, lazy, beat of the engine as it turned the wooden propeller over at just 600 rpm on start-up.
Flying that airplane over the Green Swamp of central Florida, where very little evidence of humanity exists, I always had the sense I was experiencing and seeing exactly what pilots of prior generations had been through in this same airplane.
For all the enjoyment and apprehension I’ve had in the air, however, I think there might be one airplane I can truly call my favorite. Not for historic reasons or because of its rarity. Not because of the power it put in my hands or the unusual circumstances it would allow me to explore. No, I think my actual favorite airplane might be the dullest and least impressive of the many types in my logbook.
I’m going to vote for the Cessna 150/152 series.
Tricycle gear and a modest powerplant make these classics as easy to fly as anything that ever took to the sky. They’re remarkably forgiving in an uncoordinated stall or on landing with a strong crosswind. The landing gear is designed to take a beating and still be serviceable afterward. The fuel burn is minimal, the cruise speed is acceptable, and insurance costs tend to be manageable.
Because they possess an all-metal airframe they can live outdoors on the ramp for long periods of time without suffering undue damage.
Ironically, the Cessna 150/152 series is the only airplane in my logbook I truly wished to leave behind. Early in my career I wanted so badly to step up to bigger, more powerful machines that would take me higher, faster, and farther. What I hadn’t considered was the affordability, the fun factor, the functionality, and reliability of the trainer I learned to fly in.
I’ve been fortunate enough to own several aircraft over the course of my life. And I’ve been enamored of each and every one of them. And I’ve gotten to fly a wide variety of types from civilian and military backgrounds. So perhaps it’s a bit surprising that when I get right down to it my favorite, the one I’d most want to own again, is the airplane I so wanted to get away from early on.
Which brings us to the logical question for you: What’s your favorite airplane? And, perhaps of even greater interest, why is it your favorite?
Dad’s Thorp T18 N455DT
My favorite airplane is the one I am flying at the moment! And I’m just grateful how incredibly fortunate we are to have such freedom to fly in this great country! I could fly my Cub coast to coast and talk to no one if I wanted. Try that in Europe. I truly feel sad for people who are tied to the ground their entire lives.
Also, if I were King of the World, I’d make a rule that you couldn’t get an Instrument Rating unless you’d read “Fate is the Hunter” by Ernest Gann at least once!😁
Same reading assignment (requirement) for single engine night!
My favorite was the 55E Baron. It has getup and go and will climb right out on one engine.
Agreed, also mine. An engine out was really sort of an inconvenience. plenty of power with one.
dehavilland dhc-2 “Beaver”, hands down! Whether on straight floats or on its conventional gear: Firing up that melodious 450hp supercharged 985 radial in the early morning with a puff of smoke and letting it warm up to temp before pushing the throttle forward. Then it’s very useful load, long endurance, and its docile behavior in the sky and on landing, The beaver has been my favorite to fly…
Can’t just pick one………….?!…..A Cub, Ce-150…..the beautiful Viking Bellanca ….Old twins like the 150 hp Apache and a Baby Baron…Then there is the Cessna Cardinal, easy to get in and out!…Then there is a PA-28-140 with the 180hp Lycoming…..Climbed real good.
Yep can’t just pick one…….Oh…then there is the 1.3 Million turbo charged Cirrus with auto land….!…….and of course a nice business jet….to go places……!…….again can’ t pick one….?!
Hmmm so I probably would like the transporter on the star ship Enterprise….LOL!!!!!
I soloed in a BC-12D, got my license in a PA-22, flew Champs, C-172s, and a PA-18 with a 125hp Lycoming from a war-surplus ground power unit, but my favorites were the T-34As I flew on search missions with the Civil Air Patrol.
My GA favorite airplane is my 210hp Swift, but I must part with it, aging out at 85. Loved the F8 and the 727. You might want the Swift, [email protected]
A Stearman and a 450HP. Engine. We had one at Mississippi State University Raspet Flight Lab.
More fun than any other plane.
I absolutely love my 1949 Ryan Navion A with a Continental E225 – just a fantastic flying airplane.
