I grew up in the days of DC8s, 707s, Viscounts and Caravelles, so for me it was my first visit to South Africa that got me to smiling. I took a trip up from Joburg to Victoria Falls in a Nationwide 727 (this was the early noughties) and of course there was a bunch of airliners to be seen that wouldn't be allowed to come into Europe, and some that would still be okay, such as the Phoebus Apollo DC-4 and the 748s etc. But also just to be at an airport where old 732s, 721/722s and 1-11s were mixing it with more modern hardware. It felt like proper aviation again, noise, smoke, and admittedly a lack of performance at high density altitudes!
Once I commercially qualified I went back to Africa to help with aid efforts and lived an entire other life in just a few years, and all surrounded by that same old real aviation again.
I guess what gets me excited is seeing planes I'd assumed were no longer even flying (Nord 262, anyone?), then one day you're taxying in somewhere and you think "that's in good condition considering it's no longer flying", when suddenly it starts up.. there's something inspiring about an old plane and a dedicated crew that won't quit.
It kinda reminds me of that old Al Jazeera documentary..
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/riskingitall/2011/05/201151112305049621.htmlI like the professionalism and the way we've made flying almost mundane, but safe; but there's something about being out there on the "raggedy edge."
What I have enjoyed in NZ is the helicopter rides up to the glaciers, the South Island of NZ, on the right day, is a truly spectacular environment in which to fly.
