Those of you who have been around here for awhile know that I have a thing for the Lockheed Constellation. As I will never get to fly a real one, I might just have to pick up one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf1qow37MDY
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Do you already dabble in RC’s as a hobby?
Caleb,
I owned a RC airplane for about 15 seconds before I stalled and crashed it. After that, I decided to stick with the real thing.
Chris
You never know. You can always save up and try and talk one of the Historical Associations into allowing you in their cockpit during a flight. Everyone has their own price and you atleast have ME Time, Large Plane time under your belt and not just some aviation photog.
Connie Still Flies: https://hars.org.au/lockheed-c-121c-super-constellation/
Theres an association in Switzerland that still flies but Brietling just ended their support so it might not be for long: https://www.superconstellation.org/index.php/en/agenda-en
I know in the distant future if the 747 isnt around for pax service i will try and find a way to jumpseat with a freighter
That stinks about Breitling, I would rather they have ended their sponsorship of John Travolta instead. It drives me crazy to see advertisements with him next to some fighter jet with a captain of “Welcome to my world”. One of the may reasons that I will not wear a Breitling, but I digress.
I do plan on visiting the new TWA Hotel (www.twahotel.com) at JFK this spring. This is a pilgrimage of sorts for me as both of my grandfathers were TWA pilots and I remember flying out of that terminal as a kid.
Chris
We currently have President Eisenhower’s VC-121A “Columbine II” being restored here at Dynamic Aviation in Virginia. Was the first aircraft to carry the call sign “Air Force One.”
Here’s an article about when she arrived:
Hopefully someday soon she’ll be fully restored and taken to the skies.
Michael,
What a cool video, thank you for sharing.
I am a picky guy though, what I want to see, and never will, is a civilian Constellation, not a Super G, but an original Constellation, without the stretched nose cone. To my knowledge, there are none of these left that are airworthy.
Chris
To be clear though, any Connie that takes to the skies is awesome.
We all have our preferences. What’s the oldest bird you ever flew on Chris? I’ve had the pleasure of riding right seat in a Ford 1929 Tri-Motor back in 2006.
You have me beat by a long shot. I am not really sure, nothing particularly old or special. Probably an old DC 9 or 727, I have never been in what I would consider an antique aircraft. My father (retired airline pilot) rode in a Ford Trimotor and said it was an absolutely amazing experience.
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It was definitely an experience. You could feel the cable movement through the control column. Nothing like the smooth fly-by-wire stuff we have today.
I know the EAA still flies thier Tri-Motor on tours cross country. Maybe one day you might get the opportunity.
But you got me beat because I’ve never flown a DC-9 or a 727, lol.
Michael,
That is so awesome that you are with Dynamic Aviation. I was just logging in to tell Chris about it the restoration as this AM I was watching AOPA Live and they did a segment on it with the preparations underway for the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover next year.
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Well I don’t work with Dynamic, but know a lot of pilots that do. I only live an hour away from Bridgewater. In backcountry terms that’s a short distance, lol.
AoD is a pretty awesome event. Few years back watched the formation fly over Warrenton. Also got to see the B29 “FiFi” in the air from my C172 about 1/2 mile from my position. Lots of cool stuff flies through here in Virginia.