If I could afford to own an AH-1W Super Cobra, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I have almost 2000 hours in them, and I still fly them in my dreams.
With those wingtip tanks and in polished Aluminium, just a gorgeous plane.
Favorite to fly: Navion A with an E225 engine.
Favorite to wrench on: Convair 580!
I’ve flown a lot of different aircraft for my amount of flight time: The C-150; that wheezy, old Navy Flying Club plane that taught me to be surprised that it actually took off… Flight training in the 152s… Flights in the NFC T34Bs; Probably have the most time in C-172s. Love that plane. Would love to have an Ercoupe, but the plane I think I remember most fondly was the Piper Arrow II that is, oddly, the first entry in my logbook.
Piper Apache with 180 on each side. Great fun to fly.
Columbia 300/350/400
Piper Navajo
Magnigyro M24
Blanik L23
Enstrom 280FX
Can you pick just one from your list? 😉
A Super Cub on floats maybe a close second but my personally built Vans RV-7 is about as close as I’ll ever get to Heaven in an airplane. With its great view and marvelous performance, it is a treat to fly.
Finally! A chance for all us airline and/or military pilots, to tell you we’re airline and/or military pilots, without telling you we’re airline and/or military pilots…
But “What’s your favorite airplane?” Just ONE airplane? Sorry, unable.
Anyway, my Top 3 are:
– F-15C
– B-1B
– Cessna 170B
Reasons?
The first two: For what they are, for what they represent, and for what I experienced and accomplished while flying them. That includes the incredible, dedicated people that supported me and made it all possible.
The third one: First plane I owned and still the love of my life.
OTOH, last Thursday, I took a young man from a local high school’s “Aviation Academy” for his first ride in our club’s Cessna 150L…and we had a blast!
F-4, F-16, F-111F, B-727, B-757/767, Globe Super Swift, C-185, WACO YMF-5, RV8, Super Decathlon, Great Lakes.
The Swift was my absolute favorite GA airplane! What a joy to fly! A smaller version of the P-40!
I also vote for the Swift! I almost bought one in 1966 but stopped short for a measly $500 dollars and I have been kicking myself in the ass ever since! It’s N number I’ll never forget…N528H. I have flown many different planes from the J3 through the B747 with 9 jet type ratings and accumulated more than 25000 hours during my career with TWA but I still love the Swift!….Capt.John Mooney TWA Retired…
Jerry is right. I’ve owned many over the years, but since -1969, I’ve always had at least one Swift to enjoy. It is the one airplane that does what you ask it to do every time.
Ner flown the Globe Swift but have always admired them. If I live long enough, I hope to get the chance
The venerated 1963 Cessna 150C.
The best airplane ever designed and <400 built. Are you a "real" pilot if you have never flown a 150C??
I own one and disagree.
I’d rather fly a two seat AA1A/B/C
Better visibility. Open canopy. Easier to fuel. Smoother engine. Crisper handling.
I was hoping someone would mention the AA1 series. I owned a ‘69 “fastwing” model. Yes, they didn’t have as much power as some others, but they were fast and efficient and flew well if you understood their characteristics. Back in the day they were like an aerial sports car. I am no longer able to fly (medical), so I drive Porsches now. I miss my Yankee, though. We flew canopy open as much as possible; it’s top-down on the road as much as possible!
I instructed for many hours in the C150 during my flight instructor days in the 60’s for Shore Air Services in Colts Neck, NJ! It was a neat but cramped little bird that helped me build a lot of time in a very short order.
