How did you find aviation?

[Bradley Bell]

My Father was an engineer at Boeing, we grew up around defense aviation but not general aviation. It wasn't until i went into the Military, U.S. Army, in the late '70s that i took to it. I was a crew chief on a C-12/U-21 out of Europe. After the military I went to A&P school, then avionics, and finally settled into defense contracting for Raytheon/Beechcraft which took me all over the world. I left defense contacting in '99 and went full time into IT technology where i still continue today. Along the way i finished both my degrees at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and am now just getting back into general aviation. The journey has been awesome, looking forward to continuing the path I started on in the late '70s.

 

[Josh Fletcher]

I flew with my brother for years. He started when we were kids. He had his private before he graduated high school. I never considered learning until years after he passed away. Now I have my private and am working toward my instrument.

 

[hindsight2020]

truthfully, I got lost on my way to med school....

 

[SkyDog58]

I find the question to be a bit odd. It’s like asking what made you decide to breathe air or eat pizza. Aviation was always just there. I do not mean that I grew up around pilots or on an airport but planes were always flying overhead. In addition, many a tv show or movie involved aviation to some degree. It was always intriguing and appealing.

 

[Bill]

ADF

 

[Crashnburn]

I grew up outside Wichita, KS, the self-proclaimed Air Capitol of the World, and rightly so. More planes are built in Wichita than in the rest of the world, combined. So, you could say, "Aviation was in the air I breathed." Dad worked winters at Boeing and Cessna to make a little extra for his family on the ranch, so I wouldn't be surprised if I have aviation aluminum dust in my DNA.

My uncle got us started with control line models, and then we built and flew rockets for a while. But, in the KS breeze which is a gale most anywhere else, you'd be lucky to recover the rocket. Also, you get a lot more airtime per dollar from model airplane fuel than rocket engines.

My uncle soloed an Ercoupe owned by his best friend, and gave us all rides in it, even though he never got his PPL.

I got fully infected by the aviation bug when my airline flight was delayed 24 hours because of weather in St. Louis, even though I was flying to CA (St. Louis was the connecting hub). I figured then I could make it back GA in less time than on an airliner, but now I don't think that's reasonable, at least in any of the planes I could afford.

I have a lot of dual time, spread over 20 years, but still haven't soloed, mostly because of higher priorities. I was getting close last fall, but my wife was diagnosed with a terminal disease that ravages the brain, so I paused my lessons yet again.

 

[MauleSkinner]

My earliest memory is Dad piling parachutes on the seat so I could see out the window of the PA-11.

My dad didn’t have parachutes, so when he strapped me and my brother in the back of the champ, he had to do loops so we could see something.

 

[Justin M]

It found me. I was four or five when Phil Goetz, a famous Wisconsin skydiver, landed in a tree across the street from my house. I climbed up the tree to untangle the parachute and lines and then helped carry things to the baseball field where he was supposed to land. I asked a million questions.

 

[Chrisgoesflying]

Lived in the middle of nowhere in Texas. Have family in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas. Met a guy in the middle of nowhere in Texas who also has family in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas and he told me that he visits once a month. I said "wow, that's a long drive once a month" and he said, "naw, just a four hour flight." I called BS on that statement as there are no flights between the middle of nowhere in Texas and the middle of nowhere in Arkansas, so he told me all about his private pilot license and his little Cessna. I did some research, found an instructor, ran the numbers and figured I can swing it and six months later, I had my own license and plane, but no longer lived in the middle of nowhere in Texas haha.

 

[Shuckers86]

My grandfather learned to fly in the 40s in Miami. He lived in Coral Gables a few miles south of MIA. He would take me to the perimeter road to watch takeoffs and landings. It was the best time in aviation. The propliners were giving way to the jets. The jets were loud and smoky, awesome! An Eastern Boeing 720 flight from MIA to DTW was magical in 1965. My dad would give me ticket jackets from his business trips to further fuel the fuel. I went to college, became a CFI, bank check pilot, commuter pilot, and next thing you know an airline pilot. I still can’t believe it happened! I’m now figuring out how to get back into GA.

 

[Jim Rosenow]

When I was 5, I developed polio, and ended up being transported from our home in NW Illinois to University Hospitals in Iowa City in the back seat of Dad's Illinois State Police squad. (It was a different time back then.) I don't remember that.

When I was finally released from the hospital, a friend of Dad's flew him to IC to retrieve me. The flight home, behind the rumbling radial of his 195, under a full moon, and over new-fallen snow, I will never forget! It set the stage for over 50 years ( so far) of flying for me.

Jim

 

[jonnyjetprop]

Magazines in the school library led to model rockets and radio controlled model airplanes. Next thing you know I was going to school to be an aeronautical engineer. I took a private pilot ground school during my first summer and next thing you know, I was running away to join the circus.