What got you started flying ?

[mstram]

I'm 47, started flying 3 years ago, got my ppl in 6 months.

What got me interested was actually playing with MSFS. I can't remember where my interest in MSFS started though ! :)

Man, I wish I had started flying when I was a kid !
One of the main reasons that I didn't, was that I was almost completely unaware that g.a. even existed !

I was born and raised in Etobicoke, Ont.
Etobicoke is pretty well smack dab right in the middle of the CYYZ control zone, maybe 1-2 miles away from the center.

You will therefore almost *never* see a small G.A. plane fly in that area. Maybe the extremely rare "traffic reporter" plane.

I don't remember ever seeing a light g.a. plane when I was a kid.

I remember when I was in either high school or grade school, thinking that it would be neat to be a pilot.

Since the only planes I ever saw were airliners, I didn't realize that small g.a. planes even existed ! Heck if you never see something how do you know it even exists?

It just seemed like too big a jump to become an airline pilot. True, I never really investigated what the steps were toward that career, or even towards a ppl.

Had I grown up beside a small g.a. airport ... I wonder :)

Mike

[flyingwelshman]

For the record,

Started flying with the cadets at school (a great start to life, thoughly recoomened it).

Went on to do a flying scholarship (1997 Glenrothes), and then completed my licence at East Midlands airport.

Spent a little time on the UWAS, before putting it all on hold for a couple of years, and am just getting back into it.

Ultimatly - what started it was the oppurtunity of half a day away from school to do Air Expriance flight - the rest, as they say, is history.

FW :O

[Monocock]

When I was 14 my father was learning to fly and I went up with him during one of his lessons (AA5).

Decided then and there that I had to learn and within 7 weeks of my 17th birthday I had my licence. It was at that point that I decided I had better learn to drive too!

I've never aspired to being a commercial pilot, my flying will always remain my "escape" and I have never come back from a flight yet without that feeling of total contentment.

[WestWind1950]

hi mstram / Mike,

I was married to an airline pilot but I didn't know either that it was possible to learn to fly small planes just as a hobby! HE never told me :* and women weren't "welcome" in the big cock(ahem)pits yet!! Then, around 1983, I went with friends to an airshow and met some flying club members there, found out that learning to fly was actually possible, so I joined up!! :ok: Soon got addicted to it.... and got rid of that airline idiot in the mean time :p

WestWind1950

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

At age 7, I sat behind the pilot in a pleasure-flight Auster. When he moved the stick, the whole world tilted over.

"I'd love to do that one day", I thoght. "Move a stick and tilt the world".

SSD

[j0_ey]

I always went to Airshows and I loved flying, but a TV program I watched one day made me think about it seriously... I was hooked! :8

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I'd always vaguely wanted to fly, but "knew" I couldn't afford it.

Then one day someone organised some trial lessons for a gang of mates, and I went along. "How much does it cost to learn to fly then", I asked, and on discovering that I had more than that sitting around in the bank doing nothing, I started learning within a couple of weeks.

So that was basically down to a fixed mind set (I forget the "correct" term, it's in the HF book) that I knew I couldn't afford it, because I couldn't when I was 20, and had failed to re-check this assumption during the following 15 years.

[Pink_aviator]

Thats a can of worms I'll keep is short in true P-A style
Being widowed young, (2 years ago) and left with 2 young children to bring up ,I emerged from mourning ,feeling what am i left here to do ,apart from nurture my little boys. Is this it for me now?
(Having taken so long and had many broken hearts to get mr near perfect, this had to be my lot .)

I needed to stop looking out to sea, thinking of my lost hero, lost love and find something to fill my hours ,my days my life.
Having no one to adore me or feel proud of me i needed to feel proud of myself, so I thought of the hardest thing in the whole wide world that I wouldn't be able to do, and flying was it.

I can't actually believe that I am mastering it
Me Who has spent my life running off when the going gets tough.

If I conquer my dislike of solo 's ( I've only 3 hours solo so far, which is a story in itself ,but on another thread) , then my reasons are (although not probably the correct conventional ones)
are working.

Flying has taken over day dreaming(well nearly ) it is certinally filling my days and my nights with the books.
And a part from a hic up writing this is helping avoiding thinking back.

PINK-AVIATOR

[BeauMan]

Good on you, Pink Aviator. Stick at it, and I bet your kids will be as proud as punch to have a flying Mum. :ok:

All the best.

[willbav8r]

Always wanted to. Bought a copy of Flight Int'l. Big ad for sponsorship (Flying Start). Obviously a wind up, but the juices were flowing. Sold the flat, pocketed some cash and moved back to the US. Got some work, and got me PPL. Post 9/11 and no reason to make a mad dash for a flying job, so taking it easy and enjoying my few hours in the air each week. But, one day.....I'll have my 3 stripes and Jet A fumes.........

PA, you have my admiration.

[mstram]

P.A.

That's great !

Gee, I loved finally going solo !

If you're uneasy about solo, discuss it with your instructor, and work on the areas that are concerning you.

Is there a particular thing that you lack confidence in, ... or just everything <g> ?

I.e., if your nervous about stalls /spins, then work on that with your instructor. Get to know your emergency procedures *cold*. Are you comfortable with navigation / navaids (VOR, ADF, GPS) ?
RT? Pick up a "scanner", and listen in on RT, to get used to hearing how controllers / pilots converse.

