I've never played the SNES Pilotwings, but I loved Pilotwings 64. I really hope they bring back the series one day. :)

never played it! and what about star fox!?

It is nothing close to a on-rails shooter. That's Star Fox.

You've got to be kidding. What are you, being sarcastic? StarFox used the FX chip, not Mode 7.  Pilotwings was the Wii Sports of it's day--a game that offered some new gameplay that was more or less a glorified tech demo for the SNES.  Pilotwings64 was the same deal on the N64.  Both games simply showed smooth play control and showed off the systems they were on.

Also, both are extremely dated and were boring as hell once the "thrill of the new tech" wore off.

Mode 7 was used in:
F-Zero
Pilotwings
Super Mario Kart
Super Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi for flying stages.
Super Mario World (scaling and rotation of some defeated Koopa kids).
Super Castlevania IV (one psuedo 3-D level with scaling backgrounds).
Overworld map, Final Fantasy III(VI), as well as with some technical touches.
Overworld map, Secret of Evermore and tons of other games.
Super Mario RPG (Mine car section).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV (in a variety of ways)
Tons and tons and tons of other SNES games.

FX/FX2:
StarFox
Stunt Race FX
FX Fighter (later cancelled on the SNES, but apparently released on PC)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Doom
Unreleased StarFox II

Mode 7 offered a psuedo-3D environment which was a flat plane on which you could race, drive, move, etc.  It generally could not offer 3-D walls or other large barriers.  Generally all Mode-7 barriers were flat as well and also stuck to the ground.  In some cases, it was used as a bit more "realistic" 3-D, such as Wolfenstein and Jurassic Park's "indoor night-vision goggles 1st person view" areas, but typically, it was a flat plane that used various tricks with scaling and rotation.  The plane could be flat on the ground, or flat in the background, or offer a kind of "warped" psuedo-depth.  Super Empire Strikes Back actually featured Mode-7 with hills (on Hoth), but it was extremely clunky.  Often, you didn't really see a hill coming so much as suddenly get forced over some big white mutation of the land. 

The FX chip offered true polygonal 3-D gaming, such as that found in Doom as well as unique graphical touches outside the realm of the standard SNES board, such as the massive amorphis blob-like characters that appeared in SMW2, and the enormous 3-D final battle with Bowser.  It did everything Mode-7 did, but better, essentially.  But Mode-7 was apparently easier to use and cheaper since it was built into the abilities of the SNES and therefore didn't require an extra chip built into a cartridge.

I'm sure you were being sarcastic, so this is for the benefit of those who actually didn't know about Mode 7 and the FX chip.

And pilotwings does suck.