All in all, a remarkable machine. If your idea of heaven is being able to fly backward in a 30-knot headwind while carrying an entire baseball team plus the manager for the price of a mid-range BMW, have we got an airplane for you.
Another classy feature of An-2 night flight is the instrument panel. All the dial markings are painted with radium, a technique outlawed in the U.S. decades ago. The "floodlights" are actually ultraviolet, to excite the radium. "It's the only airplane I know of that you can fly at night and get a sunburn," one An-2 owner said.
Feel? Well, let's just say flying an An-2 is like making love to a fat lady who's had too much to drink: there's a lot to work with, it's unresponsive, you're never quite sure when you're there, and it's big-time ugly.
