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

AdamZ

AdamZ

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Display name:
Adam Zucker
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?

For me it was of course fueled by the passion for flight since I was about two but what really got me to act on my dream of flying was after a friend of mine from the Bar Association took me up for a flight to Atlantic City in a rented Seminole. I sat right seat and he let me fly in cruise a bit. I was on such a high after the flight I couldn't think of anything else not work not sleep nothing. My wife said just go take lessons if you don't you'll be miserable and you only live once. At the time my father in law had lymphoma and we knew he wasn't going to get better and he had done a lot of cool stuff in his life, So I said to myself I don't want to be on my death bed and say " I wish I had..."

A week after that flight in the Seminole I called the flight school at PNE and set up my first lesson and now I'm posting on POA.
 
I had driven a rich guy from the Broadmoor to the COS airport in his fancy car (that I had to drive back without him :D). He tipped me $5, so I had $7 in my pocket and lessons were $6.
 
Traveling Commercial air after 9/11 was my catalyst.

I always wanted to fly, but after a poor start with a numskull instructor when I was 19 I figured it just wasn't for me.

Glad I re-thought that one.
 
I had driven by Z98 somewhere around 1,200 times on my way to work or friends, and said, "what the heck." I'd flown flight sim, but I never had the "oh, I really really want to fly" blood in me. I just did it because I'd already had an associates degree at 18, made it to final cuts as a walk on for a professional football team after never having played in HS or college, and I just wanted another challenge to say that I had done something.

I walked in, said I wanted to learn how to fly and get my license (yes, I called it a license back then) and so after a quick conversation I was out taxiing an airplane. He had me do the take off, flew for 45 minutes or so, doing everything spot on, and the instructor said, "hell, you've everything right so far, go ahead and land the plane." So I did. 39.0 hours later we were adding up all the numbers for my first 8710. I still have never had a lesson where I didn't land the plane.
 
My immediate neighbor, William D. Owens (bless his soul), then president of a small firm called Nuclear-Chicago, who called to me over the south (PWK) fence at the departure end of 34- "do you wanna go fly?". I hopped the fence and in about two years logged about 48 hours.
 
My former wife once asked me: If you had the money and the time, what would you like to do? I said "learn to fly". So she gave me a gift certificate for the first several lessons.

Then she began to complain that I was away from home too much.....

-Skip
 
It was my father saying "I'll pay for your lessons up to solo, the rest will be up to you" That was late 1953. I soloed 4 days after my 16th birthday in 54 (weather kept me from making it on my birthday) My private came a year later when I hit 17 in 55.
Thanks Dad:D

Paul
N1431A
2AZ1
 
I really cannot recall. I always wanted to fly from as long as I remember. I grew up watching the Gemini missions and wanting to be an astronaut, flying was part of that. My dad was a big part of wanting to fly, it was the only thing we ever had in common. In HS I joined CAP and flew for the first time.
Later when I was employed I started taking flight lessons. I had taken an elective course in college that was the same thing as ground school and had finally decided that I had the time and money to do it. I got past my solo work and was just about to start doing XC work when I had to move for work. I stopped and did not begin again for many years.

Just before I started training again it had not even occurred to me to begin again. I was thinking of buying a motorcycle but as I drove by the airport I again thought of finishing my pilot certificate. So instead of the motorcycle I started up again and did not stop.

The one thing I never dreamed was possible was that I would own a plane. I remember when the idea to buy came into my head.

My SO and I were flying to Vicksburg, MS in a rental. We had been flying to and from Fort Wayne, IN a lot and she says to me that one day I probably would want my own plane. I says sure but have not figured out how to afford it. That is when she says if I can show her the way to pay for it she would be just fine with it. Eight Months later with a lot of calculations under my belt of the real cost of owning. I showed her how we could own outright without a loan and the costs would be less then what I had been spending on rentals. Four months later I bought my plane.
 
