Which aircraft is your favourite to fly on and why

airportlackie

Mine personally is a321, really nice interior and nowhere near as noisey as a Boeing

rightyabe

Boeing 777, mainly do long haul and prefare it to the A380 in terms of comfort. Also like the 2-4-2 figuration at the rear of the plane. Me and the missus always book the 2 seats so as we can be sure we're not stuck with a passenger from hell on a long flight.

smurfjed

Business Class 787, single seating with massive windows, seats are angled so you actually get to look out about 8 windows at the same time.

...And Justice

airportlackie wrote: »

Mine personally is a321, really nice interior and nowhere near as noisey as a Boeing

Not an EI A321, noisy as feck.

dzilla

747-400. Can't express the excitement I still get as a grown man when i still get to travel on one.

ned14

Cessna 172. Why?

Because I get to fly it myself... Put me at the controls of something nicer and I'll reconsider my answer.

Captain_Crash

Boeing 767... I like the 2-3-2 layout and it has a big enough fuselage to not feel cramped.

Special mention for the A340... I don't know why, I just love it.

I know the title says favoruite, but I have to put my least liked also and that's the 737... all variants.

kevinandrew

Boeing 747 for the pure power, it still feels like you're in a real flying machine on take off with everything rattling and the wing flexing as the aircraft rotates and drags itself off the runway and into the sky. Once in cruise it's the smoothest of flights and landing is always impressive with the spoilers and breaks working to slow the beast down. A380 is nice and a pleasure to fly on but doesn't have the same magic.

A330 family is also a favourite of mine, the 2-4-2 config and the much quieter noise levels compared to the 777 and 767 family of aircraft makes it a winner for me. It's got a beautiful wing design as well, very graceful in flight and lands like butter.

The 787 was disappointing, very narrow in economy and while the engines are much quieter than it's older rivals, the cabin itself is one of the noisiest in the sky! There's a near constant high-pitched whirring sound from within the aircraft and regular clanks and jolts throughout the flight that make it near impossible to relax. The A350 doesn't suffer from this despite its even quieter engines.

roundymac

Flew AMS-LHR with Cityhopper on an Embraer 190, I think it was, very impressed with the layout. Anything really with a two two+ option for seating IMO. Worst would be single aisle T/A like a 757 unless of coarse you are in Business.

Noxegon

IL-62M. The scream of the Soloviev engines is like nothing else in the air,

Comhrá

A380 for me. Flew LHR - AKL with Qantas and back with Emirates a few years ago and found the sense of space and general lack of ambient noise made for very relaxed flying.

Only minus was the window views are a bit restricted as they seem to be more recessed than in other cabins and there's a bit of a gap between the seat arm-rest and the cabin wall. Overall a great experience though.

robyntmorton

Captain_Crash wrote: »

I know the title says favoruite, but I have to put my least liked also and that's the 737... all variants.

That's a little harsh. I do have a soft spot for the -200 though, mainly as during secondary school work experience I got the right hand seat on one for an engine run out of Hangar 5 with FLS Aerospace, while we retuned those excellent JT8D fuel to noise converters. Reading the full analog instrument panel (which was in part wired backwards) made it feel more natural than looking at a computer screen.

That said, my favourite aircraft to fly on is/was the DC9/MD80 family. Yeah, they were funky and old, noisy machines, but there was just a certain character about them. The feeling of the two JT8D's (maybe I just have a thing for that engine) pushing through your back as you started the take off roll is a wonderful feeling.

My abiding memory of the aircraft has to be a Feb 2008 flight from Kansas City into O'Hare, on an AA Super 80, where I had the overwing window seat, as we did wingtip turns on approach over the snow covered Chicago skyline. The captain (when I saw him in the airport before departure, he looked like a fighter jock - sunglasses and leather jacket with patches) knew what his aircraft could do, and did it.

snotboogie

A380, by an absolute mile. I used to do Beijing to Dubai with Emirates on an A380 and then Dubai to Dublin on the 777. The difference in quality between the two is staggering.

ohnonotgmail

The small prop planes used by Aer Lingus Regional. Almost like being a in WW2 bomber.

robyntmorton

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

The small prop planes used by Aer Lingus Regional. Almost like being a in WW2 bomber.

First time I've seen an ATR described that way!

ohnonotgmail

robyntmorton wrote: »

First time I've seen an ATR described that way!

I love the noise and feel of them. Not sure i would be so keen if it was long haul though

Pat Dunne

Back in the days the Shorts 360, a real flying machine, just brilliant.

