Other Aircraft

The Long-EZ is “my” plane. It is a part of me, and I can’t imagine not owning her. Having said this, there are other planes that have a special place in my heart (and logbook). They include:

• Supermarine Spitfire

• North American Rockwell T-2C Buckeye

• Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

• Cirrus SR20

• Boeing 787 Dreamliner
• Boeing KC-46A Pegasus
  

 

Each of these planes is a thing of beauty, yet they achieve this while excelling in the role for which they were designed, be it fighter or attack, tanker or trainer or transport.

 

Other planes, although great in their own right, earned their place in my heart because of what I have gotten to do in them. These include:

 

• Northrup T-38C Talon – it was the plane I piloted to break the sound barrier. I had the chance to fly it for about an hour during my first visit to USAF Test pilot School. Although it was a fun plane to fly, giving me the performance necessary to break the sound barrier in one of the few locations where it was legal to do so was special.
• Grumman EA-6B Prowler – This is the plane that I was selected to fly in the fleet in the navy, although medical issues forced me to stop after 45 actual hours as a pilot, 107 hours piloting the sim, and  23 hours as “special crew”. I also accumulated 14 traps in the back seat, including 8 at night (never be a passenger for night traps).

Sometimes, the best planes fly together: The 787 flies in formation with Supermarine Spitfires (photo Ed Turner)

Now that’s a big smile: me in the front cockpit of an USAF T-38 right after I flew it faster than sound and practiced Space Shuttle approaches to the Edwards Dry Lake bed in 2000.

A 4-ship of Prowlers over the San Juan Islands.