What got you flying?

[kevmusic]

Doubtless been done to death at odd times during PPRuNe's history but I haven't seen it before so here goes!

For me there's always been a kind of misty, romantic heroism attached to flying; fomented, no doubt, by Biggles, Airfix models and episodes of 'Moonstrike' during my 60s childhood. Then, when I actually did it..........WOW!!!!

What got you into it?

[rusty sparrow]

Reading Reach for the Sky and countless Biggles books was my hook. Great to finally fly an Auster a few years ago!

[Blues&twos]

Spending my entire childhood enviously watching aircraft fly over my house from Shoreham airport. Then many years later working with a bloke who's a flying instructor....

[Oldpilot55]

A wonderful TV 30 minutes about a girl flying to a meeting somewhere in England in a Jodel, 29 March 1981, compounded with a stroppy wife who temporarily left me, plus a 30 year love for things flying. A school teacher who ran a spotter's class (thank you Willie Ross) and took the spotters gliding in 1967. Jumping Jack Flash at Withybush!

[igarratt]

mine was being taken by dad to manchester airport, or should i say ringway every weekend in the 70's and 80's as a kid, somehow the attraction to collecting numbers on planes wore off lol

I do believe as I've often heard say it's just in you or it isn't ! being on the ground is so over rated :ok:

[L'aviateur]

I think a major influence for me was spending weekends with my parents sat around the now non-existant 'Doncaster Aero Club' which has been turned into a lake. I think the first time I went up from there I was 4 years old in a very shabby Cessna 150. As I grew older I joined the air cadets, and flew with them fairly regularly out of RAF Church Fenton.

Thankfully I have an understanding girlfriend who doesn't mind falling asleep in the plane while I take her to grass fields in the middle of nowhere to look at more planes.

[172 driver]

I used to be terrified of flying so did a 'Fear of Flying' course (the Aviatours/BA one). After travelling on large aircraft, I decided to prove a point to myself by learning to fly. Never looked back...

[Whirlygig]

I didn't have any particular passion for flying until I was given the opportunity of a jumpseat flight in the back of a Bolkow105. Couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face and just knew I had to do it. :ok:

Cheers

Whirls

[LH2]

Drugs, lots of them :}

Slightly more serious answer: skydiving. It got me wondering what it must be like to stay on the plane for a change.

[IFMU]

My Father got me flying. We spent a lot of time building and flying R/C. He was a pilot but became inactive when I was about 10. The seed had been planted however. Once I was out of school and financially stable I went after the first rating. My Dad was my first passenger, both in the PA12 and later in the Enstrom.

-- IFMU

[Studefather]

Biggles, The Lion, those A5 sized Commando comic books, RAF Manby with Provosts (piston and jet) and Argosys(?). Absolute cruncher - a trip in an Auster from Cleethorpes beach aged 9-ish.

[Lightning6]

I've always been interesting in aircraft, but when I was asked by a friend of mine, whose car was off the road, to take him to Biggin Hill for his flying lesson, I said "Why not". I watched him circuit bashing and thought, mmmm, I then made a decision, I want some of that. I then made a booking for a trial lesson....The rest is history!!!

Instructor was the great Harry Knight, god rest his soul.

[Mad Girl]

I didn't spend my childhood wanting to fly - It never even occurred to me. My partner bought me an aero's trial lesson for my birthday a few years ago - god knows why!

30 minutes with a very calm and reassuring instructor, who laughed through most of it, didn't quite make me want to take the controls (I was a bit scared & bewildered to be honest!) - but something happened........ I got annoyed at myself for not taking the opportunity to try to roll and loop an aeroplane when the guy was prepared to teach me how - so I went back......... another THREE times.. :O

I had absolutely NO interest in doing my PPL.

I had a different instructor for one of the sessions, who said I should at least learn the use of controls as it would make the aero's easier to explain. I got put into a PA28 for 1/2 an hour with the original instructor, did a bit of S&L and a few turns, and was talked (& assisted with power & flaps) through my first landing..... :ooh:. Scared the hell out of me!

Unfortunately..... I seem to enjoy a challenge.... that was that.... Hooked!

[bjornhall]

Documented aviation interest since the age of 6 months... Was always only a matter of when and how I was going to fly! As cliché as it sounds, aviation has always been in my blood.

Occured to me one day that maybe it would be cool to go do a trial lesson, with no intention of continuing to the PPL, just for fun... Sounds familiar? :E

Needless to say, no turning back after that flight! :) Started ground school three weeks later.

