First airplane ride

Commercial before GA.

Commercial. El Al to Israel, summer 1974.

First GA. Summer about 1980 (I don’t have the date). Cutlass. Walking around at lunchtime on a beautiful spring day, I ran into a law book salesman I knew. "It's a beautiful day," he said. I'm thinking of going flying. Wanna come?" We flew around Western Mass and he let me handle the controls. I was in heaven.
 
August 1989, Provincetown Mass. it was just a 15 minute ride, with me in the front and my sister in the back of a 1931 Stinson Detroiter. It was for my birthday, and even though I don’t think anyone thought to snap a photo of the event, I still remember the flight like it was yesterday.

My second flight was in a tripacer at Hanover Co. airport in VA plane watching. The pilot saw my buddy and I, shut down, and offered us a ride. Didn’t have to ask twice, and in another year or so I was taking lessons at that very same airport.
 
1993 Cape air flight from HYA to ACK. My high school football team played Nantucket and the flew they varsity squad over on Saturday morning before the game vs a 2.5 hour ferry ride. Wasn't a fan of the whole situation. Flew commercial a hand full of times over the next 25 years wasn't a fan of that either. Then on a vacation over Christmas to visit my wifes family I was parked at HUT watching airplanes and started searching tail numbers and figured out you could actually travel in these tuna cans. Took my 1st GA flight October 2018 and was instantly hooked. Every time the tires separate from the ground its an indescribable feeling.
 
Half Fast said:
I assume you, like the prodigal who found himself eating with pigs in a foreign land, eventually repented of your evil ways and came home to low-wing righteousness. May you be forever blessed.
Click to expand...

Albeit he has yet to ascend to a higher plane of enlightenment by adopting a tailwheel in the fashion of the original saints.
 
My dad and his two older brothers were all airplane nuts. Uncle Dennis had a 1947 first year Bonanza, and it was just love at first sight for me. I remember a flight I was probably 4 years old in the back seat, just sightseeing around lake Travis, central Texas. 1980 or 81.

I had 40 hours of stick time from the right seat by the time I took my first logged lesson. Solo'd at 9 hours and licensed at 42 hours logged. Those days behind the throwover yoke really helped.
 
I have been told my first airplane ride was in a B-25, reconfigured to carry passengers, doing a 15 minute sightseeing flight. From what I was told I was 4 years old and fell asleep in my dads lap fairly quickly.

First commercial flight was 1969 in a DC-3 from College Station to the brand spanking new Houston Intercontinental Airport, now the George Bush International Airport. Where I first encountered pay toilets.
 
For my 13th birthday, my parents bought me a ticket to fly from my hometown Cincinnati to Louisville where my Dad was then working. TWA Connie. The Captain let me sit in the Left Seat and I got to put my hands on the controls when I boarded. Still remember all the gages and gadgets.
 
frfly172 said:
First flight I was a CAP cadet got a ride in a c119 from summer cap . First commercial flight was from Boston to Newark to Texas for Air Force basic try
Click to expand...
Here's one for you: Westchester Group flying to Montreal to compete in the World Drill Competition, 1966. BTW: I got to "fly" right seat on this plane for over an hour.c1191.JPG
 
Last edited:
All,

I enjoyed every post on this topic. Thanks. If you’re up for a long, boring, TLDR-worthy novella, I offer the following.

First flight ever: I was 8 years old in December of 1968 when my USAF pilot father somehow managed to get us exiled to Eielson AFB, near Fairbanks, AK. We drove our ’64 Catalina wagon to Seattle and put it on a ferry to Anchorage, then on a dreary-sleety-snowy New Year’s Eve we boarded an Alaska Airlines 727-100, the “Golden Nugget Jet,” to FAI with stops in Ketchikan and Anchorage. After charging down the loading bridge leading to door 1L, I stepped through the doorway as if it were a magic portal and was transported into a world of plush velvety seats of deep crimson with gold trim throughout. Sort of a 1960s mod take on an old west bordello. I managed to switch seats with the passenger at the window seat right in front of the #1 engine intake so as to observe the beast in action. Overwhelmed by exhilaration, I didn’t mind the loud roar as we went thundering down the runway in proper, old-fashioned turbojet style (yes, the JT-8D was technically a turbofan, but with a mere 1.08:1 bypass ratio it could rattle more windows and teacups than anything without an afterburner). During cruise, one of the F/As donned a stylized ushanka (Russian fur hat) and came down the isle with a cart that featured a large tea samovar, doling-out the airline’s “Silver Samovar Service.” The experience seems so exotic now, but that’s what airlines were like before de-regulation. We landed with the classic 727 thump at FAI in the first hour of 1969 and were met by our sponsor, who drove us off into the biting -40 cold of the long arctic night. I felt as though I had been transported into a strange and foreboding otherworld, an unforgettable journey to an unimaginable place.