I'm a big believer in using flight sims i.e MicroSoft FS, to keep proficient. Do you have a copy? You can practice your x-ctry navigating, landings, flying at night, etc.

If you really get into it, you can get programs to create your own scenery, so you can add landmarks etc.

Happy flying !

Mike

Interesting information from all of you.

I guess the point I was trying to make, was I wonder how the presence / absence of g.a. aircraft influences people to get interested in flying.

I bet many people in Toronto, are unaware of g.a. for the reasons I gave

Probably happens in other large cities, though maybe not as much recently after 9/11.

Mike

[MikeeB]

A *trial* flight in a Cap 10B

Okay, so I felt ill after about 25 minutes; seem to remember my eye sight going grey at one point as well, but I was hooked after that :)

When I started lessons, one instructor asked the same kind of question, and on my reply said, "Im supprised that didn't put you off"

[ratsarrse]

After reading mstram's account, I feel quite stupid! I did grow up in the vicinity of GA. Where I lived, there were all the planes flying in and out of Cranfield, together with the weird and wonderful on test at Thurleigh. Even after two Air Experience flights in the Chipmunk, it still didn't occur to me that it was something I could do! Well, you know what they say about assumption, and I assumed that to fly you had to be rich, an airline pilot, or in the military. It was flightsim that made me see the light - the message in the excellent manual (lessons with Rod Machado, tie-in with King Schools) that came with FS2000 was basically, "If you enjoy flight sim, why not get down to your local airport and have some real lessons?" Good work, Microsoft!

[bsfish2003]

Started flying as ATC cadet,then progressed to gliding.No flying for years and years (and years).Then, two years ago,made redundant from BAe.Nice package,so told wife I was going to learn to fly.Now have PPL (but applying for NPPL,cos at my age it's cheaper!) and haven't enjoyed myself so much for years.

[rotorboater]

I was in Las Vegas and saw an ad for flights to the Grand Canyon, so I decided to save some money by staying out of the casinos for a day and went to the airfield, they weighed all the passengers and decided that I had to sit in the front with the driver (the other 5 passagers just about counterballanced my weight!).
Well, I went out and sat in this little plane, I was more used to jumbos and the like and thought one of those embrayer things were small, then we took off and the thing rocked all over the place and I was convinced it would crash at any moment, the pilot (a pretty girl) flew us low over the desert and I thought what is all the big deal about flying and just then we flew over the rim and down into the canyon, WOW what a view and I have been hooked ever since!
The moral of course is stay in the casino, at least you have a chance of getting your money back!:O

[Flyin'Dutch']

OK beat this!

My mum and dad were both gliding pilots and my mother had to stop as she was expecting me.

So have to thank them for not being members of the fishing, golf or football club.

But also appreciate that it was no particular effort for me to get going. Was sort of the right thing to do (no parental pressure at all) Just always liked it. Bro' had same upbringing but he does not fly. (OK recently bought himself a para motor)

FD

[RichyRich]

A mate of mine took me up for a flip in his microlight. Didn't enjoy it, as he didn't bother telling me that he was about to do a turn (what felt like 90 degrees, but was probably a sedate 20).

A couple of years later visited my brother in Botswana, and he had arranged some nights in a camp - you fly there and back: fly in was ok as first thing in the morning, but the afternoon flight back was turbulent to the point that I felt quite green, despite being in the right hand seat. I decided that it might be a bit like driving versus being driven: one I don't feel a thing, the other I'm a nervous wreck and can also feel the effects of motion sickness.

So far, I've been right. Haven't felt sick at all, in 45 hours odd, some smooth air, some bumpy. The only thing I still don't really like is stall practise (but I blame a previous instructor who took lesson time as his play time).

RR

[In Altissimus]

I had to think about this one - then I realised that, post 9/11, people won't get started for the same reason as me :(

I'm pretty sure that I got the bug after repeated cockpit visits on Dan(D)Air flights to Spanish holiday destinations as a kiddie. I vaguely remember wondering how fiddling with all those dials and switches got us from A to B... I definitely remember fighting with my brother to get the aisle seat so I could see the flight deck (which ISTR you could at some phases of flight in the 70's).

I didn't think any more about it until I did a primitive 'Career Chooser' survey in the sixth form (punched cards and all) - airline pilot came out top, followed by computer programmer. As I was wearing glasses by then (and I believed pilots didn't wear glasses) I didn't give the flying a second (conscious) thought.

Mid-twenties I said to myself I would get a private licence before my 30th, but I got involved in that Internet stuff instead:hmm:

Mid-thirties (OK - mid-to-late-thirties) I thought; I really am going to have a go at this before the big Four Oh.

And I did:ok:

[mstram]

In Altissimus

> airline pilot came out top, followed by computer programmer.

Need to be a computer programmer these days to fly the big jets <g>.

Richy

What type are you flying ?

>The only thing I still don't really like is stall practise (but I blame a previous instructor who took lesson time as his play time).

I was terrified of stalls when working on my ppl. Especially when the wing would drop in a 172.

After taking a couple of hours of aerobatics, stalls and spins became much more comfortable ! (That was in a Citabria).

After doing spin training in a 172, I found out how *hard* it is for a 172 to actually spin. That made the "wing drop" even less scary.

Go up with an experienced instructor, and do all kinds of stalls. Fly the plane as slow as possible, to learn the characteristics of it, so that you will have no "surprises". When you know how the plane will react, it removes the mystery/anxiety, fear of the unknown.


Mike