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Most of us have flown on many of the Boeing and Airbus families of aircraft and many of the Barbie jets and other regional aircraft, but occaisionally we encounter an airline flying something a bit different. What is the most unusual aircraft you have ever flown on during a commercial airline flight?
For me, it would be hard to choose between two:
1) Grumman Mallard operated by Chalks International Airline between Miami and Paradise Island / Nassau, Bahamas. This was a propeller driven seaplane, which took off on the Miami waterfront and landed on Nassau harbor. Chalks operated other routes with the Mallards but this is the only one I ever flew, and did so a number of times. Different, but an interesting experience.
2) Trislander operated by Auvigny Airline between Guernsey and Dinard, France. This was a weird looking three engine propeller driven plane, with two engines in normal locations under each wing and the third mounted on the tail fin. The other odd thing was that instead of one or two doors to enter the plane and then an aisle to reach your seat, the Trislander had a series of doors down the outside of the fusilage, each serving a set of four seats. They called groups of four passengers at a time forward to each door from the front to the back of the plane. The seats were benches for two that ran from one window to the other window and were some of the least comfortable seats I have been on ever on an airplane. There was no partition at all of the cockpit, as the pilot and co-pilot (not one of the latter on that flight) had a bench just in front of the first set of passengers. A passenger on that first row could easily have leaned forward and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. Passengers had a view out the front window of the plane and could watch everything the pilot was doing. With all of the doors, the plane was not pressurized and therefore flew at a low altitude.
For me, it would be hard to choose between two:
1) Grumman Mallard operated by Chalks International Airline between Miami and Paradise Island / Nassau, Bahamas. This was a propeller driven seaplane, which took off on the Miami waterfront and landed on Nassau harbor. Chalks operated other routes with the Mallards but this is the only one I ever flew, and did so a number of times. Different, but an interesting experience.
2) Trislander operated by Auvigny Airline between Guernsey and Dinard, France. This was a weird looking three engine propeller driven plane, with two engines in normal locations under each wing and the third mounted on the tail fin. The other odd thing was that instead of one or two doors to enter the plane and then an aisle to reach your seat, the Trislander had a series of doors down the outside of the fusilage, each serving a set of four seats. They called groups of four passengers at a time forward to each door from the front to the back of the plane. The seats were benches for two that ran from one window to the other window and were some of the least comfortable seats I have been on ever on an airplane. There was no partition at all of the cockpit, as the pilot and co-pilot (not one of the latter on that flight) had a bench just in front of the first set of passengers. A passenger on that first row could easily have leaned forward and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. Passengers had a view out the front window of the plane and could watch everything the pilot was doing. With all of the doors, the plane was not pressurized and therefore flew at a low altitude.
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