Thanks Conrad,
I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people on the planet - truly.
My wife is a CFI-II-G and loves taildraggers, gliders and instructing - we had our honeymoon camping under the wing of our Supercub at Sentimental Journey - how lucky is that? She teaches with me at Sugarbush and we own part of that Taylorcraft - it is really more her airplane than mine!
Top 5 are tough, with a lot to choose from for different reasons - big fan of mission specific flying. Not in any particular order and not even close to all inclusive:
1. I love King Airs, all of them. Flew E-90s on medevac missions in the southwest, off dirt, in the middle of nowhere, in intense weather - what a machine. The 90 series, 200, 350 - really fantastic aircraft built for the mission.
2. I love the Supercub, we got it and flew it in AK, it was set up for the bush. I was happy to fly it anytime.
3. The Beaver on straight floats - really a true pilots dream.
4. Of all the jets - the Hawker series was again a favorite, solid, sturdy, honest and fun.
5. C-47/DC-3 - flew them in cargo many years ago, truly a special and amazing.
6. Love the Cessna taildraggers and 206......
7. Our tow-planes are Piper Pawnees (235 hp) - talk about a purpose built machine, like a backhoe, purpose built, no frills, all work, great visibility, does the job very well. If you treat her well she will return the favor in spades.
I could keep going but most of you can catch a theme here - practical, rugged, honest, mission specific, not superficial.
I do love flying gliders - they are like sailing. One must be in concert to the glider, the weather, themselves, it is so much about the foundation and it is so real. As an instructor, it bares it all down to the basics and I love to teach true stick and rudder flying. Many pilots, power and glider, are seeking enhanced training to improve their flying skills and their ability to better respond to abnormal and emergency situations. I teach an Enhanced Skills Course for power pilots that want to be better pilots, we focus on energy management, rudder coordination, effects of wind, situational awareness, weather, mountain flying and stick and rudder. Skills that students learn are transferable to any type of flying they do in the future. Gliders are perfect for teaching these things and I enjoy watching the power pilot catch on and begin to extrapolate/integrate the learning to their everyday flying.
Happy to find this forum, really enjoying the mix of knowledge and subjects.
Tom