For pure comfort A380.

Noxegon

snotboogie wrote: »

A380, by an absolute mile. I used to do Beijing to Dubai with Emirates on an A380 and then Dubai to Dublin on the 777. The difference in quality between the two is staggering.

To be fair a good part of that is seat width – there's at least another inch on the A380 vs the 777.

Captain_Crash

robyntmorton wrote: »

secondary school work experience I got the right hand seat on one for an engine run out of Hangar 5 with FLS Aerospace

Its a small world, I done my work experience at FLS too.

I'll give you the 200... they're a class act;) Especially when sitting behind the wing and hearing the noise of the reverses when the clam shells open.

Naked Lepper

A380 - feels like u are in a building when taking off and it is SO quite and roomy
also love the 747-400 as its old school and the first jumbo i was on
I was on a delta 767 before that had a 2-4-2 config which was class as no need to jump over loads of people when sitting near the window
kinda like 757 for the take off and landing but is a bit cramped

worst place i was on is md82, i absolutely hate them with a passion but i heard sitting near the front is very quiet

Tabnabs

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, but I loved the experience of flying in the DC9/MD80. The the ridiculous rate of climb at take off, the flexing of the wings in turbulence and the opportunity to exit an aircraft right out the back, under the tail. For pure excitement on take off though, I'll never forget a stormy departure from CPH aboard a SAS DC8. Revs up until the whole thing shook and then let off the breaks before hurtling down the runway and streaking up into the air. Pure magic.

Stovepipe

@pat dunne the Shed??!! are you for real? not called the Vomit Comet for nothing. Built from the box it came in....@Ned14, dead right! My favourite aeroplane is the one I'm flying.

Bsal

I like the SR22 and the newer C208 caravans, very comfy.

Pat Dunne

Stovepipe wrote: »

@pat dunne the Shed??!! are you for real? not called the Vomit Comet for nothing. Built from the box it came in....@Ned14, dead right! My favourite aeroplane is the one I'm flying.

Yes, for real. I know all about it's monicker . I recall flying to Bristol many years ago and ending up been diverted to Exeter having spend at least an hour and 20 minutes waiting for a weather window to land in Bristol, but to no avail. Spent at least 2 and ahalf hour in "The Shed". I reckoned I was the only one to hold on to my lunch that day

Irish Steve

The shed was a great aircraft if you wanted to watch the world going by below you, or (if you were lucky) around you. It was a long time ago now, but I spent nearly 2 years commuting from Bristol to Dublin on them, and by very good fortune, I probably spent more time on the jump seat than I did in my "normal" seat 1A, and it was those trips in the Sheds that did a lot to persuade me that it was worth looking to upgrade my PPL to a CPL. Yes, it had it's limitations because it wasn't pressurised, but it wasn't that bad, the real vomit comet was the 330, due to the different rudder system on that model, the 360 was a lot more stable than the earlier model.

The 360 was a pilot's aircraft, most them didn't have autopilot, so one of the crew was hand flying it, and they were sufficiently small that the hostie and trolley moving from one end to the other would be enough change in the C of G to need to be trimmed out. I make no bones about it, I learnt a hell of a lot sitting on that jump seat and observing some very professional aviators doing the job in a time when things were a lot less structured, things like MCC and CRM hadn't come into the loop at that time, so things were much more informal, and we had some amazing conversations during the cruise period of the trips, when there wasn't too much happening around the aircraft, and the experience of seeing and hearing the ATC side of real IFR approaches was a huge help to me when I came to do exactly the same but single crewed in a fairly similar performance light twin a couple of years later.

The Airbus 330/340 family are nice on long haul, especially if you can get seats in the front cabin, which we did on one round trip from Gatwick to Windhoek, but for passenger comfort, the best aircraft I flew on over the years was the DC10, simply because it is pressurised to a much lower level than any other long haul aircraft, so nicer for that.

The 777 wasn't nice, the temperature wasn't good, and the extra boxes on the underside of the seat for the IFE meant a loss of foot space/legroom, so not comfortable on a long haul flight.

In terms of flying, either real or simulator, that's harder, as I managed to get time on a whole range of aircraft, the work I got involved with meant a lot of research on a whole range of aircraft. Real flying, my favourite was the Pa39 twin comanche, my instructor described it as the Ferrari of the skies, and in many respects, he was right, it was seriously fast for its size, and a crisp aircraft to fly, unless I braced, the instructor pressing the PTT on the yoke his side would cause a climb of 50 Ft, and for the time, it was well equipped, though now it would be regarded as stone age, and in fact, the airframe I owned has had a massive avionics upgrade in recent times. It wasn't a load carrier, but it would go a long way, which made it ideal for what I used it for. By comparison, some of the other Piper Twins were a lot less fun to fly, and a lot more agricultural.

