Aviation family?

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Adamoh

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Adamoh
Did you come from an aviation family or were you the first? This doesn't only pertain to pilots, A&P's, ATC's etc. are welcome as well. As for me my dad is an A&P and my cousin and I are private pilots.
 
My dad was the first pilot in his family. Got his license at 17 out of FRG and now flies for Delta. I am one of four kids and the only one to catch the aviation bug. I'm currently working on my CFI and looking to go to airlines. AFAIK no one else in my family flies or does anything related to aviation.
 
I am the first and only.

Hopefully I can inspire more to fly.


I have already started 2 student pilots towards there ppl.
 
My dad jumped out of a plane once and even though he broke his leg I knew I had to do it when I was old enough. Then one day carrying my parachute back to the hangar I watched a student landing. I realized I could spend a lot more time in the air if I was a pilot so I started lessons. Now my wife is taking lessons and both kids love flying.
 
Dad flew when I was a kid. I recently got my license. My wife and mother are both taking lessons. I am the only one of the four that eat sleeps and breathes flying though just something I've always been fascinated by
 
Adamoh said:
Did you come from an aviation family or were you the first? This doesn't only pertain to pilots, A&P's, ATC's etc. are welcome as well. As for me my dad is an A&P and my cousin and I are private pilots.
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My Dad and his best friend were both aero modelers - RC in the early 60s. They passed their love of aircraft on to me and my brother.. along with some flying lessons for me.

While riveting my RV10 I found out the friend, who had a successful legal and political career, had trained 'Rosie the Riveters' in the fine art of riveting during the war. I know he would have loved to give me a lesson.

I wish they were both still around.
 
Dad FSS and brother ATC. Used to go to work with Dad, walk around the ramp and get rides on aircraft that were regulars at the airfield. This was all during a time when FSS was based at airfields. All that got me interested in pursuing a career in aviation.
 
Dad flew control line and rc model airplanes. I started flying rc airplanes and later on started flying as a private pilot. I now do both. I'm the only one in my family that hold a PPLSEL. I'm afraid my youngest 12 yr boy the flying bug like I do. I know this because he can spot an airplane 10 miles away. He has this fascination with WWW 2 American war planes.
 
First and only here as well. I flew all the cox line control planes I could as a kid, moved up to R/C, and now full scale. Nobody in my family did any of this.
 
My father; also Vance Breese was a well-known freelance engineering test pilot.
We had our differences and I did not want to stand in his shadow so he was dead 25 years before I ever took up flying.
My neurologist suggested that head injuries were cumulative and I find a different hobby after tipping my motorcycle over a Bonneville four years in a row.
 
I'm the first. The closest my family got, as far as I know, is my step father working on aircraft simulators during his 4 years in the Navy.
 
My dad had always wanted to fly, but a young policeman's salary just wouldn't allow for it in those days. He and I trained together and got our private licenses in 1968 within three weeks of each other.

My son soloed in 2000, so for a short time we had three generations flying at the same time.
 
I didn't mean for this to turn into a whole story, but it kind of did. Sorry...just got to thinking about the question and out it came.

My Grandfather (mother's father), still alive at 84, loved planes as a kid. He built RC's in Muncie, IN from scraps as they were pretty poor, and kept at it as much as he could through his teenage years. Got drafted, and lucky he couldn't be a soldier because of flat feet, got into the Air Force and flew. Mostly South America for 6-8 years with some pretty cool experiences.

Got out of the service and went right into flying by getting his full ticket. Single, multi, CFI, commercial, tw, etc, but didn't want to go to the airlines. Made money by instructing, building airplanes, selling plans he came up with, trading airplanes for dealers on the airport, and doing aerobatics at shows. One of the old EAA logos was taken from a blurry photo of him at an airshow. I have an old Citabria ad that they also used his plane in, N number plain as day. But tried as he could, he just couldn't make a lot of money in aviation.

Got into the pattern and mold trade using his experience in building airplanes, moved to Elkhart, IN, and stuck with that. Sometime in the 60's built a house outside of South Bend, IN across the street from an airport in a cornfield where Lake Aviation was based, the makers of Lake Amphibian. He designed, built, and molded the yoke for the Lake Amphibian, and kept with them for a while.