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I called and left a message on the college flying club's answering machine. I only wanted to ask them some questions since I had never been in a small airplane before and I didn't have any friends or family who were pilots. That evening an instructor called back and wanted to schedule a lesson and I said "OK". Weirdly I had lunch with him last week, over 30 years later. Thanks Bob. :)
 
Was interested if flying since a friend took me up in his T-craft. Didn't hurt that my father was interested in aviation even though he never took a flying lesson, but he did get me started in R/C gliders. Then from my girlfriends 21st birthday I chartered a C-182 for a 45 minute flight around town. The pilot told me to come back if I was interested in learning to fly, I went back.
 
I always wanted to fly, but didn't know why. Didn't think there were any pilots in the family. I took ground school a few years ago but couldn't make the commitment, despite have several pilot friends encouraging me. Then my mother died, much too soon, before she ever got to retire or do anything for herself. The thought of dying without getting to fulfill any of my dreams was the real nudge I needed.

Later, I found out some tidbits of information that explained why the flying bug had bitten me, such as my great uncle (the only grandfather I had) was a Hellcat pilot and had had a Mooney, but I was too little to remember when he had it; and my dad had wanted to learn to fly and was planning to be a paratrooper but ended up being Air Police instead. There are more tidbits like this, which I call the "pixie dust" that was sprinkled on me when I was too young to know any better.
 
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My fourth grade teacher, Ms. Brown, had a son who was a an airline pilot flying a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser. She took us on a tour and I was hooked. I didn't act on it until many, many year later when my brother bought a C-150 that I could fly for gas. After my first introductory flight, I started lessons and have been hooked ever since. No aviators in the family other than my brother.
 
I grew up in a flying family. It was a natural progression just like learning to walk. Everyone learns to fly airplanes right? Right? Yes? Sure they do. Everyone does. How could they not?

I was at the controls of an airplane making it do things before most kids got put in a stroller. I'm serious. There's a picture somewhere of me standing in dad's lap flying the plane when I was like zero years old. Curiously I actually remember that flight and had an understanding between moving the yoke and what the plane was doing. I'm telling you, it was just like learning to walk.

I finally did the CFI thing when the FAA finally quit whining about being under age for flying by myself. I would have likely solo'd and had my license years before if it wasn't for them wanting a specific calendar age.

"pixie dust" that was sprinkled on me when I was too young to know any better.
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Yea that too. I'm pretty sure my parents put that in my diapers.
 
I'd been interested in flying for the Air Force as a kid from all the time we spent living on bases (Dad was a mechanic in the service), but didn't think that they would allow a near-sided girl to become a pilot.

Thought and talked about it on and off for years, but didn't do much. Got the opportunity on my 30th birthday, when Grant offered me two options for a birthday present: skydiving, or an intro ride. Skydiving didn't seem to make much sense to me, so I chose the latter.

Went to PWK, I had my doubts about the Cessna 152 - looked too much like an egg to be airworthy. But, off we go....

One sunny, clear fall day, down the lake shore, low pass by Meigs, and back.....

Like a cat to catnip. Hooked after that, although I would prefer to train in a slightly larger plane :)
 
brcase said:
Didn't hurt that my father was interested in aviation even though he never took a flying lesson,
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This was my situation too. Too bad he never knew that I ended up as a pilot.
 
I'd always wanted to be a pilot, and had scheduled lessons a couple of times with a CFI who also flew charter. Both times he stood me up because he got a charter flight. The FBO never even bothered apologize, try to re-schedule, or anything. Pitiful.

So instead of working on my pilot's license, I spent the next two years of weekends and evenings getting my MBA.

Once that was complete, I took a 3-4 month break from scheduled activities (other than my day job), then went back to the same FBO, scheduled another lesson, and went flying. This time around, they had a different instructor, who was a great guy, a very experienced pilot, and enjoyed giving flight instruction.

Four months later, I had my ticket.

Not exactly sure why I picked those particular days (three of 'em in fact) to schedule my first lesson, but I can tell you (and any FBO that is listening), that it isn't an easy first step, and FBO's really need to do a better job of encouraging new pilots...
 
