Best Airplane

[LXApilot]

Ok... I want to hear it - make me a believer! What's the best aircraft out there in every category?

I think the Citation III pretty much pounds anything else out there. We're talking the second fastest business jet in the skies here folks. Can't tell me .855 and FL510 isn't totally kick a$s! Sleek and sexy lines, trailing link gear, and more confusing and complex stuff than any other airplane/pilot should be allowed to have!

There! I said it ~ Now tell me how wrong I am and how I am smoking dope.

(I think all airplanes should be deafening loud, gargantuan in size, pour smoke out the exhaust, and be filled up with all kinds of dials and electromechanical gauges! - This is what disqualifies the Concorde from anyone saying it's the coolest airplane imaginable- because there just can't be anything else even close)

 

[TDTURBO]

An SR-71 would be nice to get around quickly if price were no object.

A G550 or CX would make the list, I know the X will smoke the III.

I would take a P-51D over any of them.

 

[NookyBooky]

The private jet that carries the Victoria's Secret models. That followed by any old piece of chit with a R-2800, R-3350, or Merlin in it.

 

[bluesky421]

I like the Conquest II, simply for its speed and range. For some reason i love the Cheyenne 400LS. The props on that thing are huge! 1000 shp per side!

 

[Lead Sled]

A Supercub on amphibs followed closely by a nice Grumman Albatross. NO Cessna jet will ever be on any of my lists except for maybe a CJ if my ship ever docks. But if that happens you'll find me out (at the dock) preflighting the Albatross.

A Citation III? What are you thinking? A Citation X = Cessna's arguement that if you hang big enough engines on a pig you can make it fast.

'Sled

 

[semperfido]

i am thinking a king air c90 that only gets pulled out of the hagar to wash it

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

This one.

http://airliners.net/open.file/732319/L/

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Fun to fly? Jetstream 31 - What can I say? It was a wiggly pig.

Best flying qualities? Douglas DC9-30 - Hands down the easiest to fly, most "well balanced" of any aircraft i've flown. No hydraulics (save the rudder) and you could fly her with your fingertips. Nice.

Best Performance? Lear 31a - I've never flown anything with as incredible performance as the Lear 31. Empty in the wintertime vertical speed pegged until the mid-twenties. WOW.

If you're gonna talk about the best, might also talk about the worst

Least fun to fly? Boeing 737 - Aeronautical equivalent of a dump truck.

Worst flying qualities? TIE: Canadair RJ/Dornier 328 turboprop - This one was hard. Frankly I almost jumped at the CRJ. The aeronautical engineers must have been on vacation when they designed this disaster. One need only watch the yoke during its convulsions during flap movement or during an approach to know that this thing needs help. -- the Dornier might be a close second. Within just a few knots of V2 the airplane will begin to lose directional control. Who certified this thing? Add the plastic instrument panel falling in your lap at inopportune times, a lav that wont flush on the ground, and a nosewheel steering system that is posessed by the devil and we might have a clear winner...er loser.

Worst Performance? Jetstream 31 (again) - The J31, though enjoyable to fly, tuckered out at around 7000 msl. Redline was 223knots, in the summertime you would occasionally hit the stop on the throttles before reaching t/o power. Sad. They must have had some engineers from Shorts come in and talk about the benefits of having the aerodynamics of a phone-booth.

 

[Goose Egg]

Whichever one it is that I get paid to fly.

If I were going to buy one I'd probably go for a late model Citabria. Bonanzas are cool too.

-Goose

 

[navigator72]

A Waco Classic (just like my avatar)
Caravan on Floats
Piper Cub (w/ float kit)
Grumman Albatross
Beechcraft Starship
Extra 300
Cessna 150 (we need to preserve the 150's)

That would make my hangar look real pretty!

 

[FN FAL]

Ok... I want to hear it - make me a believer! What's the best aircraft out there in every category?

It might just be me, but I thought the Cessna Skyknight was a pretty awsome plane in the 6 passenger piston twin class. The cabin was big enough, that an agile adult male could get out of the co-pilot seat in flight and go past two passengers in the middle seats and take a seat in the rear seats without disturbing the cabin configuration or any of the passengers that much. You can't do that in a Seneca or a Barron.

It handled well and performance was pretty good. If I had the bucks, I'd buy another one tomorrow, but I'd make sure it was not one with the TSIO-470's on it.

We're talking the second fastest business jet in the skies here folks.

Don't call me folks, I don't know how to play a banjo.

Now tell me how wrong I am and how I am smoking dope.

I can't tell how you are smoking dope...this is the internet, not reality television.

 

[Vector4fun]

Best fixed gear single- Cessna 205. Six seats with an IO-470 that would lean out to 11 gph. Handled like a '64 Chevy truck though too.

Best retract- Bonanza 33 or 36. The 33 is a fingertips airplane. Meyers 200 gets an honorable mention, but you have to manufacture your own parts anymore...

Best light twin- Baron 58

Best bush plane- Beaver. A half-ton truck that flies like a cub and was built like a dozer.

Warbird- Spitfire. What else handles, sounds and looks as nice? Bearcat may be a close second though.

Best classic- Waco UPF-7. Spartan Executive deserves mention though.

 

[Flying Illini]

The citation III is the second fastest biz jet out there?! What are you basing that on? If it's Mmo, I gotta say, no way, no how to that one, sorry.
Falcon 10: .87...and it will do it and more.
Falcon 20: .88...but it will never do it, except maybe in a dive.
Citation X: .92...it looks like it could do it.