Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast?

Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First in my family to become a pilot. Actually no one else even likes flying. The only family member who likes flying is an adopted cousin of mine. I took him flying a bunch now and he loves it.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First and last . My kids would rather have their teeth pulled . :sad:
 
Second generation here. My Dad flew Super Connies for the USAF during the latter half of Vietnam. He got out and worked for the FAA, but never got his PPL. he was in the airports side, so he never sat in the left chair again, but he instilled a love of all things aviation in me. It took until my mid-30's to get started myself, but I'll get my kids involved as soon as I can. My son is currently trying to decide if he's going to join the USAF or the NFL, but he's 8, so who knows.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Enjoyed this story. Aviation is not in my family, but I'll be taking my Dad flying for the first time soon.

35 AoA said:
Reminds me of a flight a number of years back with my old man. I grew up flying with him in the family Bonanza, then flying from the right seat as a teenager through summers when I was home from college. Logged many many hours in that thing throughout that time, and in all those years, he never let me take off or land the thing. I never asked, but he also never offered. Flash forward a number of years........home on leave visiting, and we take the old bird out for a spin. I'm at that point a newly (night :yikes:) carrier qualified Hornet pilot and nearing 30. Shortly after takeoff from KEUG, I take the controls and we have a fantastically leisurely VFR flight up to KPDX to visit family up there. In hindsight, probably my favorite flight in memory. As we start talking to approach, I get ready to throw the yoke back over to him as we normally would. All of a sudden, he's like "hey, why don't you land it?" Kind of like dad giving you the keys to the Porsche on your 16th bday or something. So I brought it around for a, if I do say, pretty impressive carrier style approach turn. Everything is looking awesome until about 30 ft, and then I realize I haven't flared to land in probably 3 years or more. I make my best effort, somehow forget to release the throttle friction lock, and proceed to bounce the thing half way down RWY 28R, finally coming to an ego bruising halt. He just sits there laughing, turns to me, and says something like "stick to jets kid" (old man spent his career flying big radials and then later turboprops in the service). We had a good laugh at my expense, but that was a really memorable flight. Maybe next time he will let me take off :)
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Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

3rd generation. My grandfather built an airport on his ranch, my mom and three uncles are/were pilots and they built the airport into a fly-in community. Also have pilots on the other side of the family too so I got it from all directions.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Rigged4Flight said:
First generation. Dad was an aviation metalsmith in the Navy. When I told him I wanted to fly he made a point of bringing home melted pieces of crashed planes for the next 8 years until he retired.
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My father flew F100s in the Air Force in the late 1950s-1960s, stationed in the UK. They had bombing practice in the north African deserts, usually Libya, which I'm told was a very popular tourist destination in the 1960s. So after bombing practice in the desert, the Bedouins would scavenge for metal, and make jewelry and other things to sell with the scraps they found. My mother has an interesting necklace they bought in a market in Tripoli that was made from aluminum bomb scraps.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

I wonder if the percentage of 1st gen in our POA community is roughly the percentage of pilots vs adults in the USA?
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First generation here. No fliers in the family and no exposure to GA, or the airport other than a few airshows.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

3rd Generation. My Great grandfather flew in the 30's, really hard to tell what from the pictures we have, my best guess is Monocoupes, Grandpa flew and built a couple of homebuilts. I fly and my 3 year old daughter seems to enjoy it!
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Kind of a 1st but really a 2nd. My dad got his license sometime around the time he went into the army. He never lost interest but it didn't work out for him to keep up to date so he quit flying 40+ years ago. I am 37 so never flew with him. A family friend is probably what sparked it in me when I was somewhere around 8-10. He had a 172 and took us up and flew over our house. I've been interested in planes and flying ever since. I may end up being the 1st gen with my dad being 2nd gen because he's starting to get a little jealous that I'm flying now. I think once I get him back in a plane he may start looking into getting current.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

RotorAndWing said:
I had the privilege to teach my Dad how to fly.
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That's very cool! What an experience that would be.

John
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

2nd, sort of. My dad took flight training in the early '50s and soloed but quit when he ran out of money. My Uncle was an Air Force pilot and flew KC-97s and KC-135s. He did not continue flying after he retired from the Air Force and I never flew with him. I'm the first to be a civilian certificated pilot and have enjoyed taking my dad for rides.