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It hit me that I wanted to start taking lessons one day while watching the Red Bull Air Race on TV. At that point I wanted to become a Game Warden as my Career, then I saw how much they get payed to get shot at by poachers. So I said heck, I'll be a pilot and get payed very little to fly. rofl
 
I wanted to fly from an early age. I considered trying to get into the Air Force academy so I could fly fighters. I went to HS with a couple of guys that were older than me that went to the academy. I wasn't sure 6yrs of service after the academy was right for me. I checked into lessons a couple of times after HS graduation but couldn't justify the cost of flying with no real reason for it. I was too wrapped up into racing motorcycles at that time too. When I met Jennifer I learned that she was a pilot. She had gotten her tag just after high school. Her grandfather was a B24 pilot in WW2 and offered to pay for any of his grandkids to learn to fly. She was the only grandchild to take him up on it. Over the years she had taken me flying on occasion with rental planes and I loved it, but again couldn't justify spending the money to do it myself. Time went on and she hadn't flown in several years when we decided to start a family. We took a trip to Utah and Idaho for a family reunion and to visit friends shortly after our daughters first birthday. The airport security hassles with a child and all that goes along with a child was the justification I needed to learn to fly. The trip was in June. I started lessons on August 1 and was basically ready for my check ride by the end of the month. Jennifer did her BFR during the month as well. We bought our Cardinal the following March and haven't flown a commercial airliner to visit family since. Reese is 3 1/2 and has probably around 150 hours in the back seat. A little brother Chase came along last winter and he's probably got 70-80 hours under his belt.
 
My class at the Academy had just gotten our career starter loans and while everyone else was buying sports cars or Beamers I bought a used economy size car and hitched a ride to the local airport with our aviation club. They went on intro flights with the Auxiliary and I walked over to the flight school. Since I knew I couldn't meet the vision standards for military flight school I said, what the heck, its now or never. I finally had a class schedule that allowed enough free time to undertake flight training and the finances to do it and had just enough of looking at the sky and longing to be there. Took my first lesson 2 weeks later and never looked back.
 
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lprellwitz said:
I'd been interested in flying for the Air Force as a kid from all the time we spent living on bases (Dad was a mechanic in the service), but didn't think that they would allow a near-sided girl to become a pilot.

Thought and talked about it on and off for years, but didn't do much. Got the opportunity on my 30th birthday, when Grant offered me two options for a birthday present: skydiving, or an intro ride. Skydiving didn't seem to make much sense to me, so I chose the latter.

Went to PWK, I had my doubts about the Cessna 152 - looked too much like an egg to be airworthy. But, off we go....

One sunny, clear fall day, down the lake shore, low pass by Meigs, and back.....

Like a cat to catnip. Hooked after that, although I would prefer to train in a slightly larger plane :)
Click to expand...
I hadn't though much about being a pilot until Leslie started taking lessons. When she did, I found myself learning the phonetic alphabet, learning the pattern, and listening to her ATC tapes. I took an intro ride similar to the one she described, and really liked it, but we couldn't afford to both go through it at the same time then, so I forgot about it.

After she resumed training after a hiatus while she was working out of state, she took a ground school as a refresher at the college where I work. Since it was free for me, I sat in. They, of course, recommended actually doing flight training during the ground school, so we went by Clow looking for an instructor for Leslie. I, of course, was only going to sit in back! Right!:D:rolleyes:

It was a given, though, that Leslie would get her certificate first! :yes:
 
I have always loved aviation, had a neighbor who used to take me flying in a Comanche 250... but never did anything about it.

THen, got a client who was learning to fly, and I always bugged him about finishing his ticket... which he did... and took me flying in his AA1.

Whereupon, he started asking me why I wasn't flying yet?

One day, he calls me up, tells me he needs me to call up someone, gives me a number, which I dutifully took down. I ask him who it is and what's the problem, and he told me "It's Monarch Air - your first hour's paid for, now go FLY!"

Three months and one day later, I took my check ride, and it's been all fun since.
 
Oh by the way, am I the only one who thinks that the Prellwitz clan are absolutely precious? Meant in a good way...
 
