Are you Old School?

[Dubya]

Just chiming in with a resounding agreement! My first old bird trip was in a Beech 18.

I was lucky enough to go get my tailwheel endorsement in a PT17 Stearman. Open cockpit, radial engine...what a joy.

I did steep turns in that Stearman around Jack Nicklaus putting in front of a large crowd on one of his new greens north of IND! I wonder if he remembers.

Even the old jets are more fun to watch. You can tell that an older B-52 or a F-4 went by 30 minutes after they passed!

W

 

[coloneldan]

If I could get the same pay, I would only fly Cubs, Champs, Stearmans, Travelaires, (The ones with 2 wings.) Wacos, maybe a Pitts or two. If the weather was bad, like maybe it might rain, maybe a Staggerwing. If the weather was really bad, like I might accidentally get in a cloud, a twin beech, DC-3, or C-46. If the weather was really, REALLY bad, like I was going to have to fly an approach, I'd just have to cancel the trip and have a beer. With a few exceptions, I wouldn't fly anything made after 1945, and the fewer dials, buttons and knobs, the better.

Anybody know where I can find a job like that?

 

[VNugget]

If I could get the same pay, I would only fly Cubs, Champs, Stearmans, Travelaires, (The ones with 2 wings.) Wacos, maybe a Pitts or two. If the weather was bad, like maybe it might rain, maybe a Staggerwing. If the weather was really bad, like I might accidentally get in a cloud, a twin beech, DC-3, or C-46. If the weather was really, REALLY bad, like I was going to have to fly an approach, I'd just have to cancel the trip and have a beer. With a few exceptions, I wouldn't fly anything made after 1945, and the fewer dials, buttons and knobs, the better.

Anybody know where I can find a job like that?

I know one, it's called retirement!

Save me a spot if you get there

 

[Goose Egg]

I like airplanes.

 

[Gorilla]

OK, I'll agree, radial engines are very cool, but how can an F-86 NOT be romantic? The F-86 is almost a contemporary to the great WW2 piston fighters. Jets can have character and appeal as well.

 

[sky37d]

Gorilla,
I was thinking about what you wrote. I tried to think of the last time I saw a sexy jet. A really cool jet. Not a techno wonder that flys itself.

Still thinking. The sea dart is as close as I can get.
Maybe the Seamaster, Actually, definitely the Seamaster. F-104??

 

[Dubya]

Gorilla,
I was thinking about what you wrote. I tried to think of the last time I saw a sexy jet. A really cool jet. Not a techno wonder that flys itself.

Still thinking. The sea dart is as close as I can get.
Maybe the Seamaster, Actually, definitely the Seamaster. F-104??

I'd say it's hard to beat the Phantom for that. A raw beast. No tricks til later on. Just guts and fantastic lines.

W

 

[Gorilla]

Gorilla,
I was thinking about what you wrote. I tried to think of the last time I saw a sexy jet. A really cool jet. Not a techno wonder that flys itself.

Still thinking. The sea dart is as close as I can get.
Maybe the Seamaster, Actually, definitely the Seamaster. F-104??

So the Sabre doesn't do it for you? I've talked to a lot of F-86 pilots who have also flown many other aircraft. I cannot think of ONE who didn't say something like "The Sabre is the best handling aircraft I have ever flown, of any type."

Those early turbines were every bit as persnickety as any piston engine. As for flying themselves, the military fighters have primitive autopilot systems at best. The space, weight, and $$ is put into weapons, not automation. Most mil fighters have autopilots that are not as good as many IFR 172's. The challenge is employing them, not flying a x-country.

To each his own. Some guys think anything newer than WW1 biplanes are not cool. About the only class of aircraft that does nothing for me are the ones we are all flying for the airlines.

 

[skygirl1968]

i worked for Delta between '98 and '02 in DEN. during that time they brought their old DC-3 (the first one that DAL owned) out to the station one day as part of a promotional thing, and they had a drawing for the employees to go out for a 20 min flight. i was one of the lucky ones that got to go for that ride. it was THE MOST memorable event in my 'aviation' life (next to getting my PPL ticket). they made us put on the hospital bootie things over our shoes before we could get even step on board! there is nothing in the world like the sound of those engines and nothing like feel of taking off and landing in it...it was truly and experience that i will never, ever forget...here's to the oldies!!

 

[agpilot77]

I'd say it's hard to beat the Phantom for that. A raw beast. No tricks til later on. Just guts and fantastic lines.

W

I say the phantom and the Thud are tied in the raw beast category.

 

[sky37d]

Oh, yeah, Thuds are very cool. And as long as we are talking that era, Skyraiders (Spads, Sandys), those have raw power. Slow, very cool. Huge airplanes.

