What made you say today is the day I learn to fly?

I almost think you need to be born with the desire or at least have it instilled at a young age. I had an uncle that flew and would take me up in his Cherokee starting when I was nine. Loved it, but never thought it would become a reality. Fast forward about 25 years and coming off a divorce where my previous wife would never hear of me flying, I knew if I was ever going to do it, this was the time.

Got the cert in a bit under six months and have been flying ever since. However, the pivotal time in my flying was a decision to buy an airplane when I realized the rental situation where I lived was horrible. I think this was more important than getting the cert. It was either get a plane or give up flying.
 
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I think for me it was having a neighbor who was an airline pilot. I used to run with him and he'd talk about flying and such. When I got out of high school and was working I found a local flight school and took a discovery flight and I was hooked. I flew when I could scrape up the money. I was about 5 hours in when I got married and joined the Air Force. After basic and tech school I ended up in Gila Bend, AZ and the FBO at the local airport there had a 150. I started flying again and got to about 17 hours with my first solo cross country under my belt when my first son was born. Military pay being what it was in the 70's and now having a family to raise brought my flying to a screeching halt.

Fast forward from 1972 to 2008 and family grown up, better paying job and the ability once gain to go flying. For years I had been doing my flying on the computer since the days of my Atari 800 and Bruce Artwick's Flight Simulator. A couple of years before 2008 I became aware of the LSA and Sport Pilot and thought that would be good for me. It would be my wife and I flying so two place sounded okay. With that in mind I found a school locally doing SP training and got started. About 10 hours in my CFI moved back to Norway and the plane went down for a month. Once the plane was back they didn't have an instructor for it. So here I am sitting at 30 hours in the book wanting to fly. At that point I decided to transition back to PP and started back up and in December, 2008 at 58 hours I passed my check ride ending a 38 year quest.
 
I've always enjoyed "loner" type activities. Took up motorcycling at 14, but while this provided a semblance of freedom I was still confined to roads. Thought about flying but got married at 19 while still in university. Accumulated bills to pay, back to graduate school, buying a house, paying it off, raising kids, etc, etc.

Then I was living in CT, but commuting back and forth each day to NYC - hated the job and hated the commute. My wife knew I was depressed and she also knew I had always wanted to fly - end result was a birthday present of 10 lessons. I never looked back.

One memorable day I came home after a lesson and said I was doing okay with the flying, navigating, etc, but was still having difficulty with the landings. She turned to me and said "Isn't that an important part?"
 
For me it was really my Grandfather's doing.
When I was young I'd go on flights with him in his Bo
and he'd let me fly a bit while en route.
He encouraged me to take lessons so that I could fly with him more
and be able to land the plane should anything go wrong with him.

I started taking lessons at 15, solo'ed at 16, then never went much further
due to the demands of school, work, etc...

11 years later, I was reintroduced to GA and decided right then and there I needed
to finish/restart my training and get my ticket.
 
Anthony said:
I almost think you need to be born with the desire or at least have it instilled at a young age.
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The responses here certainly support that theory. The only difference would seem to be those who learned early when they perhaps didn't have a lot of other responsibilities, and those who learned in their 30s, 40s or later when their interest was reawakened and they had more discretionary income.

It's interesting to hear people's stories. I see we have some new or at least infrequent posters who responded to this thread. Welcome to all! :yes:
 
My Grandfather was a pilot but unfortunately, lost his medical prior to my birth, so I never got to fly with him. Regardless, he remained involved in aviation, and inevitably while visiting my grandparents, I spent a lot of time at the airport. That created my interest in flying.

Years later as an engineering student, I decided to stay at college over the summer and take classes. 3 classes was about the right load for a summer semester. I had two engineering classes picked out, and could not find a 3rd due to schedule conflicts or lack of prerequisites... So, I decided to take a free elective class that counted towards my degree. I opened the course timetable booklet, and voila! Aviation 101 was staring me in the face.

