How did you get interested in flying?

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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When you were a kid, who/what sparked your interest in flying?

I will start off: I didn't know any pilots growing up but I loved to explore so I associated exploring to flying. I wasn't around when P-38's roamed the sky but they use to have these foam models you can get at the store you can put them together in a few mins and throw them around and they flew. Plus there were cool pilots back in the day like, Luke Skywaker, Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, Tom Cruise from Top gun!


I miss those days!!


What about you?
 
Heard loud noise, looked up.
 
When I was in early grade school, others wanted to be policemen, firemen, etc. I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. I had no idea what that meant but I knew it had to do with aircraft. (I mostly forgot about that a few years later excluding a ground aviation background in the military, and a few years later found me taking flight lessons.)
 
Captain Ted Dobrick was shot down twice in WWII, won several medals, and completed 105 combat missions in a P-47 (officially it was 99, but we know otherwise ;)) . Captain Dobrick gave me a ride in his 170 flying off his farm in the late 60,s. I met him at "Oshkosh" held in Rockford, IL in the late 60's. He was my uncle.

http://p47pilots.com/P47-Pilots.cfm?c=incP47BiographyHome.cfm&vm=BIO&pilotid=125&p=Ted R. Dobrick

I returned the favor of the flight when I got my PPL.

Uncle_Ted_Sting__Medium_.jpg


Captain Dobrick headed west a year ago. He was 90.
 
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I grew up in central Illinois. One of the local farmers owned a T6 and his farm was a rallying point for other warbird owners to congregate right before Oshkosh every summer. They would fly around town for a few days before heading for Wisconsin. I knew the word Oshkosh before I really knew what went on there, but I understood it involved the awesome planes and I was hooked.
 
My dad was an Air Force power plant mechanic (aircraft piston engines on big transports) in the early 1960s. I would walk the flight line with him on weekends even before I started grade school as he was checking on his troops.
 
I lived 1/2 mile north of the runway at Alva, Ok. Most nice days, I could sit in the front yard and watch the helicopters and landing aircraft. Really got my attention the day a Lear 24 came over the house, low and loud. Same year, parents got me toy aircraft for my birthday. SR71, Lear, Piper. I was done after that. I needed to fly.
 
In my blood. Only explanation.

Always gravitated toward anything that flew.
kites, toy planes, RC planes, eating my lunch at an airport watching them land for hours as a young man.

At 37 I still have a hard time giving up the window seat to my kids but I do. Until they fall asleep.
 
My dad got interested in flying in the early 70's, I was 8 when I went with my mom to pick him and his CFI up at FTY one summer evening, they had just flown in from Wichita in a brand new 182, N747JB. :D I think I was hooked right then. :yes: I used to fly with him every chance I got, I read his Flying magazines when he got done, he eventually got his PPL in 1979 and quit flying around 1980.:(
But, he kept the plane, so I started flying in college, 1984. :yes:
I also loved reading anything I could about WWII, especially the books about the airplanes and air battles.:D
 
I remember vacationing with my grandparents and my grandad had a bunch of airplane models hanging from the ceiling. He flew bombers in WWII and passed a good number of years ago, long before I ever REALLY got interested in aviation. I really wish I could talk with him now, he was somehow involved with the development of the SR-71 but that's the limit of my knowledge of that...
 
8 years old, parents took us to Disney World by air. Was so scared I wet my pants on the plane. Ever since...a constant effort to face fears I guess.
 
I grew up on and around military bases. There was always something flying nearby that I wished I was in. Added to that was my formative years were in the golden age of Gemini and Apollo. I have a Frank Borman autograph on my kitchen counter right now.

I built so many airplane models, both plastic and balsa.

What sealed the deal was my neighbor, an F15 pilot at Langley AFB, let me climb in his ride when I was in jr high.
 
I grew up around aviation because my dad was a pilot and I was always around airplanes. It never really hit me until my junior year of high school when I was thinking of possible careers. I took an intro flight and was hooked.
 
Airplanes, motorcycles, boats, never was a time those weren't my favorite things. Course I was born before US population's T-levels plummeted.
 
When I was a kid? Nothing. I wasn't interested at that age.

