Scudrunners

I have only flown the mighty C-172 and a couple of Piper Warrior IIs. I guess the newest 172 I flew was pretty nice, they all fly fairly similar and that one had a nice interior and injection.  :P

I have never flown a plane I didn't like.

Sure, some have more power than others,
some have more roll rate than others,
some have sweeter control responses than
others, some scare the shit out of me and
some have tried to kill me ...

But I love them all.

My biggest disappointment was the P-51D.

There's an old saying that you should never
meet your heroes, and that was certainly
true in this case. 

In retrospect, no aircraft could possibly have
lived up to the hype, and it certainly didn't. 

My main bitch was that the ailerons got
ridiculously heavy at high speed - it needed
servo tabs so badly - and the wing, while skinny
and fast like a 90's supermodel on coke, didn't
allow you to pull G worth beans.  It bled speed
like an Ontario politician pisses away money.

I like an aircraft that will turn, preferably many
times in a vertical upline.

I will admit an unnatural fondness for aircraft with:
- radial engines
- tube and fabric
- tailwheel
- biplane

and as such the Stearman spins my crank more than
the Harvard, for example.  I still like a Harvard, don't
get me wrong - I love that R-1340. 

I vastly prefer a radial engine over those fussy liquid-cooled
V-12's which sound mildly flatulent to my untrained ear, and
can be brought down by a BB gun to the radiator.

Jets are cool, too, don't get me wrong.  But there's something
lacking - call it soul.  Aerobatics in a jet is like having sex with
a robot from the future.  It would feel ok, but you can't help
wondering if that's all there is.



Crap away on me from a great height, Rui and the Four Bars.

That is a very difficult question to answer because there are so many airplanes.

Maybe the Stearman has the most of everything, and it was one of the first real airplanes I flew for a living.

But there are some other airplanes that are real pilots machines like the Turbo Commander 690B.

And for raw power and versatility it is hard to beat the Turbo Goose.

My ideal aircraft would be a pressurized
IFR taildragger with design airframe G
limits of +/-10G, a thrust to weight ratio
better than 1:1 at max gross weight, and
a roll rate exceeding 400 degrees per
second, that could carry 6 pax and baggage
3000nm, at FL410 and 600 KTAS.

And ya gotta be able to stand up in it,
of course.  And a 10 lb stick goes without
saying.

Depends on the purpose.  For fun, a C170 with an IO-360 bolted on the nose or a Citabria if I want to fly upside down.  On floats, the mighty DHC2.  Workin, newer citations.  Probably for me the ultimate workhorse, all around, does everything reasonably well, I would have to choose the PC12.  To me the only downside is its a single, but being acutely aware of that probably makes it that much safer yet.

Any airplane where someone else is buying the gas.

My first love affair.  It needed more power but it was licenced for basic aerobatics.

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I've loved them all including my Tin Mistress that I currently own

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From the DH52 Hummingbird to the CF-104D and the 89 other types , they've all been fun..except for the Volksplane that tried to kill me.  Just like women they all have their good and bad points but they all serve a purpose.

Barney

I've a soft spot for the F-406 (aka: Caravan II)
With that said, and after many other types the DHC-2 wins my heart over. (My back no longer hurts!)

Oh where to begin,

Turbo Prop:  PC-12, Swiss engineering, amazing performance, huge cabin and a pleasure to fly.

Jet: This is a tough one; The Lear 35 when everything works its a little fighter jet, downside small cabin curtain around lav, plus I could reach the coffee pot seating while flying
Boeing 727; because I like honoring the memory of dinosaurs by burning lots of them and making David Suzuki cry.

Pistons, BN2 Islander with noise cancelling headset, amazing short field performer and load hauler.