 

[Ill Mitch]

I'm old school. Some of the most fun I have had was flying an E-18 to Catalina Island and trying to clear the little runway before the DC-3 ran me over.
T-6 is another fun one I have a bunch of time in. To keep in line with what Gorilla says, the closest I have come to flying an F-86 is flying the T-33. I had a chance to fly the F-86, but would have had to pay for my LOA, and I was a starving instructor at the time.

These days I still fly a T-6 and tool around in an L-16, in addition to flying some whiny turbine thing.

If I ever win the Lotto, my dream is to build a full scale replica of a Boeing 314.

 

[infiniti757]

Definitely old school. I may be youngish but the best guys ive ever known with were ex Pan-Am guys that flew the seaplanes. 4 bars with an anchor on the uniform, master of ocean flying boats was the title. And the planes... 4 radial engines and no landing gear, no runways required. Those days are long gone too bad for us. would have loved to do that kind of flying. The Citation X is fast, but the highlight of my day is usually the restaurant at the end of the leg. Gimme dead reckoning across the Pacific, or picking my way through the South American jungles any day.

 

[CherryBomb]

I love the old Lear 24/25. Ive managed to stay away from the shiny RJs thus far.

Ive never ever seen a glass cockpit in person....

Long live the old schoolers

 

[pilotyip]

What a Lear Jet without a glass cockpit. Our Lear Jet is all glass; there is glass bezel over every analog gauge.

 

[Photoflight]

I'm 24 if i end up having to stay a civilian, Ill be happy if I never have to sit in a jet again. The duece was the most boring flying I've ever done. I missed out on my dream job of flying a t-6 around to airshows and givings rides etc..because I didn't have enough tailwheel time

If i could find me a beech 18 to fly around for a year or two I'd be in heaven.

Long live pistons and heres to dreaming of radials and draggin tails.:beer:

 

[Tailwheelman]

I'm 24 if i end up having to stay a civilian, Ill be happy if I never have to sit in a jet again. The duece was the most boring flying I've ever done. I missed out on my dream job of flying a t-6 around to airshows and givings rides etc..because I didn't have enough tailwheel time

If i could find me a beech 18 to fly around for a year or two I'd be in heaven.

Long live pistons and heres to dreaming of radials and draggin tails.:beer:

There still out there to be had.....just very few and far between if your tryin to get paid to fly one

 

[freeflyer14]

Got to ride in a B-17, jumped out through the bomb bay doors around 7000', just about the coolest old school thing I can think of... (I guess I could have worn a round chute, but I am not that brave) Number 2 on the list would be jumping the DC-3 a few times, the ride was always so much better than the jumps.

 

[sleddriver71]

I am probably in a minority here, but I like tend to like the following things about aviation:

1. Old Piston Airliners (DC series, Connie)
2. Old Turboprop Airliners (Viscount, Britannia, Electra)
3. Planes with flight engineers
4. NDBs
5. Planes that make a lot of noise
6. Planes that make a lot of smoke
7. Round analog dials

Maybe I'm just a dinosaur, but I'm only 40ish and I've been like this since I started flying as a teenager....haven't changed a bit. I see these new pictures in magazines of cockpits that look like the TV wall at Best Buy and I don't get excited, I just get kind of sad about it. Is there anyone else out there with this disease?

I like everything on your list except for NDB's, all they're good for is listening to AM radio stations

 

[Princedietrich]

I wouldn't want to go so far as to say I'm "old school" because frankly I'm not that old. But I can say that I've got more of an affinity with the steam gauges and the more vintage models than with the glass of today. Granted, some of those new planes nowadays are pretty sleek looking and all of the info up front makes situational awareness a breeze. But there's no way to beat the majesty and dare I say it the sexiness of an old warbird like a Mustang or a Corsair or a Phantom. I've got a couple of flights logged in a Lear 25, and I remember feeling like the Coyote with an ACME rocket strapped to my butt. Believe me, everyone takes notice when those suckers take off. As for the glass stuff, I'm no more advanced than the IFR GPS that graces many panels nowadays. Get me in front of a G1000 or a Honewell Primus and I'll just sit there scratching my head. I remember the last sim check I took in a Lear 35 which had just gotten an FMS installed. The captain and I just looked at it, looked at eachother, shrugged, and did everything "the hard way" because we couldn't even get the dumb thing to turn on.

I can also say I'm part of a dying breed because I still carry my FE cert in my pocket. It was only 8 months on the panel of a 727, but it was some great experience. I hope that someday I'll be able to use the FE ticket again.