More recently, I wrote a flight planner and had to work out all the performance physics for s 747.
 
When I was little model corsairs and F4's....could not build and hang enough of them.

Once they created flight simulator for the Commodore...... Boy my mother thought I was messed up then. All I did was sit in my room and fly places. In retrospect, if I had cut down the hours on the sim she probably would have helped me learn to fly but figured I would turn into more of freak. Not sure how many 1,000's of hours i put on that sim.

Solved that dream at 40. Good news is even after hangin up the sim 25 years ago, the graphics where so bad back then when I got to VOR tracking and dead reckoning I had no issues.
 
My father and a friend of his were model airplane fanatics from back in the 50s. When I was old enough, they too my younger brother and I to the flying field each weekend to watch them tinker with and sometimes fly early RC planes (escapements, reeds, etc). Lots of range checks, engine problems and occasionally a flight that didn't end in a wreck.

When proportional radios became available, they taught us to fly and we became the youngest members of the RC club. That experience made both of us life long flying fanatics.

My Dad's friend was an up and coming politician. An FBO, aware of his interest in aviation, offered him flying lessons, gratis. He declined but suggested giving those lessons to me. I wasn't driving yet but took the bus to the airport until I got a learners permit. I managed to solo and get 20 hours of time in before college. I was very lucky and the die was cast.
 
My dad was a Flight Surgeon for the AAF in the S. Pacific during WW2. He really liked the PBY Catalinas when picking up downed aviators. Later he owned a Luscombe Silvaire.

My uncle flew C-46 and C-47 in China during that war. I have the blood chit that was sewn on his leather jacket. It refers to the USA as "the beautiful land".

For myself, I have been always impressed with machinery. Especially machinery that flys. Obtained my PPL the day before I got my drivers license.
 
I was in the service, a corporal serving among the few remaining cavalry. I hated every minute of it. One day I saw a sign for a “flying sergeant” programme. I didn’t know the first thing about aeroplanes but I liked the idea of being a sergeant, better yet a sergeant who didn’t have to clean up after the horses.
 
Dad kept stuffing me in the back seat of his Cessna when I was a kid.

Decided I wanted to sit up front.
 
The first time I heard the purr of those big radials on a B-36 high overhead, but didn't get actively involved for another 25 years. DANG! Those sure sounded sweet to my young ears.
 
I didn't have any direct access to flying, but grew up watching planes on approach to 23 at KLBE. Then I got married and bought a house that was on a 1.5 mile final to 23. I looked into flying a couple times when I was younger, but it just wasn't financially possible. I finally decided at age 44 that I couldn't take it with me, so I started flying.
 
My dad. Ex RCAF pilot. I was 11, my first flight was in a Cherokee 140.
 
Nature and nurture.

Dad was a pilot. Grew up near an airport. Inherited my older brother's bedroom when I outgrew the crib, and he left behind a bookcase full of aviation and space books, and some half-finished airplane models.

Now I work for NASA and fly a plane.
 
I was driving by our local airport and thought it would be fun to fly. I turned into the FBO and ask about what it takes to learn to fly. I had a quick conversation with an instructor and 10 min. later we were in the plane. I have been flying ever since.
 
It must be in my blood.

When I was 8 years old I would take a small Electric motor and install a popsicle stick and mount in on the shaft. Running the electric motor from a DD battery and it was my own make shift helicopter. When I was a little old my parents bought me a battery operated airplane that I could go around and a round with it on a 10ft cord. Kind of like control line flying but with an electric motor. When I reached 12 years old Dad taught me control line flying with glow 2 stroke motors that screamed full throttle. When I was 16 Dad Taught me Radio Control flying. This was in the early 80's and I still fly RC today. In 1998 I decided to take flying lessons and completed a year later. My house was in the traffic pattern at KVGT Las Vegas and I decided enough with watching the airplanes and wishing I was up there. Around 2003 decided to stop flying for a while because of life events. Moving, New Job and a new Baby. I wished I never stopped but things happen. Now I'm here today 8.5 hrs into a flight review after stopped flying for 10 + years and reliving the dream even thought its been frustrating.