I was hooked after the first flight, and remain so...
 
gprellwitz said:
I bet your students just love that!:rofl: What say you, Brad?
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I will say that Ed only landed the plane once or twice for me the first time or two up.( Never took the control's from me.)
My "fondest" memory of Ed and I flying (training) is when after I came in a little hot, I skipped it a few times and the final set down was a little hard (well ,pretty hard).:yikes:
So he seemed quite annoyed with me:mad3: as I just wasn't "getting it" :mad2:. So he took the controls abruptly ,yanked it around the pattern, stated "now here's how you do it", stable approach,"watch this closely", then proceeded to bounce it in with a "extra solid" landing or two. All I said was "hey ,I though that's what I just did."
Silence--- my landings did get better:D, but not from that lesson.:rofl:
Honestly though, my training with Ed was great, had a lot of fun ,and great satisfaction that my son taught me to fly, finally fulfilling a dream I had for 50 years. Probably the best times of my life.
 
I was on the approach end of runway 9 across the highway (202) at a small pharmaceutical company doing a site acceptance test The planes keep landing over head so I asked the people I was working with how do I get to the airport. The next Sunday 3/25/01 I was in the air and .7 hr I was hooked.
 
AdamZ said:
So what was it that got you flying? Taking flying lessons is really what I'm talking about. Yes I know many of us have looked to the sky since our eyes opened after birth but what was it that made you say ok today is the day I go to the Airport and sign up at the flight school or with the local CFI?
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I'd thought about learning to fly since early teens. Was in CAP and got a few flights that way. Sorta lost the urge with work and living but it came back when I started having more time and money. Then one day I was riding in the back of a Hawker coming in to APA from over the mountains. It was winter and I was looking over the pilot's shoulders - the view was incredible. I said to myself that I had to learn to fly. I finally just committed the time and started down the SP path. Took a ride with an instructor and was scheduling to ride with another instructor when that guy killed himself and a student. That little event set me back aways and I decided to go PP. Toured the local airports and flight schools until I found one that looked "right" to me - not too fancy, not too rough, no high brows and no Neanderthals (although I'm sure cavemen are very nice folks down deep - sorta remind me a lawyers that way). Anyway once I finally got going I had my ticket three months later.
 
I had just read the book "Who Moved My Cheese" and challenged my then 16 YO son with the line "What would you be doing right now if you weren't afraid?" He fired it right back at me. I realized that even though I'd wanted to fly since I was 5 or 6, I was afraid I'd flunk the physical because of my eyesight. I was 44 at the time. I started training in 2004. I've had my certificate since 2006. I give rides to anyone I know who expresses any interest. I've lost count of the number of first rides I've given.

John
 
A friend of mine was a pilot and on occasion I'd go ride around with
him in his club's 150. That was in the late 60s before I went in the
Army. Then while in the Army in NJ a guy in our company was from
Alaska and had been flying for a while but just flew solo so never got
his PPL. I told him once if he just went and took the test I'd go fly
with him and split the cost. So .. he did .. and we did.

Since I had a full VA allotment of money for flight training it
was always in the back of my head to go do that. Then a customer
I knew from the store I worked at told me one day he was forming
a flying club and going to teach a bunch of guys to fly. I thought
about it and said "ok .. I'm in". It just took that prodding to get
me moving. So I went ahead and got my Private license. Then
on the day I passed my checkride I signed up at the local 141
school for their professional pilot course. Uncle Sam then paid for
me to get my Commercial/Instrument/Multi/Helicopter/CFI-helicopter/
CFI-ASEL before I spent it all. Was a lot of fun. Then I never really
wanted to fly for a living.

RT
 
9/11.

When I saw those poor souls jumping off of the buildings to their certain deaths I told myself that could have been me, or anyone of us. There were things I wanted to do before I die, and I decided then I had better get busy. Landing a plane was one of the things I can now cross off my "bucket list", but I got bit hard by the aviation bug and stuck with it.

Now if I could just get the landings down to one per take off! ;)
 
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I am sure the "pixie" dust for me was sitting on the floor in Miami when I was knee high to a grasshopper watching Skyking,, and Songbird. Subliminal messages and all. Dad used to drive us to Mc Auther causway,/Watson island to see the helicopters and Chaulks seaplanes come and go,, and the Goodyear blimp was there to. Then life got in the way and 20 something years later on the way home from work I passed a small airport in Apopka Fla, X04. Sign said intro flights 15 bucks. I made a U turn, pulled in and plopped down a 20, got five bucks back and memories that have lasted a lifetime.

