How many first flights (or other aviation activities) did it take...?

N918KT

N918KT

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Hey everyone. Did you know my very first flight in a small airplane was not the flight that sealed the deal of me for falling love with aviation and having aviation becoming part of my life? Rather it was the second first flight at an aviation camp in high school that sealed the deal of me wanting to have an aviation-centeric lifestyle. Sure I was playing a variety of PC flight simulators growing up but they never materialize into wanting me to have a career in aviation and wanting to learn to flying as a hobby until that second first flight.

So my question for everyone was if it took more than one first flight (or other aviation activity) for you to fall in love with aviation and do aviation as a hobby, career, or both? If so, how many attempts did it take?
 
The pic of the first chick in the Skin Zone is what got me hooked
 
I got air sick on my first flight. :(

What really got me involved wasn't just the feeling of flight inside the cockpit but outside as well. Dad was FSS so I grew up around aviation. I was never really into GA as a kid either. Mostly liked military aviation. Went to a lot of air shows. National Guard helos flew into my high school. Thought it would be something cool to do. Over time my interest in GA grew stronger. Now, I fly GA for work and play. Persistence pays off.

So I can't really pin it down to a single flight but multiple experiences in and out of the cockpit that got me hooked and keeps me hooked today.
 
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eman1200 said:
The pic of the first chick in the Skin Zone is what got me hooked
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dang it. I replied to this on my phone and didn't realize who the OP was (ie female). so I take it back and apologize.
 
As a kid flying commercial to see the grandparents I always wondered just how cool it would be to be able to look out the front window instead of a little porthole.

My girlfriend gave me a gift of a discovery flight because I'd been really talking about learning to fly and that was the flight that got me going.
 
Model airplanes as well but I remember wanting one of those so bad too.
I think I am one of those with flying in my blood. As long as I can remember I loved anything that flies.

I remember being scared to death that I was not going to like it when I took my discovery flight. First lesson (several years later) too. I remember thinking "This is what you want. Please don't be scared" I was ready to walk away from it if it was scary.

It wasn't scary and I was even more hooked.
 
Walking a military flight line with my dad before I was old enough to remember. He was a power plant maintenance chief, round motors.
 
Probably 3 for me. I developed a curiosity last year. 1st discovery flight, I ended up in the back seat. 2nd, months later, I got the left seat, but the flight was only 30 min. and the cfi was a yolk hog (cmon, not even a mild 360?). 3rd flight months later with another cfi, full first hour lesson, mostly me on the controls, he demo'd stalls let me try one, slow flight, left/right 360's etc. I guess that 3rd one did it, I just did my first solo last weekend! Having fun with it.
 
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I was always surrounded by aviation as my dad is an airline pilot and also a CFI so he would take me and my siblings up for rides. I never really caught onto it until 11th grade when my parents asked what I wanted to do for a career. We found a great CFI, took a sunset intro flight, and I was hooked on it ever since. A few years later I'm a CFI coming up on 1000 hours.
 
I was hooked prior to my first flight. I used to drive pretty fast. One night I was driving south from Lubbock to Midland, TX and I saw a little blinking light silhouetted against the western horizon just at dusk. I kept pace with that little airplane until I reached the outskirts of Midland where I watched it land at Midland Airpark.

I didn't know what that plane was, but I was sure that anything that slow had to be something I could fly. (it was a C152... N4766P)

I went over to the airpark the next morning and asked what the airplane was and how one becomes a pilot (this is 1995... essentially before the interwebs). They told me the basics, I bought some Jeppesen Sanderson books and came back the following weekend for the first flight.

I was pleasantly surprised that they'd let you go up with an instructor and fly around. I, like many people, assumed I'd have to do all sorts of ground schooling first. Nope. I think I went home and didn't sleep again until I'd read all of my Jepp books. :D

I finished my PPL in 66P and then bought a 1966 C172G in 1996, sold in 2003. Then just 3 years ago I bought a TR182. Good times.
 
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The first time I saw a beautiful rubber powered stick and tissue model on my dad's refrigerator, the bug was in me. My first ride in any airplane was my discovery flight in the left seat and the instructor demonstrated 2 spins. It blew my mind and I knew I would get my PPL one day.

Flash forward to when I could actually afford the lessons... I'd lost my teenage fearlessness and it took a while before I got comfortable dangling from a spam-can 2500' in the air. Fell back in love with after I soloed.
 