And all of my kids (4) enjoy riding with me (as does my wife) but none are interested in learning.

John
 
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Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Second generation. Mom is a 15,000 hour ATP who flew charter/freight until 2007.
Dad (step-dad technically) is about a 5,000 hour commercial pilot who flew charter. He stopped flying in 2000 or so. I wasn't aware that people could have jobs that weren't pilot! :lol:
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First gen here. Both of my grandfathers were involved in aviation (maternal was a radar operator in Army Air Corp, paternal... not sure what he did, but he talked about riding along in flights in Japan), but not pilots. Dad's jumped out of planes, but not a pilot. Dad took me to the Dayton Air Show when he was EMTing for them, so that planted the seed.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First gen, Dad took us travelling on vacations, remember getting to go into the cockpit of a Pan Am plane to Hawaii. Fast forward to freshman in college and I walked into a forbidding looking airport and started lessons.

I had an uncle who wasn't a pilot, but always had the magazines. While in college, I bought 1/2 of an old 172 and then made it available to my Uncle. Took him a bit, but he finally got his pilot's license. He was proud of it, not sure if he ever flew long enough to have BFR. But, he definitely prided himself on being a pilot. Passed away 3 years ago this month. RIP.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First pilot on either side of my family. Since I started flying we have had 2 Airdale's in the Nav (cousins were SAR/ASW operator's SH-60). My daughter (Sr in High School now) wants to go into ATC, but may or may not go for the PPL.

Because of my amputation my parents initially discouraged me but once I found out about the Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA) Waiver and explained it to them they were supportive.

'Gimp
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

First generation. My parents think I am spending too much money and I will wind up dead doing this. Pretty typical :)
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Third generation. My 3 kids got their private in our 172, I guess that will make them 4 th gen. My grandfather had airplanes during the depression even when it was hard to feed the family and pay the employees. He flew his Apache up to the time he died. My father flew for a living most of his adult life. He flew corporate, charter and flight instruction in his last years of flying. I just need to go fly more often.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

35 AoA said:
Reminds me of a flight a number of years back with my old man. I grew up flying with him in the family Bonanza, then flying from the right seat as a teenager through summers when I was home from college. Logged many many hours in that thing throughout that time, and in all those years, he never let me take off or land the thing. I never asked, but he also never offered. Flash forward a number of years........home on leave visiting, and we take the old bird out for a spin. I'm at that point a newly (night :yikes:) carrier qualified Hornet pilot and nearing 30. Shortly after takeoff from KEUG, I take the controls and we have a fantastically leisurely VFR flight up to KPDX to visit family up there. In hindsight, probably my favorite flight in memory. As we start talking to approach, I get ready to throw the yoke back over to him as we normally would. All of a sudden, he's like "hey, why don't you land it?" Kind of like dad giving you the keys to the Porsche on your 16th bday or something. So I brought it around for a, if I do say, pretty impressive carrier style approach turn. Everything is looking awesome until about 30 ft, and then I realize I haven't flared to land in probably 3 years or more. I make my best effort, somehow forget to release the throttle friction lock, and proceed to bounce the thing half way down RWY 28R, finally coming to an ego bruising halt. He just sits there laughing, turns to me, and says something like "stick to jets kid" (old man spent his career flying big radials and then later turboprops in the service). We had a good laugh at my expense, but that was a really memorable flight. Maybe next time he will let me take off :)
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Funny story

My dad did all right on the flight, though I have to admit the throw over yoke does create a little anxiety if you are the “check pilot”.

As much anxiety as I gave him when he taught me how to fly it a few years before.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Second Gen here.
Dad was 4th FG in WWII.
When I was a kid(1960's) dad bought and sold WWII heavy metal so the whole family got packed into whatever he had at the time to go wherever he wanted to go...:goofy:. A20, B-25, B-26, TBM...my sisters and I got to wash 'em all.:mad2:

If I would'a been smarter I would have noticed how cool it was!:eek:

Chris
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Hiperbiper said:
Second Gen here.
Dad was 4th FG in WWII.
When I was a kid(1960's) dad bought and sold WWII heavy metal so the whole family got packed into whatever he had at the time to go wherever he wanted to go...:goofy:. A20, B-25, B-26, TBM...my sisters and I got to wash 'em all.:mad2:

If I would'a been smarter I would have noticed how cool it was!:eek:

