Plane&Pilot

I have a bit of a bone to pick with Plane&Pilot magazine today because of this months issue, September 2007. They did an article about the 10 sexiest airplanes and I am really not pleased by it.

First of all it should have been the 10 sexiest airplanes plus 2 and then 15 more. Lets be definitive here folks its honestly not that hard. My first bone to pick is with their choice of the Avro B.1 Vulcan. The thing is absolutely hideous with its stingray shaped wing that looks so under designed. I won't even give it the gratification of more of an explaination, I think what happened in the James Bond movie Thunderball is enough, and thats when they were new. I can't stand any of the V bombers and I was very surprised seeing the Vulcan on the list.

My next is with the indecisiveness they had to put two aircraft for 7th place the Cirrus and Columbia, and they didn't specify which models for either. I think as I have said in a previous blog that the Cirrus SR-2o/SR-22 are better looking, with my decisiveness being placed specifically on the SR-22 because of its exhaust stacks. Besides they already put a better looking Lancair/Columbia earlier on the Lancair 320.

They did the same thing with the 4th place aircraft picking two once again the Lear 24D, which is really a Gates Learjet 24D Learjet a successor to the original, and the Dassault 10 Falcon. I do think a Learjet should have made the list, but I think it should have been the 31 the most capable of the Learjets with body strakes, and winglets. I couldn't disagree more with the choice to put the Falcon 10 on, for me it is the ugliest and least sexy of all the Falcons and the one that doesn't fit in with the rest of the line. I think that the Falcon 20 is the aircraft that represents the quintessential Falcon design, you can see it in all the other Falcons. They then go on to say that the 10 and 20 are still aircraft to swear by for corporate flight departments, the 10 no, the 20 and 200 yest definitely, I see them all the time. The only time I see Falcon 10s are when NASCAR goes anywhere.

That's the end of my rant for now.

The Space Shuttle Endeavor blasted off just minutes ago and is probably just now reaching space as I write this. I'll hopefully get to see it landed in two weeks time when I'm down in Florida to start school.