What's the best thing you've seen in aviation?

[Guest V4DIV-CVN-70]

The Best Thing Iv'e Seen is Two Things.1. In Sep. 1986 After Landing the the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in a C-2 Greyhound, The Rear Door opens and There it was, 4.5 ACRES of the coolest planes I have ever seen. f-14 Tomcat's, A-7 Corsair's, E-6 Intruders,EA-6B's, E-2C Hawkeye's, S-3 Viking's, and 1 A-3 "Whale", And "I" would get to fuel them all up! Never Forget that day. The landing was pretty hair raising considering we were seated facing the rear of the greyhound but, when that door opened and you could see that deck. WOW, MAN, Nothing can beat it.2. in Mar. 1987 after 6 months at sea (WESPAC) standing on the Bow of the Vinson, (no aircraft left on board) breaking through the Fog to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Knowing "We Were Home" while the 5MC blared out the theme from TOPGUN (filmed on the Vinson) Unforgettable!Now, I'm tearing up........WOW

[Mace 1,951]

Best thing in aviation I've seen is a B-1 doing a high subsonic pass in front of the Gateway Arch, St. Louis. I was worried about all the glass buildings in downtown STL but it seemed to pass without incident. I also saw a MiG-21 flying at that show...VP Fair, St. Louis, probably 2000, 2001, 2002, can't remember the year.Another time, I was about 2nm NE of KCGI, on the ground at my friends warehouse the day before an airshow. I looked up, saw a B-17 Flying Fortress do a low pass and 180 degree turn to final right over us and over the neighboring field. That was to me even more amazing than the B-1.

[Peter Clemenko 0]

by far, the best thing I've seen is the time when I was at an air show and a tomcat flew supersonic less than a mile from me when it broke the sound barrier.... BOOM!!!!!

[t_a_h 0]

Hi guys,I'm reading a lot about military aircrafts experiments... well, it happened that I am working for a automated vending mashine distributor in Europe. So we have these vending mashines all over the countries and especialy at Lufthansa sites. So for maintenance work ad new installations I am often at airports like Dusseldorf, (DUS) EDDD, Hamburg, EDDH and Frankfurt EDDF, working as near as reaching out to touch airplanes they maintain there in A, B or C Checks.So this way at one of my first days maintaining our vending mashines in Frankfurt, I was allowed to go up into a LH B747-400 and go see the cockpit. I have seen it only on photos or in FS9 PMDG. But in real it#s sooo small and you can even realy reach out and do the co-pilots job playing with switches and knobs...What was realy funny was once I happen to talk with one older master technicians, probably over 50 yo already about flying. He is a private pilot and kows much about the Lufthansa aircrafts. Pretty at the end of that talk he asked me if I am a pilot too! I told him that I only fly a simulator PC and that aviation is a knowledge hobby for me. He was stunned and impressed to hear that someone only flying a simulator without having a PPL can talk like a big one having so much knowledge about aviation!Unfortunately when you are in the security area of an airport, your not allowed to make photos of the aircrafts and surroundings. Ony of your own work. So I only sneeked some photos when nobody was watching. Nice hangar panorama with B757 in the new Airbus 380 Hangar 7 in Frankfurt. So I am looking forward to realy see a A380 sitting in that hangar for a Check....

[kerosene31 349]

Not sure if this counts as "aviation", but here goes:I was on a golf course a few years back. My friend and I were waiting for a green to clear so we were just sitting in the cart doing nothing. All of a sudden, this bright flash of light fills up the clear, summer sky. This object flashed all sorts of bright colors and trailed smoke as it burned up in the atmosphere. Turns out it was a satellite falling from orbit and of course burning up in the atmosphere. I can't describe how bright it was. It was so brilliant, even against the clear blue sky. I guess people say it all over the northeast US, but you had to be outside at the right time. We were so fortunate to be outside to see it, and the timing was perfect as we were just sitting on the cart doing nothing.

[Mace 1,951]

by far, the best thing I've seen is the time when I was at an air show and a tomcat flew supersonic less than a mile from me when it broke the sound barrier.... BOOM!!!!!

That reminds me...I once saw an F-18 fly by ... SILENTLY ... and the sound caught up with it about a second later.I had never seen anything like that.

[fbobum 0]

Before I'd started on a PPL, I attended a fly-in at a small airport in the Midwest. It payed off to have a brother-in-law as an airport manager, as I had the opportunity to get some right seat time in a wonderfully maintained Beech 18 known as "Beech Baby". The aircraft had been modified as a C-45 back in the fifties. The feeling I had while aboard, imagining the history of the a/c and those that flew in it is one I'll never forget. One can find the Beech Baby repaint for Milton Shupe's Beech 18 here at AVSIM...

[tasmanet 0]

I forgot to mention one of the most impressive things I ever saw was while I was fueling my plane up in Grand Island, Nebraska. A business jet swooped in-and an 80 year old guy popped out of the cabin drinking champagne with 3 beautiful 20 year old women fawning all over him and all of them giggling. They made a pit stop-got back in and then flew off to who knows where.

GeofaMaybe he was only 40 and worn into the ground :( Steve

[gman! 1]

GeofaMaybe he was only 40 and worn into the ground :( Steve

Was he was joking? :( If its true, I wouldn't even fly in the same airspace as that guy in FSX! just kidding.

[Geofa 108]

GeofaMaybe he was only 40 and worn into the ground :( Steve

I wouldn't mind being worn into the ground that way.. :(

[tunnelcat 1]

Best thing I got was an hour long flight in the B-17 'Nine-O-Nine'. A nice long tour over my home town in clear, calm weather. I had to cough up $300, but it was sure worth it to experience all the sounds and visuals in this wonderful old bomber.