Flying Magazine recently released its list of the Top 100 Airplanes – a league table of the most significant and influential aircraft designs of all time.
Even though Flying is the most widely read aviation title in the world there’s never going to be a complete consensus on such a selection – but it’s still a fascinating read for all aviation enthusiasts.
While the Wright Flyer was before our time, our international team has worked with a remarkable number of the other aircraft types over the years so the list prompted a lively debate.
A number of our favourite business jets made the cut including the Dassault Falcon 7X, Citation X and Cessa Mustang, as well as the Piaggio P.180 Avanti turboprop.
At the larger end of the commercial aircraft market it’s also hard to argue against the selection of types like the iconic Boeing B747.
However, if we had to pick just one aircraft from Flying Magazine’s list it would probably be the Lockheed Hercules – a cargo airlift workhorse named after a Greek god with superhuman strength.
Even though we now do thousands of passenger and cargo charters a year, the Hercules was the very first aircraft type Chapman Freeborn worked with when the company was formed back in 1973 (for ad-hoc cargo charters and longer term contracts in Africa and later across the globe).
You can read the full list and choose your own favourite here