It certainly wasn't my first ride in a helicopter - a Lynx from the back of a grey funnel line frigate. The pilot just managed to avoid putting a Mk1 Sh**ehawk through the windshield, air intakes and pitch link rods. Dent in the radome and blood and feathers everywhere.
What did it for me was being the lone passenger in a Dauphin coming home from offshore after 5 weeks. The pilot just dropped it off the edge of the helideck then put it on its side. Good job I was wearing a goon bag. Thats when I decided I wanted to sit in the front and not the back. I was twenty something.
The moment I was glad I had stuck with it was when I got the call to say I had been selected to fly SAR.