I wanted to learn to fly since I was a kid. Couldn't get the time or the money at the same time. After finding out we could fly across the state in about 2 hours instead of a 5-6 hour drive, my wife suggested that I go ahead and learn. Lessons started about 9 1/2 years ago and 9 years ago this coming April I passed my check ride. Working on my IR now - wife said we've skipped flying acros the state one too many times because I couldn't punch through an overcast layer at the home drome. I love her. :D
 
There was a gap of a few years between "I want to do this" and "today I begin", and in the middle there was an intro flight.
But I will always remember the day it started: first airshow I ever attended, on a whim, when I was passing through Vermont on vacation and saw a flyer in a general store window.

Just a little show, at Mt. Snow... but it was a perfect summer day with high puffy clouds, and there were displays by a Pitts and a BD-5 minijet... that kinda pried the top of my head open a little; I'd never seen anything like that before.
The actual moment, though, was when a deHavilland Vampire did a low, fast fly-by (not enough fuel to land, etc). I could see the pilot under the bubble canopy as he hissed by, wing low for a photo-pass. He looked fairly busy, but I sensed he was having a real good time. And damn, that aircraft was just beautiful. It looked- and sounded- so lovely it almost hurt.

Something went "click!" inside me- I was a model-builder, balsa-flyer, typical 60s kid, dreaming of flight all my life up to then, had flown in cifgar-tubes a few times and enjoyed it, but it had never occurred to me that I could do this; that people did this, real people like me. I had reached a new plateau of interest, simply by getting a little closer.
So I signed up for a ride later when they were offering hops in a variety of aircraft, seats as they became available.
I happened to draw front right seat in a Saratoga, and another piece clicked into place as I watched the pilot do his thing... "I could definitely do this... and eventually, I will do this" I told myself.

Been seriously infected with the bug ever since... and I hope I never recover. :D
 
Well, I always knew it would, even as a small child. I never wanted to be a doctor or a firefighter, I wanted to be a pilot. I started my airplane collection at a very young age (somewhere there's a picture of a 2 year old me sleeping with my arms around a C130 that's 3/4s the size of me). I could ID mostly anything flying at 10 years old, and took my first official lesson when I was tall enough to reach the rudder pedals on a 150. (I was 13)

I logged about 6 hours until I was 14, but because of financial reasons, we had to take a break for a bit...in the two years following, I only logged 3 or so hours.

When I was 16 and eligible for solo, we still weren't doing too well financially, and I didn't get to fly as regularly as I had liked. Then one day in the summer of 2009, my dad and I were bringing the 150 back to Bloomsburg and stopped off at Selinsgrove for fuel. It's there that we met Jim Taylor, and he told us about Heritage aviation, an FBO and flight school with a 172 for rent that'll be going up any time.(as of very recently, they have a Flight Design CTLS too) That saved us bunches of money all around. No club dues, no driving 50 miles to Bloomsburg, and the airplane is well maintained!

Two weeks after that, my dad got checked out to teach me in 4879G, and here we are. Soloed on 11/17/09, and I'll be taking some solo cross country flights anytime the weather decides to clear up.

With my mom on a flight down to VA
2h72fqa.jpg


I'm on the left.
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I'm in the "always wanted to, but don't know why" club. Maybe it's because I grew up under the 45 to the downwind to runway 28 at C29 and saw small airplanes flying over at 1,000 AGL a lot... I don't really know.

My first real GA exposure was in about 1985, when my uncle, a fairly new pilot at that point, took me up in a C152, N48836 out of MSN. I remember him doing power-on stalls, go-arounds, etc. He let me take the yoke at one point, but when I tried to turn I thought it was like a car, so I left the yoke there and when I'd just about rolled us over, my uncle decided he'd better take the controls back. :rofl:

Then, my dad took me to Oshkosh for a day in 1987. Wow! I remember the Voyager was there (I reached over the rope around it so I could touch a wingtip :D). I remember a super-STOL experimental being demonstrated that had leading edge slats and landed in about 50 feet. I remember a low pass by a Northwest Airlines Boeing 757, flown by a woman who also did aerobatics (jeez, can't believe I still remember stuff the announcer said after all these years!). I remember aerobatics being flown by various acts, but the ones I remember the most were Leo Loudenslager and the Coors Light Silver Bullets (BD-5J's). I also remember a metric crapload of Rutan Vari-Eze's parked on the flight line. That was when you had to become a member to get on the flight line, so my dad bought us a family EAA membership, and I read Sport Aviation a lot over the next year. (I remember everyone bitching about Mode C transponder requirements, and ads for a flying-car conversion for the Honda CRX.

