I have taken many flights in my life & some of the aeroplanes & helicopters that I’ve flown in include Airbus A380, Boeing 747, HAL Dhruv, etc.
BHPian V.Narayan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
We have threads of cars or two-wheelers we have owned or driven or done other things with, and we have a large and active community of aviation readers and flyers, so here is a thread on aircraft I have flown in.
This list got made as today I had a young visitor a 7-year-old grandnephew who after gaping at my collection of aircraft scale models asked me, “Nanu which all aircraft have you flown in”. I have actually never made that list- it never occurred to me. And this list followed after some memory scratching and old records digging. Sensible little fellow who loves aircraft. He got a scale model ATR as a return gift with a Toblerone chocolate bar tossed in for good measure.
My list follows. I have tried to put them into buckets, but other post contributors need not follow this categorization: –
Airbus airliners
- Airbus A380
- Airbus A330-300
- Airbus A340-300
- Airbus A320, -NEO
- Airbus A319
- Airbus A310-300
- Airbus A300B2
Boeing airliners
- Boeing 747-400, -300, -200, -8
- Boeing 777-200, -300
- Boeing 767-300ER
- Boeing 757
- Boeing 737-200,-300,-700,-800
- Boeing 787
McDonnell Douglas airliners
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11 {Later Boeing}
- McDonnell Douglas DC-81
- McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
BAe airliners
- BAe 746
- BAe ATP
- BAe/Avro HS.748
Embraer airliners
- ERJ 195
- ERJ 175
- ERJ145
- EMB120 Brasilia
Other Regional airliners
- ATR-42, -72
- Fokker 27
- LET L410 Turbolet
- Shorts 330
- Sukhoi Superjet {only demo flights}
- CRJ 100
- DeHavilland Q-400
- Dornier 228
- Dornier 328 {only once}
Helicopters
- Sikorsky S76
- Bell 427
- HAL Dhruv
- Mi-17 {only test flights}
Executive Jets & Others
- Bombardier Challenger 300
- Bombardier Challenger 650
- Dassault Falcon 2000
- Gulfstream -550, -650 {both only demo flights or test flights; tradesmen don’t fly in the cabin of the Rolls Royce of Executive Jets}
- Phenom 100
- Boeing 737 BBJ {only test flights}
- De Havilland Canada Twin Otter {Survey work}
- Beechcraft King Air, Super King Air
Invite other aviation fans and flyers to list the aircraft they have flown in as passengers or pilots or crew of other types.
Our non-aviation readers would be familiar with most of the airliners but may not be with some of the lesser-known types. So, I’ve picked a handful and pasted representative photos to liven up the thread.
EMB120 Brasilia
Embraer’s first pressurized regional commuter that took the market by the horns and launched that wonderful Brazilian company to its current heights. Its predecessor the unpressurized Bandeirante was a classic example of the step-by-step progression they pursued starting in 1969. An example of what our aviation industry could have been with visionary leadership instead of being saddled by bureaucrats. Rant for another day.
The EMB120 was flown by United Express on shuttle services every so many minute between DC and NYC and many other city pairs. Often used it in the 1990s and 2000s. Totally like a bus service. Superb aircraft. Third rate airline, the worst in fact at least where service goes though very strong and well organized technically.
HAL Dhruv
Our own Dhruv chopper. A gem of an aircraft according to me. Lots of arduous experience on it – where and how is not for this thread.
Sukhoi Superjet100
Interestingly this is the very machine I have sat in on a few demo flights at various air shows for business purposes. Outside Russia, only the Thai Air Force, notorious for corruption, purchased 3 of these for VIP duties. In a way, it is a pity the Soviet/Russian aviation industry has all but collapsed in the civil aviation sphere and left the market in the vulnerable duopoly of Boeing & Airbus. Only Embraer has emerged in the last 40 years as a viable alternative. The West is now so far ahead in airliner design with built-in reliability, MTBO, safety, economics, ease of maintenance etc. that Russia, who always lagged on these measures IMHO can simply not catch up now. Let’s see how the Chinese do.
Embraer Phenom100
The babiest of baby business jets. You better have a good pee before you board! Some customers opt for the belted lavatory configuration where you need to sit and pee. But if you are more than 5 feet 3 inches in height and over 60 kg in weight I suggest you don’t even attempt to use it. Achieving success is an altogether different level of moksha.
LET L-410 Turbolet
Actually, a very successful aircraft from the Warsaw Pact era from the Czech Republic. Over 1200 were built. Flew often in it in the 1990s and 2000s especially in Europe. Rather noisy by the standards of today. The large windows were great fun to peer out of as it bumped along at below 10,000 feet. It was unpressurized.
BAe ATP
This was a lengthened, modernized version of our venerable HS.748 Avro. A reasonable aircraft that could not match the seat-mile economics of the ATR series due to a heavier older basic air frame. ATR dominate the Indian skies today. We lost a chance to be a co-share partner with BAe in the early 1980s and could have licensed built and further developed this otherwise fine machine. All due to our lack of vision for the aviation industry of this country and BAe’s arrogance towards the third world – they are a little better today but 40 years back it was not so. I often flew in it on regional routes within the UK in the 2000s.
Shorts 330
A true bush aircraft with STOL {Short take-off and landing} capabilities. Trundles along unpressurized at 275 to 300 kmph. Flew it a few times in East Africa. Flying at below 10,000 feet is real fun watching the landscape below and getting bumped along merrily.
Sikorsky S-76
A queen amongst executive choppers. Quiet, elegant, fast. It is actually beyond my pay grade. Whenever I used to visit Sikorsky’s plant(s) in the USA they would send their company machine to pick me up from which ever big city I was based out of for that business tour. I loved doing business with that company. The courtesy was a reflection of their culture. They have preserved the office of the founder Igor Sikorsky the way it was the day he died in 1972.
Welcome other members to post their lists. It will be especially interesting to receive inputs from pilots on the forum.
Keyword: Different types of aircraft people have travelled in as passengers