I had a love of all things transportation (plane, trains, ships, cars) from an early age. I had hand drawn instrument panels in my room, etc... I begged my parents to send me to aviation-themed summer camp (anybody remember Camp Solo) without avail.

I was completly overjoyed when one of my father's clients (he was a lawyer who sometimes represented pilot groups in airline mergers) gave me my first ride in a small plane. The first flight was with my father in the right seat and me in the back taking pictures of our house from the air. After giving a ride on the next flight to my mother and my sisters, he made a third flight with me in the right seat.

My next flight wasn't until I was in college when one of the physics profs formed a proto flying club. He taught ground school and would fly us out to FDK on the weekends to help with the Taylorcraft he was getting airworthy. It didn't fly before I graduated, but he eventually did give lessons to some of the club members in it.

As soon as I graduated and got settled in my new apartment in Colorado, I headed over to Jeffco and signed up for lessons.
 
First flight at around age 8. Swore then that I would be a pilot. Took lessons starting at age 18.
 
I knew it as a small kid, even though I was never near a plane or knew any pilots.
 
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Did anyone grow up in a family that had a plane?

I ask because my kids don't seem to give a rat's ass about flying, although my 9 yr old may be coming around. :D
 
So my question for everyone was if it took more than one first flight (or other aviation activity) for you to fall in love with aviation and do aviation as a hobby, career, or both? If so, how many attempts did it take?
Click to expand...

It was definitely not a love-at-first-sight event, it was more like a long slow courtship with plenty of arguments at the start, culminating in a deep, profound, and enduring love.
 
jimbilly said:
Probably 3 for me. I developed a curiosity last year. 1st discovery flight, I ended up in the back seat. 2nd, months later, I got the left seat, but the flight was only 30 min. and the cfi was a yolk hog (cmon, not even a mild 360?). 3rd flight months later with another cfi, full first hour lesson, mostly me on the controls, he demo'd stalls let me try one, slow flight, left/right 360's etc. I guess that 3rd one did it, I just did my first solo last weekend! Having fun with it.
Click to expand...

Great responses so far everyone! And jimbilly, I sat in the back seat with my brother on my very first airplane ride. I did remember the pilot asked if I wanted to sit in the front right seat but I said no because I thought I was going to control the plane and thought I was too young or not ready for it yet. Instead my dad sat in the front right seat.

Many years later during the summer of me going into my senior year of high school, I went to Daniel Webster College's ACE Camp and we only got one day to fly in a small plane. This time I was at the controls in the pilot seat and it was the one that sealed the deal.

Sometimes, I guess even an airplane ride in the back seat of a small plane is not enough for one to fall in love with flying. You have to experience it by flying one.
 
Hooked before I ever took my first ride. I always made models as a kid, and was infatuated with planes.

The first time I had a GA ride, I was in the right seat and was able to take the controls. I knew right away the mission for my license was right over the horizon.
 
As a kid I did all the plane struck things that kids do. Ran around with arms out for wings. I built models and looked to the sky at the first sound of a plane but it was until I was in the military that I my luck changed when my then room mate asked if I wanted to go flying. Never know he flew but I jumped at the chance...:yesnod::yesnod::yesnod: I was hooked by the time we landed...:goofy: Later that week I went to check out the base areo club and here we are now still lovin' it.:wink2:
 
I made airplane models from cutouts on Quaker Oats boxes during WWII. I don't remember it but my Mom and Dad told me about it and showed me photos.

Took my first flight at 12 for my birthday on a TWA Connie and the pilot let me see the cockpit before takeoff and in flight. My folks did this because I had been an airplane nut all those years until then.

Eventually wound up my working career as the Chief Engineer of the YF-22/YF-23, F-22 and C-17 for the USAF and a private pilot.

Cheers
 
Did a flight in a c119 as a cap cadet,then went into the Air Force as a loadmaster,was reading flying magazine before I entered the service. Favorite airplane was the Cessna 337 , some day. Will own one.
 
First flight was when I was real young. $10 and I was scared s***tless about it. In middle school my little brother got me a flight simulator for Christmas and I was curious about everything. How they navigated from place to place, how they communicated to each other, how the dang things stayed in the air...all of it! Job shadowed a corporate pilot and took me up in the company's Aviat Husky. Loved every minute of it. Started taking flying lessons and worked at the airport as a line guy to pay for training. Flew RC planes as well. Couldn't get enough of it! Dad said the Air Force would pay me to fly and probably fly a jet quicker and cheaper than the CFI route. I thought all air force pilots were aeronautical engineers when they started(boy was I wrong) but I was gonna try anyways and ended up getting a pilot slot. Now here I am!

petrolero said:
Did anyone grow up in a family that had a plane?
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No plane here. Not one of my relatives flies.
 