Eventually, in college, one of my fraternity brothers was a pilot, and he lent me his old Jepp private pilot book and some of his other materials. I read through them while I was on tour in the summer of 2001.

Then, 9-11 happened. I remembered reading something about a transponder code for hijacking in the Jepp book, but couldn't remember the code, so I dug the book back out. I also looked for information online, and found AOPA and the old "Yellow Board." Reading the stuff there is what finally sunk the hook in. Being in college, I still couldn't afford to fly then, but I went and got a job as a lineman at a local FBO. I didn't get to fly much, but I did get to sit right seat for a short flight in a King Air 200 and back seat for a 135 training flight in a C414. Finally, towards the end of the school year, I took 50 bucks and bought an intro flight, in a C172XP/R172K, N736AR. Before another year had passed, I was making enough money to take lessons, and just about a year after that intro flight, I was a pilot.

750 or so hours later, the cure for this bug isn't in sight, and I've blown enough money on it that I could have probably bought a house. But, you can't fly a house. :no:

So, I guess in my case it was quite a series of events that led to the happy outcome. :yes:
 
It was something I wished I could do for a long time. Eventually several things came together:

1. After years of self-inflicted relative poverty, I was finally making a decent living.

2. I got divorced. This was key because my ex-wife's uncle had been a pilot and had died crashing into Mount Tam one dark night, so learning to fly was out of the question for me while I was married.

3. I had a couple of co-workers who were pilots and they encouraged me to learn. One of them was a CFI who offered me a couple of free lessons (i.e., free drugs) if I would pay for the plane rental. He then found me a good instructor.

4. I felt that the accomplishment of learning to fly would help me get my self-esteem back, which had suffered greatly due to the divorce. It worked.
 
I had always wanted it.

What really made me walk into the airport... getting a Franklin Covey planner for work and then acutally reading the front part about making goals, then breaking the goal down into steps, and making due dates for the steps.

Walking into the airport and just happening to get a first ride was all it took to get me the rest of the way.

Missa
 
I've always been hooked on anything that was in the sky. Growing up on the edge of Quakertown, ultralights from a local farmer's field would fly over all the time. I built free-flight models, loads of plastic display models, control-line Cox 0.49 models, then RC models,... from as early as I can remember. Went to college and tapered down the RC model fleet, but managed to still have a few in my apartment and fly them on the grass tailgate fields outside of Beaver Stadium at PSU. While flying one day, a guy rode up on his bike and we started chatting. I was flying a Goldberg Electra Motorglider, and he was involved in the Soaring Club :) I didn't even know we had a soaring club at Penn State.

I then attended a few meetings and went for a few rides in the Blanik glider from the gliderport/airport just a few miles north of campus. I wish I would have found the club sooner,.. cause that's were I was bitten by the bug. Looking back, I regret not getting my glider rating.

Graduated, worked in Phili, got married,... still building RC Models, but now more than ever. My biggest project was just completed,.. .65" Corsair with working retracts and full detailing inside and out,... a two year building project. My daughters were born, so I was flying RC less, but still every chance I could.

One day we were out with some church friends for a dinner, and we got to talking airplanes and RC models. He asked if I wanted to stop by and see his airplane at Quakertown Airport (KUKT) ,... Sure,.. why not. After dinner we went over and looked at it,... and he said,.. "I think we have some time,.. want to go for a quick flight?" I looked at my wife,.,. and she said go ahead. If she only knew then what that would lead to. :D With two toddler twins a home, it was a "now, or not till much much later in life moment".

