Have you ever flown in any rare or special aircraft?

Glider · Post by **Glider** » 22 Jan 2005, 12:52

Ryanair Jaguar EI-CJE (2 times) (CRL-PIK and back)

Westland Sea King - RS04 - BAF (during summer camp Belgian Air Cadets - Oostmalle)

BAe Hawker Siddeley 748 - CS02 - BAF (during theoretical courses Belgian Air Cadets - Coxyde)

Cessna 152 aerobat

Some gliders: ASK-13, ASK-7, Twin,...

V-Bird · Post by **V-Bird** » 22 Jan 2005, 14:44

i flown on the Netherlands Airforce Fokker F-60, registration U-02, long range, maritime patrol aircraft from Bergen ( Norway ) to Dutch Navy airfield 'Valkenburg ". She was brought us home after a long artic submarine patrol.

Fokker builds just 4 F-60, so it is kind of special

eskyguide · Post by **eskyguide** » 23 Jan 2005, 22:40

SN30952 wrote:
eskyguide wrote:Well, I flew in SA's Boeing 747-SP ... Kerwin.
Me too, but why is that a rare or special aircraft, Kerwin?

Well, at the time, there were perhaps three carriers flying the 747-SPs (Qantas, South African and Iran Air). I think that only Iran Air flies them now. When I flew the -SP, it was at the end of its run with South African Airwys (SA).

danieln · Post by **danieln** » 24 Jan 2005, 13:01

I once had the luck to fly with a Dassault Mercure on a flight of Air Inter...!

Post by **sn26567** » 24 Jan 2005, 13:22

danieln wrote:I once had the luck to fly with a Dassault Mercure on a flight of Air Inter...!

Me too.

SN30952 · Post by **SN30952** » 24 Jan 2005, 16:38

danieln wrote:I once had the luck to fly with a Dassault Mercure on a flight of Air Inter...!

Ya, that one, Daniel. The aircraft manufactured by Générale Aéronautique Marcel Dassault .
Everybody seemed to forget that one.
What happened to these aircraft? Where are they?

Air Inter opted for the French jetliner on 30 January 1972, placing a firm order for 10 units to be delivered from 1973 onwards. The Mercure looked rather good on paper, with lower operating cost and breakeven load factor than those of its competitors.
The Mercure had a Head up Display (HUD), and an "all-weather-landing system*" what ment operations would not be disrupted with Cat. III weather conditions.

And indeed the French Republic was pushing Dassault to have a second path in case the Concorde and Airbus programs would fail, but remember the joke about the Mercure: its limited range would never allow it the leave France….
The last revenue flight of a Mercure was operated by F-BTTB on 29 April 1995.

*Dassault was building miltary aviation equipment, don't forget.

cityflyer · Post by **cityflyer** » 25 Jan 2005, 18:55

danieln wrote:I once had the luck to fly with a Dassault Mercure on a flight of Air Inter...!

Me too, was on Air Inter F-BTTC from Paris to Toulouse in 1982

CaptainEd · Post by **CaptainEd** » 27 Jan 2005, 19:05

I started flying for the navy as a student in the SNJ's, and flew a few rare birds.

I suckered into ferrying a "CUTLASS" hangar queen from NAS Brooklyn to Anacostia once back in 1957, in a reserve COUGAR Squaron.

I flew the Martin 202/404 for dearold TWA in 1957. They were called The Greyhound of the Ohio Valley.

I also flew the CV-880 in 1967. That was one nice machine. Hot over the fence, but good brakes.

Once I flew a Curtis Pusher 2/3 replica that was for sale. At the time I had been flying the L-1011, so I had a little trouble landing - kept flaring at 20' or so.

God be with the days!

C-117 · Post by **C-117** » 29 Jan 2005, 14:47

I would classify these aircraft as "rare" in relative terms: The Piper Cub, C-117 (USMC version of the DC-3), C-119, DC-3, 4, 6, 7 & 8, B-25J, a Ford Tri-Motor, P-51D, AT-6, B-17 (Sally B), Lockheed Constellation & Super Constellation, the AN-2.

