How old were you when you got started?

N

nitsuj

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
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11
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Pittsburgh
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Display name:
Justin
Howdy gang, first post. I've been reading the forums for a while, and I've learned a lot. I've been wanting to get my PPL for a long time now, and I'm just now getting to a point in my life where I'm able to make the commitment financially and time wise. I'm freshly 40 years old, and the majority of pilots I talk to have stories about parents owning planes and they've been flying since childhood. I was just curious to see of other new pilots started late like me.

I've just begun my search for a school that fits and taking steps to a discovery flight. I hope to begin my journey shortly after the holidays.
 
I've always been surrounded by aviation and have been in small plane rides when I was a kid. I took my first real lesson when I was 17
 
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Zero experience with aviation until my late 30's. Now I'm trying to make up for lost time.
 
I took my first real lesson at 13, although I didn't start training on a regular basis until I was closer to solo - around 15 or so. Until then it was two lessons per year - one for Christmas, and one on my birthday. :)
 
Freshman in college. (18)
 
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Started flying at 16 the first time. Didn't finish and stopped at 42 hrs. Returned at 50 and got licensed a week after my 51st birthday
 
Took my first lesson at 17 got my cfi at 19

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
 
46 yo I took my first lesson. PPL at 47 and IR at 48, which was 18 mos ago. I now have 250 hrs in my 206.
Really wished I'd started earlier as my eye:hand coordination ain't what it used to be!!
Thankful today for many things, including the fact that I didn't wait any longer than I did to find my wings.
Aside from family, it's the most important thing in my life. I'm totally eaten up with it!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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For me it was twenty-five, after I finished college and got into a career job where I could afford it. I wanted to fly since I was a teenager but it took a while for things line up in life for me to be able.
 
I never even Sat in a GA airplane until I was 34
 
37. Had to wait for the heavy pressures of running a business for mr to realize I needed to do something other than work all the time. I was really burnt out. My uncle took me up in his luscomb and I was hooked. (He had been trying to get me interested for decades.)
 
44, first GA flight at 44, only pilot I know(well, I know him now) is my CFI.
 
I was 32.

Bob Gardner
 
Started at 14. Got license right before I turned 18. Finally got my plane this year at 34.
 
21 for my first ~10 hrs and 36 to go back and get it. Never even knew anyone that flew.
 
16 in a super cruiser. ( I was always impressed by a friends daughter who got her ppl at 17 after learning in her dads cessna 195, then her commercial, then flew in another friends beech 90 twin , and now flys a Gulfstream left seat for a major corporation. )
 
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21 after spending four years in the Air Force as a loadmaster.
 
Thanks for all the responses! I'm jealous of those of you that have been involved since childhood, but glad to see I'm not the only "late bloomer".
 
Solo sat 14, ppl at 18.
 
I knew I was going to get my pilots license long before I ever got into a plane. It just happened that my first flight in a plane was in a green Cardinal when they were selling rides for a penny a pound.
I started lessons shortly after that ride when I was 16, I'm slightly older now.
 
Started at 15 getting 1 lesson every month. Got PPL at 17.
 
I talked about wanting to fly ever since watching Sky King as a kid. My wife bought me 3 lessons for my 38th birthday so I would finally "get it out of your system."

She claims she hasn't seen me since.
 
Was bored one day when I was 28. Stopped at the airport that I had driven past probably 1200-1400 times (no hyperbole) over the previous 12 years, had some extra money I'd saved up, and figured what the hell.

First time I'd ever been in a GA plane.

I should have kept driving - I could probably be retired by now.
 
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I started at 27. One of the best decisions I've made in my life.
 
nitsuj said:
Howdy gang, first post. I've been reading the forums for a while, and I've learned a lot. I've been wanting to get my PPL for a long time now, and I'm just now getting to a point in my life where I'm able to make the commitment financially and time wise. I'm freshly 40 years old, and the majority of pilots I talk to have stories about parents owning planes and they've been flying since childhood. I was just curious to see of other new pilots started late like me.

I've just begun my search for a school that fits and taking steps to a discovery flight. I hope to begin my journey shortly after the holidays.
Click to expand...

for me it was a 30-yr journey. I started lessons way back in 1982 (I was 32) and was just about to solo in a 152 when my wife went on a ski trip with the local park district....on a Friday the 13th of all days. :yikes: you can guess what happened. she was laid up for 7-months with torn ligaments in her knee. there went the budget and extra time. after that life kept getting in the way.

flash forward to 2012. I'm now 62 and retired. the dream of learning to fly had never gone away as I had been socking away $ for 30-yrs against the day I would re-start my lessons. a buddy and I are at a mini air-show at 1C5 one day when I spy the ubiquitous "Learn To Fly" sign flapping in the breeze. I'm telling you it was like one of those cartoon light bulbs going off above my head. yup, I was retired but I guess parts of my brain hadn't caught up yet. that or I'm slow. :dunno:

anyway, long story short, I decided to go for the Sport certificate. I took an introductory ride in both a tail dragger (46 Aeronca Champ) and a tricycle gear (Cessna 162) and chose the Skycatcher. I took ground school, passed the written and then began lessons out of a Class D airport. apart from marrying my high school sweetheart my first solo was the best day of my life! a few months later I passed my check ride!!

point is, you're never too old to learn and let me tell ya, bub, 40 ain't old! you're gonna have a ball!
 
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