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My dad was a pilot; flew bush in Canada, flew firefighting, later flew cargo. Funny thing is, I only remember flying twice with him. Once in a Cessna when I was around 8, and once in the cargo plane when I was around 15. He should have flown me more when I was younger, the bastard. I have always had the bug, and should have just gone for it when I got out of high school. Stupid decision. Ended up joining the Navy and completely forgot about aviation until after I got out. Started goofing with flight sims, then RC planes. The wife finally got sick of me spending money on toys and told me to just go do it. That was about three years ago at the age of 40.
 
First flight was first lesson. I'm pretty good at guessing what I'll like. Nothing much grows on me.
 
N918KT said:
Hey everyone. Did you know my very first flight in a small airplane was not the flight that sealed the deal of me for falling love with aviation and having aviation becoming part of my life? Rather it was the second first flight at an aviation camp in high school that sealed the deal of me wanting to have an aviation-centeric lifestyle. Sure I was playing a variety of PC flight simulators growing up but they never materialize into wanting me to have a career in aviation and wanting to learn to flying as a hobby until that second first flight.

So my question for everyone was if it took more than one first flight (or other aviation activity) for you to fall in love with aviation and do aviation as a hobby, career, or both? If so, how many attempts did it take?
Click to expand...

I grew up on Staten Island, NY less than a mile from Miller Field and would watch the paratroopers jump from my bedroom window. I knew then I wanted to be a pilot...wound up going to Daniel Webster College but ran out of money just before my solo x-country...My plan is start again this spring at 54 some 35 years after my first solo.
 
Was hooked before I ever took my first flight. Even as a child I would play with toy airplanes, not cars or trucks like every other kid. Read airplane books, watched airplane movies, and as soon as I got a job I saved my money to start lessons (high school). When I went to college, of course, aeronautical engineering. Fully intended to go fly for the military but lack of 20/20 crushed that dream. All considered, not too bad. Have worked for nearly 30 years as an engineer and get to play with my Mooney on weekends.
 
Looking back I must have been about nine on my first flight. The pilot was involved in a crash of a 727 (he survived) in 1970, and it was before that incident (I remember being nervous about finding out if the guy who had given me the ride was hurt).
 
Watching Top Gun as a kid and having my uncle flying F14's out of Miramar himself was enough for me.
 
I was hooked after the intro flight. I've always loved airplanes and aviation and finally gave it a shot. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, and I had mixed feelings beforehand. But I loved it. So I thought really hard for a few days as to whether it was something I wanted to do. And yep. Now I'm XC planning phase and loving it.
Can't wait to get back up!
 
jkaduk said:
First flight at around age 8. Swore then that I would be a pilot. Took lessons starting at age 18.
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My first flight was age 7. Swore then that I would be a pilot. Saved money, started taking lessons at 19. Rinse, repeat. :)
 
Always knew I'd fly.
Didn't know how, but knew I would.
Always loved the romance of an airfield, too.
This airplane stuff is OK; and there's more flying to come.
 
I didn't grow up in an aviation family nor did I have any friends or acquaintances who were pilots. My first lesson was my first flight in anything smaller than a Beech 1900.

I still don't personally know or hang out with many pilots - not that I'm opposed to it or especially antisocial. I did volunteer with CAP for many years but that's more like business-social. I've never been to a fly-in and my only hundred dollar burgers have been with instructors on training flights. :dunno:

I just love flying for the flying, yes, but also the utility of it. It allows me to do things with my family that we couldn't do as easily otherwise.

I loved airplanes and airports since I was a little kid, though. My grandparents traveled a lot for business and so we spent a LOT of time at the airline terminal at Tulsa International (KTUL) in the late '70s and '80s. I loved watching those jets come and go. The post-1991 and post-9/11 security bull**** has sucked all much of the wonder out of airline travel I think.

I think 1991 was the last time a non-ticketed person could walk up to the gates. Where's the wonder in waiting at some ****ty baggage claim? Cockpit visits for kids?! Rarely if ever. Stay away! Security! Fear! :eek::eek:

Who knows, maybe the airline security nonsense has made GA that much more appealing in its lack thereof. There's nothing like standing at an airport with no fences where I'm perhaps the only person there. The difference between that and the airline craziness is stark and quite nice.
 
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