Professional Pilot, May 2018

34 PROFESSIONAL PILOT May 2018 Many years ago I owned a Staaggerwing Beech which was a fun aircraft These days my son owns a Waco KS7 that I get to fly occasionally My favorite corporate aircraft was a Citation Excel It carried us all over North America and even a trip to England What an honest straight forward aircraft But my all time favorite was a de Havilland DHC 2 Beaver on floats There is nothing better than a round engine float plane Malcolm Soare ATP A P Beechjet 400 Maintenance Supervisor Davidson Companies Fort Peck MT Top 3 picks for me are the Cessna Conquest Pitts S2B and the Hawker 900XP All great all different but all wonderful to fly Greg Hill ATP Citation Latitude Captain NetJets Jupiter FL Aeronca Champ is my favorite because its so basic Just stick and rudder It takes you back to another time Darrell Johns ATP CFII Legacy 500 Pilot Westmoreland Mechanical Av Youngstown PA Dassault Falcon 50 is my number 1 pick It seemed to be made to be flown by a pilot that loves to fly Mark Hughes ATP Bombardier Dash 8 Captain WestJet Encore Burlington Ontario Canada Current aircraft we operate a Lear 45 is my overall favorite It has the performance to climb directly to FL450 and cruise efficiently at 80 Mach With a great wing design and trailing link gear good landings are the norm But the aircraft thats at the top of my bucket list is the P51 hands down Keith Cook ATP CFI Learjet 45 Chief Pilot Basler Electric Worden IL Got to fly over 4400 hours in the CH47 A B C D while serving in the US Army In my opinion the Chinook was the best helicopter ever made In the civilian world I had the privilege of providing 1100 hours of instruction at FSI for the Beech Starship It was smooth quiet and a blast to fly Brian MacInnis ATP Helo CFII Bell JetRanger 206 King Air 350 Instructor FlightSafety Intl Wichita KS Favorite aircraft for me would have to be the Bombardier CRJ200 and Hawker 800 which Im flying now John Stumph ATP CFII Hawker 800A Pilot Air Med Intl Birmingham AL Beech 18 was a dream to fly Piloting this aircraft in northern Alaska was a true delight A 10000 lb taildragger with 2 smooth radial engines 2500 lbs of cargo 2 small vertical tails to make it easier to land in high crosswinds and the typically harmonious Beechcraft handling And after returning to home base you just checked the fuel level added a few gallons of oil to each engine and you were ready to go again Tim Harold ATP CFII A P Pilatus PC12 PC6 Captain Yajasi Sentani Papua Indonesia Each aircraft Ive flown had its own personality and Ive enjoyed every single one of them But so far I always have a smile on my face when remembering the Piper Cub I received my tailwheel training in Theres just something alluring about the simplicity of flight in that airplane Its always great to return to the basics of lift weight thrust and drag in a tandem seat fabric covered airplane Chris Konop ATP A P Premier I Director of Aviation Ali Gator Air Fairborn OH There for you from launch to land Our FBO Pros provide exceptional aviation and maintenance services with a focus on safety and outstanding customer service so your experience at Saker is second to none GCK Unicom 122950 8005395055