Which plane is easiest to fly?

Question

Of all the designs of fixed wing aeroplane made in the last century, which type would be the easiest for a complete novice to learn to fly?

Answer 1

Sopwith Camel.

Answer 2

The Piper J-3 Cub.

Answer 3

You would be dead.

Flight Sim and "flying" are like apples and oranges.

I'm just starting to learn flying and the ONLY thing my Flight Sim experience did for me was that I was a little and I mean a little more familiar with some terminology and the basic functions of the basic flight instruments.

Answer 4

As someone stated before, the skills required to fly an airplane safely are not overly difficult.  But, you must be properly trained to be safe.  They went through a similar situation on Myth Busters.  Adam & Jaime are both non-pilots with no flight training.  They were cut loose in a simulator and both crashed horribly.  After a reset and radio contact they both were talked down by an expert.  Not pretty, but they both lived.  

Below is a link about a young boy that tried to fly a Cessna 152 without training.  

As I said before, flying is not that difficult.  You just need proper training.

Answer 5

Probably the Ercoupe.

http://www.ercoupe.net/

You can't spin it, you can't stall it.  It can land at any speed.  It only has a steering wheel and throttle for controls and it is designed to be landed sideways in a cross wind.  It is very light and slow.

They aren't typically locked (although some owners have jury rigged locks for them) and many don't require keys for the magnetos.  The only problem about using it as a getaway plane is it is slower than most cars.

Answer 6

J3 Cub, Just slow enough to almost kill you.

Answer 7

the Ford Tri-motor

Answer 8

You would crash and break every bone you've got.  The Wright Brothers did it without instruction, but never got higher than a few feet off the ground before they had all the techniques worked out at a basic level.  And they had plenty of wrecks.

The airplanes you would find lined up ready to be stolen at a darkened airport in your dreams would all--and I mean every one--be too fast, too slippery, and too tricky for you to just sit in and figure out how to fly without some dual instruction.

And forget about the computer based flight simulators.  The people who say that FSX will help you learn to fly a real airplane are all people who have never flown a real airplane.  The reverse is true.  The simulators will teach you wrong.

So find another story line.  It will never happen.

Answer 9

The Cessna Skyhawk. However, the chances of success I'd put at 1 to 100,000, at best. The planes are locked, same as cars. They require a key to start, same as cars. You have to know the start procedure (it's not a matter of just turning the key). You have to know how to taxi, get the current wind information, how to handle the wind. If you figure out the throttle, when you go to take off, you're going to take an abrupt left off the runway. If you manage somehow to get airborne, you're in for some surprises when you try to land. Not having real-life instruction, it ain't gonna be pretty (probable death). And if you get it on the ground in one piece, you're going to shoot off the end of the runway because of some other things sims don't teach you. Flying's not an impossible task, but flight school is really vital, as they're passing on more than 100 years worth of learning, trial and error, those errors resulting in thousands of deaths. We really do stand on the shoulders of those who went before.