How old were you when you got started?

15. Best to get the basics while the brain is still plastic.
 
36 for me. It's definitely doable when you're older, but budget a little more time getting the skills in than a youngster would.
 
Took a couple lessons in my early 20s, but didn't have the finances. It took until I was 54 to have both the time AND money. Got my PPL a month shy of 55th birthday. Now I'm flying 3 times per week in my own plane, and loving every moment of it. My wife is slowly warming up to it, but my 22yr old daughter loves being flown all over the state.

Now, if I can just stay healthy enough to keep my medical.
 
Solo at 16, license at 17. Stopped at 22. Restarted at 62.
 
Was 29 and realized I was about to turn 30 and hadn't done something I'd always had in the back of my mind. Started lessons after Labor Day 1975, PPL Jan. '76, IR Jan. '79. CPL and CFI much later after I retired. The more I fly, the more I want to fly.
 
21 for me. Started on May 17 and finished two weeks ago tomorrow.
 
Started late August of this year, 22, got in about 7hrs of flight time, and got my full time job kicked in, so I may have to find a different instructor who's schedule doesn't fill up right away or schedule weeks in advance


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I was 47. Now getting ready to hit the 58 mark, I wish I would have started flying much earlier in life. I'm happy to be flying and taking advantage of retirement to enjoy as many new destinations as possible with my Bride.
 
Took 2 lessons at the age of 16. Took my next lessons at age 40. Got my ticket at age 42.
 
First Lesson at 14

Solo'd on 16th Birthday

PPL on 17th birthday

CPL when 19

Hope to own a Skywagon upon college graduation.
 
Ok started which time. I started when i was 15 then like an idiot i quit when it was cheap. I got the instructer for free and im thinking like 38.00/hr for the airplane wet. Well school and sports took over. Now im 46 and gonna start it again with a plan on either flying 121 or 135 or maybe even just be a full time instructer. I am determined this time to not fail or quit.
 
Shoot... Think I said 18 earlier, but upon further reflection it may have been 20.
Private at 21, CPL/IR 22, CFI around 24?? Can't remember ME, ATP and types.
 
discovery ride at 30, ticket at 31, been on 18 month hiatus and now getting back into it at 34.
 
Discovery flight was back in June when I was 34. I'm 35 now... guessing will be 36 before I wrap up the PPL. I think it's good that I waited until my mid-thirties. I love flying so much that I honestly don't know that I would have bothered doing anything else if I had discovered the thrill any earlier!
 
I was 24 yrs old, fresh out of college in 1995 when I started. I knew zero pilots and I had never been around airplanes other than big commercial jet airliners like everyone else. But I had always loved aerospace like any kid.

I just saw a small airplane while driving in West Texas one evening. I was keeping pace with it and figured anything that flies *that* slowly must be flyable by me. It turns out that was a Cessna 152 and it was the one I'd get my ppl in. I took 1 to 1.5 years to get my PPL, piecemeal as I had time and money.

Immediately after the PPL, I bought an older C172 (1966) with ugly paint but acceptable fundamentals at age 25 and owned it until I moved to Denver in 2003. I had no clue about airplane ownership going in, but I learned as I went and it was a good experience overall. Then I didn't fly much for a decade. I'd go find an instructor and do a BFR once in a while but I did zero PIC during that decade. I did stay around aviation by volunteering with Civil Air Patrol.

Then in 2012, age 40, I jumped back in by buying the TR182 I now own and love. I am still only about a 450-hour pilot with about 250 in the TR182.
 
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starting at 40 is no problem, go ahead and get to it. Way too many people put it off until their whole life is passed by.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
Discovery flight was back in June when I was 34. I'm 35 now... guessing will be 36 before I wrap up the PPL. I think it's good that I waited until my mid-thirties. I love flying so much that I honestly don't know that I would have bothered doing anything else if I had discovered the thrill any earlier!
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:yeahthat: I started at 34, now 39. Had I started earlier, I surely would have spent most of my time and money on planes, and wasted the rest.
 
The first CFI signature in my log book is from my son. I must have been 51 when I decided to get the license. Was able to get the PPL with about 50 hrs in the log book.
 
37 years old. I wish I hadn't put it off all those years, but the time and money really didn't allow for it till now.
 
Took a discovery flight 2 days after my 18th birthday, took the checkride when I was 19.
 
When I was 20 I taught an 83 year old how to fly.

First lesson at 13. Started training regularly at 16.

How old you are at the beginning only indicates how many years you have left to enjoy the ride. I don't think there is such a thing as too old unless you are dead, being dead would make it difficult.
 
see online handle "FlySince9" young kid taking rides and building R/C models// Civil Air Patrol Cadet in my teens... Flying lessons start at 16, solo at 17
 
I was 13 when I took my discovery flight. Wings Field in Bluebell PA.
 
19. Aviation had never crossed my mind, didn't know any pilots, but had the opportunity to sit right-seat in a Merlin (business jet). Talked the pilot's ear off asking questions about everything from systems to airspace to training, and finally he told me he was a CFI and could train me.
 
50

My grandpa designed, built, raced, repaired, and maintained airplanes for himself and others for pay. He took me flying maybe 6 times when I was between 8 - 10 yrs old. I loved hanging out with him when he was in the hanger working.

He died when I was 10 yrs old and I know I would have been flying myself within 5-6 yrs had he lived. I didn't sit in another small plane til my discovery flight last month when I was 50 yrs old. I've got 6 hrs flight training so far and will be 51 yrs old when I get my certificate.

It's been 40 yrs since he died and I've thought about him very often over the yrs but recently I've been thinking about him everyday and it's a huge source of pain in my heart.

I've heard it's never too late (learning to fly), I hope that's right.
 
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