In simulator terms, the highlight has to have been Concorde, I got to spend some time in it when we were working on a long complex project at Bristol, which was where the simulator was based. It was unlike any other commercial aircraft of that generation, and much more like a military aircraft, and the flight engineer worked harder than either of the pilots, due to the work required to keep it in trim, which meant moving fuel between tanks almost constantly, but it was an amazing aircraft to handle.

The 747-400 is a nice handling aircraft, (in the sim), I did a significant number of hours on it doing some complex research, and we spent a lot of time exploring areas of the handling envelope that are normally way beyond the normal SOP norms, which made for a lot of fun as we found out what happened when it objected to what we were doing to it.

I also did a lot of work on the A320 family simulators, some of it again way beyond normal SOP guidelines, and while there's nothing wrong with the aircraft, I didn't like the way in which the crew didn't get to know what systems were influencing some of the ways that the automation operated, the information wasn't in any of the Flight Crew operating manuals, and for some things, we couldn't get the information from Airbus in France, even though we were working on a project with British Aerospace, who were a partner in the Airbus project. There were times when we wondered if the only people that really knew how some systems worked were the programmers that put the system together, and we were denied access to that level of information, and some of the answers we got from the technical support teams suggested that they too didn't really know the answers to the depth that we were looking for.

The most difficult aircraft was not a commercial airliner, but a small Cessna Jet, one of the Citation family, and the difficulty with it was that the layout of switches and circuit breakers was very poorly laid out when compared to the Boeing and Airbus family, dealing with an emergency type of situation meant looking all over the place to check gauges or switch positions, which was very disorientlng in comparison to the much more structured layout of the larger commercial jets.

I've done far less travelling in recent years, so I don't have experience of the newest large aircraft like the 380, or the new Bombardier and Sukhoi jets, hopefully, I will get a chance to experience them before too much longer. Comments I've heard suggest that they are nice aircraft to travel in.

afatbollix

The 747 is an amazing aircraft. Havent been on the newer aircraft yet but you don't even notice your crashing into earth when it lands its so smooth.

BeardySi

DC-3. Beautiful airplane, pure classic. Love the smell of the vintage interior, the uphill walk to your seat and of course the sound of those big radials...

Only flown on one once and would do it again in a heartbeat.

faceman

For pure machoness the 747 is a beast. Feel like a King on that yoke.

But for comfort it has to be the A380. It's a comfy ride and cabin noise is lower than other wide bodies.

Personally I feel the 777 is overrated when it comes to passenger comfort. It's a noisy beast.

The E190 is comfy too. Tbf it's hard to argue with a 2-2 config with leather seats.

I'm just talking generally here too. Not looking at economy vs business vs airline.

Jude13

snotboogie wrote: »

A380, by an absolute mile. I used to do Beijing to Dubai with Emirates on an A380 and then Dubai to Dublin on the 777. The difference in quality between the two is staggering.

I think the quality of the 777 to DUB is weak because they stick the old planes on our route. I was flying short haul (in the middle east with Emirates) on a 777, commuting at the start and the end of the week, and the 777's were newer than the DUB legs.

Since November Emirates have introduced a new Business class on its 777's however nothing new on the Dublin 777. I have emailed them/replied to their instagram boasts to see when they are rolling it out on the Dublin route but heard nothing yet.

Mine would be the 777 with Etihad, the seat config it like Emirates first. Or the A380 with the bar at the back for novelty although never been on that longer than 2 hours.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

fits

A380 no question. It doesnt have the magic of 747 but so comfortable for long haul.

roundymac

It depends really what way carriers have them configured. I'v flow on a 777 with Singapore and thought it was fantastic. Loads of room and comfort. By the same token on a 743 upper deck with SAA was a nightmare

martinsvi

pipers are really nice, goes through bumps like a tank, If you get one of those with mechanical flaps that work like a handbrake, what else could you wish for?

from jets my vote is also for the A380.. it comes down to cabin pressure, and these new composite birds offer a lot lower cabin altitude than their aluminium counterparts, I think A380 has a cabin altitude of 4900ft, really makes a huge difference when it comes to jet lag 'n stuff

crisco10

As a generally cattle class traveller, my favourite would the A380. I love the extra space on the lower deck that you get because the walls dont curve as much, lots of head space all the way to the window. Have done the Sydney -> Dubai 16 hour non stop leg in this plane and it was of my most pleasant long hauls.