That day my eventual instructor, Glen Perkins, showed me what flying was like. Got back down to earth, went into the doublewide FBO office and signed up for flight lessons for the next day. Got .9 in my brand new log book that day, on the way back to my truck I walked the field to look, feel and smell the planes, you guys know, thats the first signs of addiction. Found a Warrior with a for sale banner on the prop, Called the guy, bought it that night, with .9 hours in my logbook.!!! The next week I showed up for my lesson, Glen asked , ya want the 152, N5416M for 23 an hour or the 172 for 26 ? , I said naw,,,, we will take mine, N4341X, and threw the keys on the counter.. The look on their faces were PRICELESS.. I have never looked back. I LOVE flying.:yesnod::yesnod::yesnod::yesnod:
 
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When I was a kid, My mom would often get me a cheap balsa wood airplane, and I would have fun with them. But, aside from that, I was bored a lot. By the time I was 8 to 10, my parents had purchased a set of 1962 encyclopedias, so I would browse through them often, sort of like the internet.

Well, I came across a section on career planning and statistics. It had shown that Airline pilots earned the most money, even more than Doctors. So, I sort of focused on that. By 14, I started taking lessons one hour a month earning my own money for that. I kept at it and Soloed at 16, and then PPL at 18 with about 50 total hours.

Something about my eyes I didn't understand, couldn't get a 2nd class medical, so that squashed my career aspirations. So, I became an engineer instead. Now, after 35 years of not flying, I am looking to fly on my own for my own business.
 
The "why fly"....

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The "why now".... I had always wanted to, and at the encouragement of my ex, I went out for an introductory lesson at POU. I was working in the City at the time, so the only real time available was on weekends. A few months later, we moved away.

Fast forward 13 years, and I was in Cincinnati as an executive of a company that was about to be sold. I decided then that 1) I had the money, 2) that time would be limited after the sale as I'd be working harder/traveling more, and 3) if I didn't do it then, I never would.

So I asked for recommendations of a flight school from the helicopter pilot of one of the local radio stations, who suggested an FBO/flight school at ISZ. I promptly went out, signed up, and knocked off both the PP and IR in fairly short order.
 

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I've told this story before, but... :)

I never liked planes, I was always a car guy. There was some allure to being above the clouds, but I didn't see why I'd bother with it. I didn't want to be an airline pilot. Watched people fly planes into buildings live (not on TV, I looked out the window in my English class and saw it with my own two eyes) and decided that I really hated airplanes. Spent the next few years not getting on a plane, and my blood pressure would rise when I heard an airplane flying overhead. Sometime in college I saw my friend's old 182 with all those weird gauges in it that made no sense to me, and I saw one of my friends with this huge mound of paperwork to study to learn how to fly. That's way too much work, I'm not interested.

After college, I got a job offer from this company I'd never heard of before called "Lycoming." They said they make some big old air-cooled engines for small planes. Well, I'd wanted to go work on car engines, but this seemed like a pretty neat job and was closer to where I wanted to be location wise anyway, so I took it. A few months later, I went flying with one of the engineers in the Archer, who convinced me that there was too much to do, and this whole flying thing was way too difficult. I'm not smart enough to handle it, and it's not worth doing. I was clearly an idiot, because I couldn't even hold the plane straight and level when he handed me a plane that wasn't properly trimmed out, and didn't I know what a trim was and how to use it?

About nine months later, I dealt with planes a bit more, and one of the other engineers needed a one-way trip somewhere in the Archer. Missa was going to return the plane for him, and I got to ride in back. Coming home, Missa let me fly straight and level for a bit. Suddenly this became fun, it didn't seem that hard, and it seemed like something worth doing.

We landed, and she gave me the name of this instructor who she thought was really good and I'd get along with. I called him up twice, and we got a first lesson scheduled. After the first lesson I was smiling and knew I wanted to do this. I asked him "When's the second lesson?" He said "What're you doing tomorrow?" "Driving to Pittsburgh to pick up my fiancee at the airport." "Alright, we'll fly there."

Lesson 2: 2.7 hour XC in my instructor's Comanche with 1.0 actual into PIT.