I have 11 yr son that has the same flying bug. He is always looking towards the sky and can point out an airplane miles away and say "Look Dad" He hasn't flown GA with me yet because I have to get current. He loves WW2 airplanes and came name almost most of the WW2 airplane models.

My parents discouraged me from becoming a Professional pilot when I was in High School. The said "lessons cost to much" so they talked me into joining the Army. I have a great IT career but wonder what my life would be like as a professional pilot. No Regrets though!

When thanks for reading my story.
 
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When I was about four or five whenever I heard a plane overhead I would look up and wonder why it was so small and whether it hurt the people inside when it shrunk down to that size. I found the concept to be scary and decided to never get on a plane. I later learned that they don't shrink down but actually fly high and I found that interesting.
 
When I was a kid I saw a picture of a man in a T-6 Texan in my grandfather's office. I asked him about it and that is when I found out he was a fighter pilot in his 30's. I thought wow I want to do that! As I got older I told my parents, but they were 100% against me flying. They wouldn't let me near a plane. Later I graduated college, got a good paying job, moved out and went straight to the airport to start training :)
 
You mean people grow up in an industry other than aviation?!

Mom had me strapped in the right seat of a Navajo and 310 at 3 months. I'd go up with her on check flights for other pilots (she was chief pilot) and sit in the back while they did single engine work. Eventually I figured it was my turn.
 
My Dad was a tool and die maker for Fairchild Hiller and Republic Aviation in NY in the 1960's so I was around it in that sense but I don't recall wanting to fly until later. I was in Florida and looking at a catalog for the local community college and saw they had an aviation program. This was around 1975. I am kinda impulsive so I signed up and continued through getting PPL in 1976. Wish I had stuck with through the years but that is moot. Making up for lost time now as best I can.
 
I have had a great interest in aircraft as long as I can remember. I wasn't around GA at all, but I loved military aircract, especially war birds, since I started getting into WWII history at a young age. The only small GA plane I ever rode in was a Cherokee that belonged to my great uncle. He gave me about a thirty minute ride when I was 12 or so. Honestly, I always felt like one had to be rich or in the military to be able to fly, so I was just satisfied with learning about airplanes, watching documantaries, building models, etc., because I just figured I'd never be able to afford to fly. Finally, when I reached my mid twenties and had a good career going, I revisited the idea of flying. Called up the FBO and found out that it was within my means to get a liscense, so I did it. Four years later, I'm in the process of buying my own Cessna 175.
 
my grandfather (who raised me) built R/C planes, and went to airshows. There's a picture of me at about 3, at KCRQ sitting up against the wheel of a p-40. It was always our saturday thing to go to the airport and airplane watch, or out to MCAS Camp Pendleton to fly the R/C planes (he was a member of the R/C club on base). He designed a few award winners in the local model airplane club. I knew about dihedral and camber and all of that by the time i was 10. By the time i got my certificate, it was too late, he was too big, and too far gone mentally to get in the plane with me. I miss those days
 
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Norman said:
The first time I heard the purr of those big radials on a B-36 high overhead, but didn't get actively involved for another 25 years. DANG! Those sure sounded sweet to my young ears.
Click to expand...

Speaking of a waste of money! The B36 was a poster child for that. Heard it coming miles away, huge corncob radials that liked to catch fire all the time, ( many fatal accidents) very expensive to buy and maintain. So heavy it could only land at certain airfields.
 
I think my first word was "aiwpwane!". My dad was a private pilot but lost his medical (diabetes) before I was born. One of my earliest memories, at about age three, is sitting in the cockpit of his friend's172 at KIPT (Williamsport, PA) making airplane noises and yanking the yoke back and forth. The plane was white with purple trim. I still have a copy of the pilot's handbook for a 172A that fell into my hands when I was maybe four. There are underlines highlighting what must have been important passages to my developing mind that couldn't quite read yet, and a drawing of the ramper marshaling an Allegheny CV-580 while the baggage was loaded.

Those Convair turboprops are another early memory, as my dad was a frequent business traveller. He used to take me upstairs from the terminal to the Williamsport FSS where the forecaster showed me the teletype, the maps and the observation equipment.

Given all that, it's just ridiculous that I waited until I was 34 to become a pilot.
 
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