Not a big fan of the 777, the 2 seats at the back are nice, but the area is always busy with pedestrian traffic.

I do like the 2-4-2 layouts of a330/767 and they are generally quite comfortable. It is quite nice when travelling as a couple to get a window and an aisle seat and have the row to ourselves.

I like the idea of the 747-400 but have only been on BA editions, which tend to have quite cramped seating conditions and a hard seat.

Comhrá

Worst longhaul flight I ever had was in the back of an AA 772 in the centre seat flying from DFW to LHR.

9 hrs. of contortion wjth the seat frame making my thighs numb. Had back-strain for a week afterwards.

bronn

I'll be off on my travels again soon. Booked on business class, KLM, 747-400 which is my absolute favourite. This will be the first time I've been in their upgraded business class too. Will try to get a few good photos for here.

I like the 747 because it is THE plane. I like everything about it, even in pleb class. I like going for a ramble around the cabin and I love going up the stairs. I flew in a packed BA 747 once and it was an awful flight but I still loved being in that plane. Take off might be the best bit - the way it thunders down the runway for what seems like ages and then that gradual up, up, up and away.

veetwin

Hard to beat the top deck of a 747 for the novelty factor. In economy the A330 is nice.

smurfjed

Gotta love the neck of some people.

Came to my business seat 4L, guy and his mother sitting there, Steward asked to see their boarding passes, they delayed and delayed, finally they showed them, their seats were economy. Then they started asking why can't I stay here you have empty seats

Needless to say when told the upgrade cost they slowly moved!

This is a relatively new B777-300, configured with 30 business seats and 350 (?) economy seats. I've lost track of the number of configurations that this airline operates with, but this wouldn't be my favourite.

rightyabe

Lots of people complaining of the noise of the 777..I live 600ft under a airport flight path and the 777 are the loudest...but when on a 777 I listen to music or a movie so most of the sound is drowned out for most of the flight. Going on a Etihad Dreamliner in a few weeks for a long haul for the first time. Heard its pretty average. Also the gap from the seat to the fuselage on a A380 is the main reason I don't like it as we'll as the 3-4-3 configuration.

Captain_Crash

I see a lot of posts have people mentioning that the 777 isn't great (not as good as Airbii). I'm going on one for the first time on Monday, and to be honest... its the part of my holiday I'm looking forward to the most.

martinsvi

I can't blame 777, if people find them noisy they probably haven't flown the likes of DC10/MD80 etc, it's no different than any other Boeing from this century.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Captain_Crash

I got my seats booked, EY, so 10 abreast but aint nothin' I can do about that

Still excited, once done the A380 and 787 will be next. Then I'll be lucky enough to have had every "major commercial type" (except the 707, I aint that old;))

SCOL

My little T300 Thruster 2 seat tail wheel Microlight. I can take off from the back of the house.

vkid

Flew first class a few times on Deltas L1011 from Shannon to Atlanta and then onwards,.Will always hold place in my heart after those trips. but always loved the engine layout on those.

Copyright image removed at request of copyright holder

Commotion Ocean

Embraer RJ145 2+1 Configuration
Dash 8 Q400
Avro RJ / BAe-146

Stovepipe

C-47, G-AMPO, first aircraft I ever flew on. Sat right up front just outside the cockpit, for a 15 minute jolly out of Farranfore, when I was fifteen. Grin factor of about a thousand.

For me its the A350, flew it in September from Helsinki to Bangkok return with Finnair..

A beautiful plane, the economy comfort seats are well worth the money...

EchoIndia

Stovepipe wrote: »

C-47, G-AMPO, first aircraft I ever flew on. Sat right up front just outside the cockpit, for a 15 minute jolly out of Farranfore, when I was fifteen. Grin factor of about a thousand.

Two of my images from what I guess was that day:

Tenger

NoDrama wrote: »

For me its the A350, flew it in September from Helsinki to Bangkok return with Finnair..

A beautiful plane, the economy comfort seats are well worth the money...

Lucky fecker

BeardySi

Stovepipe wrote: »

C-47, G-AMPO, first aircraft I ever flew on. Sat right up front just outside the cockpit, for a 15 minute jolly out of Farranfore, when I was fifteen. Grin factor of about a thousand.

It was her sister Papa Yankee I was up in, nothing like it!