About a month later, first solo. A week or two after that, I got my first flight in a twin, an Aztec that belonged to a guy he knew, and I knew I wanted a twin.

6 months later I took my check ride. 4 months after that I took my IR ride. A bit over a year after that I bought that Aztec that was the first plane I flew in. A few months after that I started an aviation-based non-profit, and ended up flying 350 hours last year.

Each time one of these things happen, I call up Missa and tell her that this is entirely her fault. :D
 
I grew up in an aviation family. My grandfather owned so many aircraft and my father even more. When my father gave up corporate aviation he moved us back to KS. He had the typical small airport FBO (Charter, sales, flight instruction, rental, and a shop). I spent every day there through high school. My father was always on the move, then one day with cancelled students and a suddenly clear sky he said, lets get you started. I said lets go.

My father taught hundreds of pilots to fly and had the most natural feel for flying that I ever saw.

Kevin
 
Wrote the big cheque, and the 150 showed up. Sitting in the cockpit making airplane noises got old fast.

I wish I knew what it was like not wanting to fly.
 
Forgot about the dream from when I was a kid (no money). Many years later when husband was a BF, he surprised me by taking me to the airport on my birthday for my first lessson. The CFI let me rotate the little 152 from the runway, and I was hooked.

Now, many $$$$ later.....................................
 
I was bored. Offshore fishing was extremely bad that year due to an unusual weather pattern. I decided learning to fly would extend my fishing opportunities, so I did.

Now, if I could get outriggers on my plane....
 
steingar said:
Wrote the big cheque, and the 150 showed up. Sitting in the cockpit making airplane noises got old fast.
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I'm sure you can find an mp3 of airplane noises somewhere so all you'd have to do is sit there...:D:D it might be cheaper...
 
One of my high school girlfriends dad had a Cherokee 6 and I went flying with him a time or two and that's when the bug hit me. I got married young and after one of my groomsman was killed in a crop duster, the wife said no to learning to fly. After we divorced and the child support ended, I decided it was time. At age 43 I started lessons and finished in 10.5 months. The only thing I have regretted is not divorcing the ***** sooner.:mad2:
 
Graduated college and started working for a major aerospace company. About six months later, one of the other young Engineers in my group got his CFI. Shortly after that he invited me to go flying with him after work one day. Little did I know, that would become my first lesson.
 
Always wanted to fly..as a kid we would go to JFK and watch the planes from the observation deck, as a teenager, a bunch of us would drive to the approach ends (you could get really close to the airport back then) and hangout under the flights coming in and out. Took an aviation course in college as an elective and got to fly an hour in a grumman TR-2 trainer. Fast forward 33 years later...got my health back, and decided that I was gonna finally fulfill the dream. Hooked up with a great CFI last February, got the PPL in September. The story continues to be written.
 
I was a spoiled child! I grew up in an aviation family, every week i would go flying with either my dad or grandpa in our cub and, if my dad was feeling up to it, we would take our 195 out to lunch. Anyway after a few years of this my dad kind of pushed me along to get my solo. Its not that i dont like flying, i LOVE it! its just sometimes im not the most motivated person. So when i was 16 i soloed in the cub and now im 17... Time to hit the books for my license!
Anyway thats my story (so far).
 
William D. Owens, God rest his soul. "Hey Bruce, you wanna go fly?"
 
I wanted to fly since I was a young lad. The thing that made me say the words in the thread title were the orders that said "Report to NAS Pensacola, for initial training........"
 
AdamZ said:
So what was it that got you flying? Taking flying lessons is really what I'm talking about. Yes I know many of us have looked to the sky since our eyes opened after birth but what was it that made you say ok today is the day I go to the Airport and sign up at the flight school or with the local CFI?.
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My wife went to be a counselor at Girl Scout camp for 6 weeks. Hey, I had to do something.....
 
Everskyward said:
And now it's 13,468 times!

Holy thread resurrection! I had to go back and read through the thread to see what kind of inane comments I had made in the past. :redface:
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Heh. There are no inane comments. Only inane people. ;)

(Me definitely included, and I'm just joking about you. Ha.)
 
My dad bought me a co pilots course in case he keeled over when I was in the plane with him.
 
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