Chris
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I wish I could have been alive to experience this time. My gradfather not only used to take my mom to visit her big sister in Iowa in an AF T-34 or T-28 each summer, but also proposed to my grandmother in a B-25 (g-ma was in the right seat). Also slammed the throttle into full AB and lifted an F-100 into the sky just a month or two before he died. Not bad for a guy who has Orville Wright's signature on his original "pilot license" (yes, I have that document)
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

Back in the 50's my Mom and Dad sold a home and split the money. My Mom purchased the land and materials to build a home. My Dad purchased an airplane.
A year or so later he crashed it at my Uncles farm. It still sets in the spot they they put it. I went and checked it out a few years ago and a tree fell on it.
My cousin said we have the tail wheel hanging in the barn. I said, your dad put the tail wheel in the barn and left the airplane outside. He laughed and said yea imagine that.
We have video of him flying this airplane on 8mm film. 15 years later and here comes the Civil Air Patrol. They had put crashed airplanes places and was locating them and came upon this crashed plane. All crap hit the fan. Dad was not suppose to have a passenger and he had one. They both walked away. Something about air pockets and trees or something like that.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

35 AoA said:
.....Not bad for a guy who has Orville Wright's signature on his original "pilot license" (yes, I have that document)
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Ok..... You win......... Hands down...:thumbsup:
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

1st Gen! No one around me flies.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

100% first gen for me. My grandfather was an instructor in WWII, but he couldn't have rubbed off on me, because he hasn't flown an airplane since then. He went off to become a stock broker.

ebykowsky said:
1st gen. My parents didn't like the idea and tried to convince me it wasn't worth it. They also tried the tactic of telling me it was just a fleeting obsession that I'd be over soon so I shouldn't put time and money into it. Ultimately they caved after a year of convincing and even paid for some of my training. A big obstacle I face with them is that they know nothing about GA and get nervous about everything I say... at one point my mom wouldn't let me do "steep turns" or "stalls" because they sounded scary to her.
However, my dad was the one who got me interested in flying by taking me to an airshow and buying me flight sim 99. He had no intention of it getting this bad.
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That sounds exactly like how it works for me. I think my hook was going to Dulles Day once when I was 7. (That's where they open up part of the cargo tarmac for the plane pull and a bunch of other family-oriented events.) I sat in a Piper of some sort and got a postcard of a pretty sunset with an airplane on it. I distinctly remember looking at the postcard in my room afterwards and thinking, "I'm going to be a pilot some day!" I thought that was the coolest thing ever! And I still do....

But yes. Mom doesn't like to fly with me (I took her up once around the pattern, and I got the "JAMES what's that bump? JAMES WHAT's that SMELL?!" Once was enough for her and me both :). You should have seen the cow she had when I told her that I was thinking about doing the Hudson corridor! And aerobatics? Absolutely out of the question. Dad enjoys flying with me, though he wouldn't even have an inkling of a desire to go fly himself. Aerobatics are also a no-go with him, unfortunately. They also didn't pay for any of it, really, but I think that's good. It's made me feel so much more accomplished now that I've made it happen for myself. But they've been really supportive, and this whole flying thing is completely foreign to them, so I can't really fault them anywhere.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

N801BH said:
Ok..... You win......... Hands down...:thumbsup:
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no winners here, just hopefully some cool stories about the older generations who will always be cooler than us :)
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

1st Gen pilot. Never though of planes as a young kid, didn't build models. Was recruited into Civil Air Patrol at 13, went on an orientation flight, the rest is history.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

1st Gen.
Spent the first 63 years of my life stopping and looking up every time I heard an airplane overhead. Decided it was time to get a different perspective and be up there looking down......Earned my ticket October 2012
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

I don't think there was any member of my family that ever flew a plane, before I decided to get my pilots license. I am a 1st generation pilot.
 
Re: Did you come from an aviation family or are you a 1st generation pilot/enthusiast

From my immediate family I am a 1st gen pilot, my dad has a friend that used to take me flying when I was younger and got me hooked. I got my private certificate in August.

There are other pilots in my family, so I think my passion for aviation is in my blood. My uncle flew trainers in the AF (T-38) before a long career with Southwest Airlines, one of 6 original pilots that started with them back in the early 70's. His son, my cousin, flew F-16's in the AF and is now an instructor at Simuflight at DFW. They really influence my desire to become a pilot myself.
 
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