Kept on building, flying, tinkering, and working. In the 90's he gave up his ticket because he couldn't stand the thought that in his older age, he could possibly have some kind of a spell and cause someone harm if he was at the controls. But he still spent a lot of time at the EAA, at the airport, and kept at writing out plans. But the only way he could then fly really was with his RC's, so he went back to them, using the experience he gained in full scale.

Built a LOT of RC's. Made up plans and designs if he couldn't find what he wanted. Tried to buy some ARF's, but laughed at how crappy they were, so he threw them out and started from scratch. The model airplane museum called and asked him to make a replica of some old, old model from a company in the 30's that went out of business, so he did it from photos and memory from scratch, and presented it to them at their museum/hall of fame. Won awards for his RC Great Lakes, Christen Eagles, and lots of others.

84 now and still building RC's in the basement. Rubber band, electric, .049, 1/4 scale radials, twins, retractable gear...whatever he dreams up. I have a lot of photos (as a boy in the 40's with some RC's, his first Citabria in the 50's, some RC's you couldn't imagine were scratch built) if anyone is interested in seeing them.

My Uncle's followed a very, very similar path and is still at it.

My father was an aircraft mechanic in the Navy, and although he never flew, talked about the systems sometimes. He didn't continue down that path when he left the service, but chose explosives instead.

I got bit by the bug at a very, very young age. I have photos of me next to a 1/4 scale Christen Eagle when I was 4 years old. I have heard and been involved in the numerous aviation discussions since I was a kid. But I was the first in the family after my Grandfather to graduate high school, go to college, get a corporate job, and get the family in order. I fought the love for aviation knowing that although it was a great love, responsibilities needed to come first so that I could enjoy it in a different way. I would have to make sacrifices, but perhaps they would not be as great as the ones others had to make.

Sorry, hope this isn't a hijack. It just kind of "happened".
 
Living relatives, I have one cousin with a private and owned a C-172. I am the only ATP and the only one flying for a living.

I had a great uncle that was an A/C commander in a B-25. He left the AAF before WW II started. When the war started he volunteered for bomber duty. He was a B-24 instructor for all of the war. After the war ended he was in a B-24 that was flying from Hawaii to California to be put in storage. The plane never showed up and all onboard is presumed lost at sea.

During the war my dad wanted to be a naval aviator, but he didn't pass the vision requirements. He spent the war as a navy enlisted. After the war my dad went to college and was commissioned in the Army reserve. After a year he transferred into the Air Force and tried again to be a pilot, but still didn't pass the vision test. Instead of active duty he chose the reserves. In the early 50s he was a ground instructor for a couple years at the A&M College of Texas (Now Texas A&M University) When Vietnam started heating up, he found out he could go back into the army as a warrant and fly rotors with corrected vision, but he decided that he was too far along in a career to go back to active duty. Which eventually was the better choice.

In all, he spent 4 years in active duty with the navy, 1 year reserve with the army, and 28 years in the air force reserve.

I knew about his time in the AF reserve, but I didn't learn any of the rest about my dad until after he passed away. I always wondered why he was so interested in me getting the best flight training I could get and how my training was going. Sadly he died soon after I started my first aviation job.
 
Dad spent his life flying low and slow doing Ag work, 450 Stearmans, 600 AgCats and PT6 Air Tractors. He was wanting to go Airline but the being a low time civillian as Vietnam was ending he never got on and made a great living for our family. He was CPL Mulit Inst CFI CPL Glider CFI Glider A&P.

Dad taught both of us to fly little brother got bitten hardest by the bug and is now a Captain at Southwest. ATP Mulit CFI CFII CPL Glider CFI Glider A&P

Dad taught us in a C170 untill he had us soloed and was sure we were not going to tear it up and then passed us off to a local CFI that was ex airline to polish us for the checkrides and then on to the instrument ticket.

All landings were 3 point and if our hand wasn't on the throttle you never knew when he would pull it and say now what. "Always have an out" was his training mantra.

I have a PPL and an Instrument Ticket.