First GA flight: I was working my way through high school as a mechanic for a rental car agency at a regional airport in west Texas. One day during lunch break, I watched a Cessna practicing touch-and-goes and it suddenly occurred to me that it might be a fun thing to do. I found a local flying club, and they promptly invited me to join them for a Saturday wash party/barbecue. I was all over that 172 with a brush and sponge, fascinated by every detail—the tiny little brake discs; the odd-looking switch on the cabin floor (which I later learned to be the fuel selector), asking a million questions. One of the regular members, a CFI who was apparently bemused by my interest and enthusiasm, declared that I’d earned a free introductory flight and walked me through a preflight inspection on N2870Q (RIP). Then off we went. I was surprised by the acceleration on takeoff, which seemed quite brisk for a plane so small, but before I had a chance to process that experience we were airborne. I looked down past the left wheel pant as the runway drifted away, and after a turn that seemed alarmingly steep, the controls were mine. We climbed into the lumpy air of a warm, sunny afternoon and leveled off. The CFI was curt and firm, but not hostile. “Hey, you’re not choking a chicken: Hold the yoke between your thumb and fingertips!” “Easy on the control inputs!” “Not THAT easy!” “Fingertips!” “More back pressure in the turn.” “Too much…more…get that sight picture…don’t let the nose drop…trim the pressure off…” An hour passed in mere moments, and then the runway somehow eased into view and floated toward us while the CFI kept nagging me about power and pitch and small corrections and so on. The big 17R kept getting larger and larger, and just as the numbers seemed to fill the windscreen bringing a sudden rush of panic, the CFI called “my airplane,” flared gracefully, and the oddly small McCrearys kissed the grooved concrete with an impossibly smooth touchdown. In the days that followed, that flight was all that I could think about. In fact, it was several years and certificates later before I remembered certain other pursuits in life that might be worthwhile, besides flying.
 
Last edited:
My first airplane ride was in a Lockheed tristar fleeing my country of origin as a refugee. But that doesn't really count as an airplane ride. Many years later, I took a discovery flight in a 172. The instructor was uninspiring, and actually kind of rude. So I gave up the idea of flying, but that didn't last too long. A year or two went by, and I went to a different flight school. The rest is history. I've been flying for over almost 30 years now, 25 of which as a CFI. It's the best thing I ever did.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Commercial before GA.

Commercial. El Al to Israel, summer 1974.

First GA. Summer about 1980 (I don’t have the date). Cutlass. Walking around at lunchtime on a beautiful spring day, I ran into a law book salesman I knew. "It's a beautiful day," he said. I'm thinking of going flying. Wanna come?" We flew around Western Mass and he let me handle the controls. I was in heaven.
Click to expand...
Update on the dates. Both I and the pilot I few with left the areas and we lost touch, until about a year or so ago. So I asked him. My dates were off.
My first light airplane ride was June 1, 1987. About two years later, my wife bought me three lessons for my birthday so I could get it out of my system.
 
Summer of 1945. Dad bought a J-5 Piper from a neighbor. Neighbor had bought a new 140 Cessna.
Dad only owned it for 3 years. We lived in. Homestead shack , no electricity or running water.
My mother decided if Dad could afford an airplane , he could afford a house in town with running water , flush toilets, lawn and a school only a block away.
Dad sold his J-5 to my mother’s brother who promptly wrecked it chasing coyotes.
Had the itch to own and fly an airplane ever since.
Fast forward 80 years and I now own a 172 and. Ready for practical exam. Just passed second Basic med physical.
As time flies, it’s “Time to Fly” ☺️
 
Southpaw said:
Summer of 1945. Dad bought a J-5 Piper from a neighbor. Neighbor had bought a new 140 Cessna.
Dad only owned it for 3 years. We lived in. Homestead shack , no electricity or running water.
My mother decided if Dad could afford an airplane , he could afford a house in town with running water , flush toilets, lawn and a school only a block away.
Dad sold his J-5 to my mother’s brother who promptly wrecked it chasing coyotes.
Had the itch to own and fly an airplane ever since.
Fast forward 80 years and I now own a 172 and. Ready for practical exam. Just passed second Basic med physical.
As time flies, it’s “Time to Fly” ☺️
Click to expand...

Winner.
 
First time I flew was age five, first week of July 1989, in a United DC-10. :eek2:

My son (almost 9) had his first flight on an airliner when he was young enough to be considered a lap infant, so he'll never remember it. But - his first GA flight also happened to be my first flight as a certificated pilot. Took him and my wife on a 30-minute sunset flight along the beach in a rented 172 about two hours after getting my temp cert. That was a few years ago now... I'm not sure if he'll remember it. I hope when he grows up, he does remember trips in the Arrow and now the Turbo Arrow to go skiing, hang out in the mountain cabin, play in the Bahamas, and some spur-of-the moment flights to go storm chasing (we are both weather nerds) and a trip to the line of totality to see an eclipse.

My daughter (7 months old) hasn't flown yet. I'll have to change that soon.
 
BOAC VC-10 LHR to JFK in 1966…started my love of flying…still have documentation from the airline they gave juniors for their first flight. Also the first time I wore a tie…
 
Airline before GA for me too. Airline was circa 1977, on a 727 I think (maybe a 737), domestic US and I think it had something to do with my Pennsylvania grandparents but that seems odd because my parents were very frugal and would always drive us to Pennsylvania. I'll have to ask them.

GA was 1985 in a C150, N48836, with my uncle out of MSN. He was a relatively new private pilot and of course showed me all the maneuvers. :rofl: I loved the flight, got a bit queasy on the ground afterwards, so I knew I belonged in the sky.
 
My first flight would have been about age 7, via commercial from EWR to Disney for a family vacation. That didn't have a memorable impact on me.

I got bitten by "the bug" in elementary school. I was assigned a "research report" probably in 4th or 5th grade, for which I opened volume 1 of the World Book Encyclopedia ("A"), and settled on "Aviation" as my topic. Dad agreed to take me to the nearest "small" airport, Linden (LDJ) across the bridge. I interviewed a CFI asking questions about learning to fly. I didn't take a ride that day.

Not long after I subscribed to Flying magazine from a Publisher's Clearing House mailer. A listing of local events included an EAA event with penny-a-pound rides. That was my first time in anything GenAv; a high wing, almost certainly a 172. I don't exactly remember where, but it might have been Lincoln Park (N07). Grandpa took me to that (he didn't seem happy to have taken the trip).

I had fascination and intermittent exposure to flying and GenAv since then. Three jobs later, around age 30, I finally took the plunge and learned to fly with a flying club out of Brookhaven (KHWV).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top