ConVAir B-58
or Lockheed P-38
or RV-8
Ahhh. Ya’ picked a good one this time lad. Hmmm. I spent five years of my almost 80 buying and selling ‘em for a living. I think, for class, the C195 with it’s 300 hp Shaky Jake and polished 2B20 up front, real velour pilot and co pilot “stations” and glass roll up “credit card” window. I traded the Clipper and J5 that I used to commute to work in to move us from FLL to Kodiak, AK. That one would almost punch the ticket. When we actually were living and flying around the 2,000’ gravel runways of the island it fell behind a nicely modified PA22/20 that we put on straight EDO 82-2000 floats. Two guys out on a crisp day hunting in waders. The trip home with a doe strapped to the float struts, close. Incidentally, your J3 goes nicely on straight floats but wants a C85 up front. Selling/delivering a couple of C421s define “fast” but a bit boring. The Senecas I flew folks to Disney in, six at a time, seemed bullet proof despite being older -1s. I ferried a number of ag birds and the rush of six hundred hp on a brand new C model AG Cat or Thrush… (remember, NEW stands for Never Ever Worked) is a blast. Unfortunately my blasting down through the belly of the Grand Canyon in a new Thrush probably contributed somewhat negatively to the prohibitions to flight forty some years later. Ya’ know, Jamie, It’s tough to call a favorite. Let’s sort it by mission. NOTHING will replace an H model HUEY when, as a 22 year old I flew among the bullets, rice paddys and palm trees of Viet Nam as a Dustoff pilot… now THAT, I guess, is gonna’ be my vote. Yup , government gas, 1,400 shp and guys that needed to get to those medical magicians in a MASH tent at LZ English or back to the evac hospital in Quin Nhan, I’ll make it my all time favorite. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to add that to their bucket…
In February of 1971 I was Aircraft Commander of CH-47B that suffered a gearbox failure and put us into a double canopy jungle, our ride out was a Dustoff UH-1H.
Hard not to love the Huey!
Months later while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas I bought my first airplane, a 1945 J3 Cub. We both are still flying!
Along the way I added a 1929 Fleet 1 and a 1953 C170B to the collection. If I were ever forced to downsize, the Cub would be the last to go…
My RV-3, expertly made by Kent Rockwell. It first flew November 2, 1985. I get goose bumps flying in the San Juans and adjacent spectacular areas. The things I get to see, up close.
I love my LA4-200 lake Amphibian. Fun factor off the charts.
I’ve flown a number of Cessnas , from a C152, C172, T41C, but I really like what I have been flying for 16 years…a Cessna 175B, with the GO-300 engine.
With 52 gallons of fuel and a fuel burn of 6.8 gph at 120 mph, it will fly for longer than I can.
With 175 hp and an 84 inch prop it climbs at 1,000 to 1,200 fpm at 80 to 100 mph.
With the STCs for flap gap seals and Hoerner wing tips it now stalls a 40 mph, with 30 deg flaps.
It’s all ‘steam gauges’ and johnson bar flaps, so easy to fly and land.
V-tail Bonanza. Just stupid cool.
‘Nother vote for the C150. I’ve owned mine since 1982 (it is a 67) and I know every nut, bolt and blob of Bondo on it. Simple, rugged, not much more complicated than a wheelbarrow, cheap to feed, easy to live with, not very fast, but not tricky to fly, just all around fun.
I worked with a flight school that had 15 of them. The students absolutely tried to beat the mortal bejeezus out of them for over a decade, the airplanes simply shrugged it off and kept going.
I’m keeping it . . .
I still remember, 45 years later, the overwhelming feeling of power when I first pushed the throttles of the 182 to takeoff power during my HP checkout. I still recall it when in my own 182 these days.
The feeling of having three (3!) throttles in hand on the L1011 and 727 was a great sensation and two of my very favorite aircraft. The 767-400 was a favorite, straightforward flier and with the 777 main gear, had a ‘jacked up’ look similar to my Uncle’s Chevy Camaro with its raised rear suspension.
Favorite? Cessnas, Boeings, Beech’s and Lockheed…more ‘favorites’ than I could ever rank as ‘most favorite’ in any order.
Still looking to get time in a C-190 or 195 before my time is up.
Someday…
My favorite is the Cessna 180. I am 82 years old and I have flown and owned my Cessna 180 for 49 years. It has done everything I have needed an airplane to do.
Me too. Best all around airplane ever built/
As I approach 80 years old, I am happy to be flying my 1946 Ercoupe. It is simple to maintain, safe to fly and totally within my budget. I can’t think of another aircraft that would fit my needs….
I miss mine!
Give me a Cessna 182 with the Continental O-470 and a storage tank of 80/87 red gas!