A few days later I was still reading up on the internet about how to get a PP Certificate, and signed up on the AOPA Project Pilot Mentor site. A few emails go out... no responses. I then found Wings Field (KLOM) and took an intro flight in a Cessna 172SP. That was August 4, 2007.

Bought a headset on Ebay, got Rod Muchado's PP Book on Ebay,... and took a second flight on October 20th 2007. Flight went well, and at the end of my blog post that day I wrote this ..
Now,.. at home, I get an email from a Project Pilot Mentor, Lee Kitson. Sounds like a great guy with a lot of experience, and more importantly, a willingness to share that experience. Can't wait to meet up with him and begin the journey towards my Certificate!
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A few weeks later, Lee and I met in person at Perkiomen (N10) and took a flight to Lancaster (KLNS) for lunch in the Tiger. We talked about my thoughts of flying, his background in flying, and then about where to train and what to train in. I ended up following his advice and training at Perkioment in the Cessna 152. This saved me money, and also was a smaller runway than Wings.

Jan 5th 2008 - First Training flight At Perkiomen
June 12th 2008 - FAA Checkride!

And having a blast since then meeting many of you POA'rs. Thanks Lee :yesnod:

Coincidently, we had a get together / celebration at Wings of my Passing the test. I had met Bob Ciotti on the POA only prior to then, and that June day I called him up and stopped by his work on my way home to show him my certificate. Never met the guy before in my life,.. but I could care less, I just passed my Flight Test! Bob couldn't make it to Wings, but AdamZ took a photo of Lee and I infront of Bob's C172H. Who would have thought that a year later I would also be flying that same C172H. :yesnod:
 

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When I was two weeks old dad said he was taking me to the airport on a Saturday to "meet the guys." Mom was absolutely thrilled with the idea of a few hours of rest and no diaper changes...
At the airport "the guys" helped strap me onto his lap in the open cockpit of a Waco Biplane and we went flying...
That winter at the airport Christmas Party one of the guys got likkerd up and spilt the beans to mom about my "meeting the guys"... She almost divorced dad over that!

The real downside to dad's bad judgment, is that I have never been able to get the thump of that radial engine and the air rushing past the wings and the feel of pulling gees, out of my head... It has cost me no end of trouble over my lifetime - being an airport rat, spending food money on airplanes, looking up at every plane that passes overhead (even pulling the car over to get out and look up)... Jeez, even my dog stops and looks up when a plane goes over, fer cripes sakes... I don't even drink because a bottle of hooch is 5 gallons of avgas and sunrise is the best flying...

Momma's, don't let your babies grow up to be pilots!

denny-o
 
As far as I can recall I was born with my mind made up. I grew up under the approach path for JFK, moved under the approach path for FRG. As a toddler i found creative ways to simulate flying. Some of them caused nausea but it didn't stop me. I built RC planes when I was a teen and flew flight sim since the first one http://fshistory.simflight.com/ which left much to the imagination, but I learned a lot using it. My first major was aerospace tech but I took a detour and did music for a while. After 9-11 I met 2 747 pilots at work for Olympic Airways and got re-inspired so I went to FRG and took my first lesson. That was it. I could't stop if i tried.
 
Well, like proabaly a lot of people on this board, I simply cannot remember ever NOT wanting to fly. Needless to say I was devastated during a grade school physical when the nurse discovered I had a slight color deficiency. For the life of her she could't figure why a kid would be crying after he was told he couldn't be a pilot.

I took a couple of small plane rides, and glider flights while we still lived in Germany, and was looking to join the local gliding club (I just wouldn't be able to afford power flying there), when my Dad got a Job back in the States. Imagine my excitement of finding our Fond du Lac is a mere 25 miles from Oshkosh :D. I went to my first Oshkosh in 1991, and I was simply blown away by the sight of that many airplanes in one place. that's when I found out from a nice man at the FAA pavilion, that I could get a medical and fly!

I didn't start taking lessons until 1994, and got my certificate in '96 (only flew in the summer). Thankfully one of our High School chemistry teachers was also a CFI, and I did my first 5 hours with him, and then joined a small flying club in Oshkosh with a white yellow and black Cherokee 140. The rest is as they say history...
 
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