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 03 Mar 2005, 05:22

I flew on United 757-200 w/o 9/11 aswell

YV911C · Post by **YV911C** » 09 Mar 2005, 17:01

In october 2003 during a brief stay in Venezuela I managed to take ride on a venerable DC3; "The lady" was a C 47 of a company called "El Sol de America" (YV911C C/N 32761) and was used on a daily run between Caracas and Los Roques Islands (45min of flight); it was in impeccable condition sporting ex AZ seatbelt!!!
I think the service is still operated (with DC3); for anyone who is interested, the tickets can be purchased at the airline's office in CCS airport

brakes_78 · Post by **brakes_78** » 23 Mar 2005, 19:01

I flew in a concrete plane at Juhu Garden, Santacruz West, Mumbai.

That was the nearest i could get into an airplane then.

Alistairbastian · Post by **Alistairbastian** » 23 Mar 2005, 22:54

thats one neat one brakes_78 cool one

CaptainEd · Post by **CaptainEd** » 02 Apr 2005, 03:42

I was a PAX on a Martin Mars back in 1955. Flew from NAS Alameda to Pearl Harbor. Very comfortable seat, nice, slow ride.

I had temp. orders to FAWTUPAC, Fleet All Weather Training Unit, Pacific, supposedly to update my instrument proficiency. I reported to NAS MOFFETT, VF-152 which was an All Weather and Night Intercept Squadron, flying the F2H-3 Banshee.

My CO intervened to try to get me out of this, because I should have been ordered to temp. duty at FAWTUPAC, "DET A", right there in Hangar One with the rest of the squadron.

No dice, so off I went to Pearl. I reported to a skeleton administrative squadron, and they explained the orders were missprinted, should have added "DET A". "No kidding", said I. "Where's the O'Club." I was a smartawrse Lt(jg) at the time.
Orders came thru after a few days back to Alameda on a Mars.

Hey, when they hand you lemons, make lemonade, right? Put some Vodka in it too, please. 8)

bigjulie · Post by **bigjulie** » 02 Apr 2005, 10:38

I flew in a Grumman Widgeon amphibious 'plane when I was living in Auckland in 1985, we took off from Mechanics Bay, where the old Pan AM flying boats used to take off, we did a 10 minute circuit of the city, then landed back at the float base, it was fantastic

hvv · Post by **hvv** » 14 Jul 2005, 21:11

Don't know if this counts, but I flew on a Swissair and a Crossair flight on the last day of their existence, and a SWISS flight the day after (late March 2002)...

C-117 · Post by **C-117** » 15 Jul 2005, 12:09

On 12 July 1976, the Navy phased out the last C-117 (Douglas DC-3), perhaps the most famous transport plane of all time. The last C-117 was flown from Pensacola to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, the boneyard for most obsolete military aircraft. What a flight!

BelgianBoy · Post by **BelgianBoy** » 16 Aug 2006, 09:55

I flew in the prototype of the civilian C-130

fokker_f27 · Post by **fokker_f27** » 16 Aug 2006, 10:30

Aircraft that do not fly anymore:
KLM Boeing 747-206B/M(SUD)
Continental Express ATR42-500

Historical aircraft:
Lufthansa Junkers Ju 52/3M

We often flow the old KLM 747 Classic over the atlantic, and managed to get a visit to the cockpit. The entertainment on those birds was terrible, but I didn't know about PTVs back then, so I didn't mind. The ride was always followed on a Continental Express ATR 42. They are now scrapped or in service with Continental Connection.
And for the Junkers, just look fo the trip report in the aviation experience forum.

And someone with good and bad luck at the same time: Bob. He made his first flight in EI-CJE, but the aircraft had sucked up a pebble on takeoff, so they had to return to the airport.

Orange_Jumper · Post by **Orange_Jumper** » 16 Aug 2006, 11:20

I flow with an Awacs, does that counts?

Aviation24.be

Have you ever flown in any rare or special aircraft?

That's more than 10 years ago, Daniel, Andre....

Rare plane