Battle of the Helmsmen will now commence. 8 pilots enter. 1 pilot leaves.

Gotta go with Tom. Going from prison to full redemption, while at the same time growing into a loving father married to a hot badass half-Klingon is definitely life goals. Not to mention his affinity for history and classic cars.

Sulu has a sword.

I don’t care who wins as long as Wesley Crusher loses.

Wesley, Ro, and Bozeman Tourist are eliminated immedietly, we never see them do anything fancy at all, they input courses and hit engage, that's it.

Of those remaining, Sulu is what most people think when they think fancy starship flying, but, if you really look at it, his top moments are manually flying a shuttle into a shuttle bay, and skillfully pulling rather relaxed but precise maneuvers piloting the Enterprise in V'Ger, the Bounty, and a Huey helicopter. No high speed are rapid maneuvering. So while he gets points for skill and for being able to fly anything he gets into, he's not the top pilot.

Detmer has shown some fancy flying, including combat maneuvers, but only on the Discovery. We don't know if she's as skilled if she's put into a shuttle or an atmospheric craft.

Mayweather, for all the failure to utilize his character, has been put in the hot seat with high pressure, rapid and precise maneuvering. Romulan minefields, combat against the Xindi, high warp precision formation flying, he really is a great pilot.

Ortega is right up there too, she flew into the accretion disk of a black hole while fighting the Gorn, even with her memory severely hampered she piloted the Enterprise through an asteroid field. She flies the ship, top marks, but...

Tom motherfucking Paris. This guy can fly through asteroid fields, through torn up subspace, fluidic space, quantum slipstream tunnels, shuttles, shuttles he designed, shuttles underwater, terrestrial vehicles, high speed combat maneuvers, you name it he can do it. Tom Paris is in my mind the unquestioned #1.

I'm gonna rank them because Sulu

1. Sulu - has a sword. The OG. No comparison. Completely outclasses the others, but he's had the most development as a character over the years, so I don't really think it's a fair comparison
2. Ortegas - I've been surprisingly impressed with the actress and she's without a doubt the most likeable after Sulu. The recent season has made her really interesting, and I hope the writers keep expanding her character. She's fantastic. "I fly the ship!"
3. Tom Paris - best character development after Sulu, has consistently great moments throughout Voyager. I did feel his acting felt lackluster at times, which is why I gave Ortegas the spot above
4. Mayweather - good solid performance, interesting character with a better background with Paris. I wish the writers had done more with the character.
5. Detmer - again great potential in the character, but the writers never really let her shine. I wanted to find out more about her, but Discovery was so overshadowed by Michael's character that Detmer felt disappointingly underused.
6. Ro - solid acting, but not much character depth. Never really clicked for me as a "helmsman" - always seemed like she was doing things other than piloting. Never really clicked as part of the crew in the way the rest of the cast did.
7. Cartoon Dude - I have no idea what this guy's name is, but he's not Wesley.
8. Wesley - I have great sympathy for Wil Wheaton's difficult experiences on set as child actor, but that simply cannot distill the loathing I have for this character. TNG was a near perfect Trek in almost every respect, save when Crusher was in the scene.

My vote is Sulu 100%

Tom Paris

My vote goes to Erica

Tom. Gotta be Tom

Sulu easy win

My vote is for Ortegas.

I will not stand for this Jadzia Dax erasure. Does any one else have TWO lifetimes of being shuttle pilots? No.

Sulu all the way!

I think advances in special effects give Ortegas and Detmer a pretty solid advantage over the others, just because fancier flying is now within tv production values.

But as far as I know, Sulu is the only one to make captain, get his own command, and have a ship named in his honor. Plus, he got to strut around in monster maroon.

And Tom Paris is a dick.

EDIT: of course, there is a guy who wore monster maroon at one point, got his own command, and made admiral. But for some reason, the helmsman of the Stargazer isn't an option.

If anyone says to vote out Sulu, I'm coming at you with a fencing saber.

1701% Mr. Sulu

I'm going with Mayweather, because of reasons that I couldn't possibly explain in four seasons.

The people demand Ortegas. She has the killer instinct.

Sulu FTW!

Ro and Paris team up to rogue their way through everybody else, expecting to betray each other at the last minute. Tom cooperates, Ro defects.

How is Lt. Commander Data not here?

Sulu without a doubt

Are we considering their piloting skills or their personality off the bridge?

Tom Paris literally broke spacetime and did direct action to save a water planet.

Is there any question?

Tom Paris!

You mean 4? Detmer, Ro, Gavin, and Welsey don't have anything to use against the other 4.

EDIT: Detmer may have something against the other 4.

I question the inclusion of Gavin the Botanist as the Lower Decks entry--doesn't Boimler at least man the helm when he's on the bridge, including the season 1 and 3 finales?

(While federation ships have some variation on which front console is main ops vs. helm, the Cerritos' ops is stage left, mostly indicated by Ensign Barnes' occasional presence there.).

Ro, how is this even a question.

Tom Paris, but I am admittedly going through Voyager right now. Sulu is the other on my list.

Sulu, Travis, Tom Paris, get my vote