What or who was your inspiration to fly?

[SCCutler]

Gotta say that I think it's great that you and others are involved in these kinds of things.

One of the reasons I like Dave.

 

[kmead]

I was born into a Kansas aviation family. My grandfather owned airplanes during the depression (OX-5 travelaire). My father flew for a living doing coorporate, charter, and flight instruction. Aircraft maintenance was his second love. He taught so many people to fly after WWII including me and my brother in the 70s. As I finalize the purchase of my grandfathers old 1953 Twin Bonanza I cant wait to be the third generation to fly the same aircraft. After my fathers death we had a Saberliner carved into his headstone (his favorite aircraft to fly).

Regards, Kevin

 

[gkainz]

We used to visit grandparents in Northern Minnesota when I was a kid. There was this old codger that my parents knew that had some sort of float plane tied up to the dock on Lake Superior down near the Coast Guard station, but it was always in pieces when we visited. I don't recall what it was, but I still remember thinking, even though only 8-9 years old at the time, "That is the coolest thing I've ever seen - an airplane on floats!"

We stayed at a cabin near an airport/seaplane port at the head of the lake. I watched planes take off and land there every chance I could. Boats were cool, but float planes where awesome!

While growing up, my neighbor flew a Baron for the Forest Service as spotter/lead for slurry bombers. He used to take me out to the airport (then a grass strip with rehab'ed sheep pen for a T-hanger) and let me crawl around in it, sit at the controls and imagine flying. I don't know if it was his or the Forest Service, but I only got one ride in that plane. I must have been in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time. He used to buzz the house to alert his wife to come pick him up from the airport. I can still remember hearing him coming before I could see the plane.

In college, the Navy recruiter called one day. "Still interested in flying?" he asked. I told him "If I can fly and learn electronics, I'm in." And so it was. NAS Memphis flying club held an open house one day and I won a raffle for 1 hour of dual time in a C-150. I seem to recall $12/hr wet for the plane and $6/hr for the instructor was as hard to do on an E-3's pay as $100+/hr wet for a plane today seems to be, but I managed to solo before transferring to NAS Miramar.

A few months later I'm training as an Avionics Tech/Air Intercept Controller for the E-2 Hawkeye and getting all the flight time I could handle (albeit in the dark back end of the Hummer). Time demands of school, deployments, college, family, starting a business, etc, ended up shelving GA flying for a number of years ...

Fast forward 20+ years when my wife introduced me to a friend and her husband who own a C-310. After a few conversations with them, I realized how much I missed flying, and blew the dust off the books and finished up the ticket.

I'm firming up conversations with a friend of mine, a retired Navy E-2/C-2 pilot, to get our seaplane rating together this summer ... that itch is still strong. Fingers crossed!

 

[JasonCT]

Greg that is a great story!
I hope you two do get that rating it sounds like fun!

 

[KennyFlys]

In college, the Navy recruiter called one day. "Still interested in flying?" he asked. I told him "If I can fly and learn electronics, I'm in." And so it was. NAS Memphis flying club held an open house one day and I won a raffle for 1 hour of dual time in a C-150. I seem to recall $12/hr wet for the plane and $6/hr for the instructor was as hard to do on an E-3's pay as $100+/hr wet for a plane today seems to be, but I managed to solo before transferring to NAS Miramar.

A few months later I'm training as an Avionics Tech/Air Intercept Controller for the E-2 Hawkeye and getting all the flight time I could handle (albeit in the dark back end of the Hummer). Time demands of school, deployments, college, family, starting a business, etc, ended up shelving GA flying for a number of years ...

I didn't know you were an AT. I thought ya were a "zero!"

Nor, did I know Millington had a flying club, either. I'd probably been there hanging out. I wonder what's going on with that old base site now.

 

[Ted]

My story's a little different. If you'd asked me even one year ago if I would become a pilot, I would've said "No way." Cars were always my thing, been that way since I was a little kid. On flying commercial the take-off was nice (as long as I got pushed into my seat) but that was about it. Then back in 2001 I looked out the window of my English class in Brooklyn and saw just what harm one can do with an aircraft. For the next 3 years, I couldn't even hear an airplane overhead without getting scared, forget about flying in one or being a pilot. It took me almost 3 years before I got on any plane again for any reason. That reason ended up being that I started dating a girl who lived 1500 miles away (to whom I am now engaged).

In May 2006 I graduated college and took a job at a company where I had a good number of pilot coworkers. One took me up for a flight in December 2006, and did a great job of making it as confusing and unappealing of an experience as possible. Too much to learn, too much going on at once. No way, I'm not interested.

My friends worked on me a bit more. In late August/early September, Missa and another friend from work were going on a flight to drop the other friend off, and asked if I wanted to tag along. I figured why not, by that point I had a better understanding of airplanes and what needed to be done. For the flight back, Missa let me take the controls some. It made sense - and I was getting straight and level flight down pretty well, even leaning the thing out for cruise. I got to do some turns and such and suddenly flying went from being some impossible task to something very doable, and furthermore something that I wanted to do.

Within a few days I had my medical. September 8th, 2007 was my first lesson (roughly a week from that first flight). November 1st (at 10.7 hours) I soloed. Now I have something around 25 hours (I'm one entry away from finishing up page 3 in my log book), and am working my way towards getting my PPL. This weekend I did two cross countries (not solo) and a bunch of hours of soloing, totaling 8.3 hours. I can hop in the plane and go fly solo and it just seems natural and fun. It all comes easily to me, and what was originally an impossible task has now turned into goals of getting my PPL, IFR, MUL, COM, and CFI.

 

[gkainz]

I didn't know you were an AT. I thought ya were a "zero!"

Nah, I worked for a living Apologies to the "O"s out there, but after a 2 hr brief, preflight and startup, 4 hour double cycle flight and recovery, instead of "debrief in the forward officer's mess" I still had hours in the avionics shop fixing the bird. Yeah, I know - my choice. However, I will say that the officers I flew with were, for the most part, solid upstanding guys. They were also my inspiration to either get a commission or get out. As an E-5, I was sitting in the seat next to an O-5 and an O-2 or -3, doing exactly the same job plus more, for considerably less pay. The Navy later fixed that inequity - they eliminated the enlisted Flight Tech position in the E-2.

I looked at a commissioning program available at the time, AOCS, but there was that one little clause that sent shivers down my spine "upon completion, assignment based on the need and good of the Navy" ... I could just imagine myself going back to sea as a arresting gear officer, and the closest I could get to my beloved Hawkeye was waving as it went by. So, I chose "thanks for the memories, but I'm outta here."

Nor, did I know Millington had a flying club, either. I'd probably been there hanging out. I wonder what's going on with that old base site now.

I was there in '77 and the club had a few C-150s, I think a few C-172s and I used to sit in one of the two SNJ-6s they had on the line, just itching to qualify (and afford) an hour in one of them. I'm not sure what's going on at Millington. Google earth still shows the airfield ...

 

[imQ]

I grew up off 1/2 mile from the north end of the airport, Alva OK. What every one else thought of as noise, I thought of as facinating. In grade school I got a ten minute ride in a family friends Bo, and off I went. My parents thought I was nuts, because I would ride my bike to the airport every chance I got just to hang out, and explore. In school, I read every thing flying I could find. Was given a ride in a 172 by the Air Force ROTC instructor. That was enough to set the hook. I got a few hours instruction here and there as I could afford it. Six years after I started, I traded a Chevy Chevette to a friend for 20 hours in his 150. Eight hours flying later I soloed I burned up 15 of the hours in the 150 before I moved to Hawaii. It took ten years to get it, but I got it.