I was bitten harder by the farming bug and farming and family have limited my time, but I have started back to finish my CPL and hoping to work to a CFI so I can keep passing it on.
 
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My dad's uncle, Wiiliam Bleakley, was one of the first Irishmen to fly, my dad learned to fly in 1972. I started flying and got my PPL in 1984, my youngest son soloed on his 16th birthday. He's still working on his PPL 3 years later, so yes we are an aviation family! :D
 
I have a close older cousin who is an airline pilot. His flight training as a teenager convinced my dad to learn to fly. My mom decided she'd like to at least learn to land the plane in case something happened and she ended up getting her license too. That was all before kids and I never saw them fly, but there were stories. And that same cousin was like an older brother to me growing up so I, too, had that connection to flying. :)
 
I am the only one in my family to fly. I always wanted to fly, went into the ARMY as a helicopter crewchief. Started flying in 1989 and got 15 or so hours. Life happened and restarted 7 years ago. Bought my own plane this time around before I ever found a CFI. My whole family thinks I am nuts as I just bought a helicopter too. Currently have my PPL, just finishing up my IFR with plans to go straight into commercial. After that I already have permission to take the written A&P. After I get that I will learn to fly the helicopter. I will have lots of letters on my green card and won't do much with them except my regular hamburger runs.
 
Mom worked as a secretary, Step dad sold cars. Nobody flew. Still don't know how I got this hobby, but happy I did. Hanging out with the wrong crowd of friends, maybe.

(Still can't get Mom to fly in a small plane.)
 
I'm pilot #5. Grandfather flew for Western and uncle Continental. Dad, Brother and I are out more for fun
 
I wouldn't say I was from an aviation family. My father was an attorney that did a lot of CAB work for the airline back in the regulation days and also did a lot of aviation labor work. This helped me because one of his clients who flew for the old TransCaribbean Airlines game me my first ride in a small plane. He was also I came to find out later one of Scotty Crossfield's drinking buddies (he said never get Crossfield started on Frank Borman).

My parents didn't do much to encourage me (I had requested to go to aviation camp and things like that but that got nixed). I went out and got my pilot's license as soon as I graduated from college and was on my own.
 
First and only aviator in my family, no one else has the bug.

As a four or five year old kid, I remember seeing airplanes flying over our house on approach to Newark Airport as well as a few GA planes on approach to Teterboro ( KTEB ). I was fascinated that man had the ability to be up there doing this! At that moment, I knew that I wanted to fly. My father always encouraged me to pursue my dream but it bothered him that he couldn’t afford to send me to flight school. However, to feed my passion, he would take my siblings and me to Newark Airport and we would go to one of the terminals to watch the planes. Back in those days (mid 70's) you could go to the departure gates even if you weren't flying.

I attended electrical/electronics schools (my other passion) and made that my career choice.
Fast forward to the 80's, now I'm working at KEWR as an industrial electrician, maintaining the runway lighting and electrical systems (4160VAC), the control tower and terminals. Fast forward to 1998, at the age of 32 I'm finally taking flight lessons. My friend was an Air Traffic Controller at KTEB, so I visited him in the tower and then checked out the flight schools there, took two discovery flights over the Hudson River/NYC skyline and was hooked!!! The following week I signed up for ground school at Millionair Flight School and a week later, I was pursuing my childhood dream!

I passed my check ride the following year. It was a bittersweet moment because dad passed away eight years and a day prior. I know without a doubt that he would have been my first passenger. One of the first things I did was take my wife and kids on that same scenic flight over the Hudson and when my daughter got married two years ago, I took her and my son-in-law as part of their wedding gift.
 

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Our family is backwards.

I was the first to get into it - not counting dad building RCs when I was single digit age.

I started flying, bought a plane, and then dad started getting the itch. So I got my CFI and taught him to fly. Then mom wanted to do the pinch hitter, and now my younger brother works at a charter outfit.
 
Like Ed, i was the first. Got bit by the bug watching airplanes takeoff and land at KSIK. So i took my first lesson at 14, then took the money I would've bought a car with and bought a 150. Then Dad decided if I had a plane he wanted to learn to fly too. Since then he's gotten his PPL and bought a 172, and I've worked through my PPL, IR, CPL, high perf, complex, tailwheel, and am finishing my CFI
 
TheTraveler said:
Sorry, hope this isn't a hijack. It just kind of "happened".
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Adamoh said:
Not at all i enjoyed that post. I would really like to see those RC planes!:thumbsup:
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Enjoyed it here too.

Your grand father is doing what my father and his buddy were doing until they weren't. They both have stuff in the Muncie museum as well.

Along the way I flew everything from microfilm to Jetex to gliders to electric - no turbines though

My brother flies competitive pattern to this day - National Masters Champ a few years ago.

Bill "just cleared enough trees out back for a small RC flying field" Watson
 
First here as well. I always wanted to fly, was fascinated by it as a kid actually. Of course I dreamed of going up in an F-15 (my favorite growing up), but didn't actually ride even commercial until I was 17. A year and a half ago, my girlfriend at the time (then fiance and now wife) got me a discovery flight with an instructor in Johnson City, TN for my 30th birthday. I don't think she anticipated me pursuing it all the way to my license.

When we were kids, we used to go to Lambert Airport and there was a place you could park off the end of 12R/30L. My dad would take us and we would sit there for a couple hours just watching the airplanes take off and land. Best part was when we caught the National Guard F-15's taking off. It's disappointing that there's no place like that anymore around Lambert. They built runway 11/29 (which is rarely used apparently) where that viewing lot used to be and after 9/11 they definitely weren't going to put in a new viewing lot like that anywhere near a major airport.

As for the rest of my family, I've been trying to take everyone in my family up for their own flights so they can see why I love it so much. A week and a half ago, I took my nephew on his first small airplane ride ever, and I think I might have gotten him hooked. So I may be the first but hopefully I'm not the last.

Edit: Just remembered while re-reading some of the other posts... my grandpa was actually an instructor in WWII, he taught on simulators, not sure which aircraft or where. I can't remember all the details, but I'm pretty sure he didn't keep up after he left the service. I was always told it was something we weren't supposed to ask about.
 
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My father flew before me. This was his 1940 Taylorcraft that I sort'a inherited about 1980, still fly it 50 hours a year or so along with my Cessna 170 that I fly a couple hundred hours a year.
 

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Only person in my family to fly was my Uncle Ted. He was a highly decorated WWII P-40 & P-47 pilot shot down twice and lived to fight again. Could have come home after the first shoot down, but didn't want to leave his men.

Capt. Ted Dobrick had the right stuff. Awarded the Silver Flying Cross 13 times. Many other metals and awards. If you are interested scroll though this tread.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54994

He headed west a 2 years ago. He was quite the fighter pilot. Only 2 out of his unit made it home standing up.
 
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My father was the American dream. He immigrated here, penniless, from Germany in 1921 and learned to speak fluent west coast american english without an accent.

William went on to become a highly successful inventor and industrialist. He manufactured wartime surveillance equipment for the Army and Navy in WWll. He travelled extensively by airline and was a member of United Airlines 100,000 mile club in 1955. He always wanted to fly but was generally in poor health, due to starvation in Germany during and after WWl. He loved to hike in the Columbia Gorge and around Mt. Hood and successfully campaigned for areas in the Cascades of Oregon to be classified as wilderness.

I took him for a Cessna 150 ride in 1965, just days after I got my private certificate. He had to be helped walking to the plane. I flew him around Mt. Hood and down Eagle Creek. Two weeks later he passed.
 
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Four generations counting my children.

Our family history started with my Grandfather in the 20s. My father learned to fly in his father's OX5 powered Travel air.

My father flew corporate jets and did flight instruction too.

My father taught me to fly and my brother instructed me for the multi rating.

My 3 kids got their private in our C172.

I don't know who's next.
 
I'm the first but taught two daughters. Two brothers in law fly and one sister is taking lessons. I taught one nephew.
I think the biggest enjoyment for the males is to fly for fun. The women seem to like to get somewhere (visiting grandchildren is the biggest draw).
 
The first. In fact, I'm the first in my family to ever set foot in a piston-engined airplane (the plane I got my PP in).
 
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