[IO540]

After my divorce, I was on a date with some gurl (can't remember which website I found her on but I do remember she turned to be a certified bunny boiler) and seeing some plane in the sky I mentioned in passing that I might want to learn to fly, but haven't done so because I had no use for it. She replied "why don't you stop talking about it and just do it!!!". So I did it.

[BackPacker]

"A plane is born" on Discovery. Learned to fly, never got around to building my own plane (yet).

[A and C]

It was living very near to RAF Northolt and being distracted from boring lessons at school by the comings and goings of the classic piston engine airliners like the DC-3,4,6, Lockheed Constellation & Convairs.

The most awaited was the regular visits of the Indian Air Force Constellation, it would stay for about tie days and then the ground engineers would spend about two days preparing the aircraft for the return trip.

Nothing can match the sight, sound and smoke of a big radial that is reluctant to start.

I was too late to fly the big pistons but I did get to fly Lockheed's next offering the Electra.

[S-Works]

My grandfather. A wartime pilot who stayed in the RAF for another 15 years after the war. He was the reason I joined the RAF and was an Inspiration to me my whole life. He sadly passed away in January leaving me all of his RAF Memorabilia including medals that i never knew he had won. I shall treasure his log books.

[Molesworth 1]

As a child I lived in West Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia where my parents were missionaries. To get to boarding school in Malaya (now West Malaysia) I would fly by DC3 to Jakarta and then by turbo-prop (later by jet) to Singapore.

During one of the flights from Jakarta to Pontianak I was invited into the cockpit of the DC3 and I was wonder-struck by the feeling of space, the freedom, the sea and the islands, and the green jungle.

For years I wanted to be a pilot but dropped it later as it didn't seem feasible.

A few years ago my girlfriend gave me a trial flight a Biggin Hill for my birthday. I really wasn't that interested at first but I started taking lessons, quickly getting frustrated with the way things were done at Elstree and moved on to Fairoaks where I had one instructor throughout and it was great!

I can remember once on a student solo nav near the South Downs when it dawned on me that this was what flying was about - the tremendous freedom. Previously I thought of flying as going from A to B in a straight line. I wasn't absolutely sure of my position and I circled over the town below me. Did it matter? No - of course not. There was the Arundel river meandering it's way to the sea. I could fly wherever I liked (that was legal)! Beautiful!

The dream I had had when I was six years old had been fulfilled.

[ExSp33db1rd]

The Queen. Without the option. Brown Manilla envelope dropped through the door.

[stickandrudderman]

Dad was a steward on BOAC/BA.
I got jump seat rides from an early age in 707's VC10's early 747s, tristars, trident, 737 etc.
Dad ended up as a CSO on Concorde and I was once sitting in the departure lounge waiting to board Concorde (in 1978!) when the flight was cancelled.:ugh::ugh:
I never did get to fly on her, though I did have many visits to her on the ground.
I applied to BA for engineering apprenticeship when I was 16, but wasn't accepted.
Ended up fixing cars for a living and made enough money to go sailing and car racing, having forgotten about flying.
Suddenly, the big 40 approached and I realised that I still hadn't got my pilot's licence, a situation which I rectified in 5 months!
I remember the first X/C solo: the aeroplane to myself, everything going smoothly, no radio traffic and nothing but the gentle hiss of static in the headphones brought me right back to my childhood. It was cacoon-like and I never felt more at home.
Sadly too late for me to persue a career in it now!

[kevmusic]

Some great stories hidden around here. Expand, please!

Bose, I remember you saying somewhere that you sometimes flew with your ex-RAF grandfather - I'm very sorry to hear of his passing; but I would also be very proud of such a collection of personal aviation memorabilia.

[PompeyPaul]

I wanted to join the RAF as a kid but hippy father didn't believe in kids in uniform, or the armed forces really. Was directed away from a military career but the desire to fly never went and as soon as I was earning enough dosh I did my PPL.

[pulse1]

It's interesting that this topic should come up just now. As a child I used to spend hours looking through a book called "Britain's Wonderful Airforce", a comprehensive description of the 1942ish RAF and including a stories of flying training and fighting.

Last week I was given a copy of this book by a neighbour and all the memories came flooding back. This brilliant book and the passion of my closest school friend, who sucked me along in his wake, were the main influences which gave me the dream of flying an aeroplane.

A lack of guts and a discouraging father stopped me following my friend into the services. Actually he only joined the Navy when his failure to work hard stopped him becoming a vet like his dad. Years later he gave me my only jet flight in a JP5.

I took up gliding when I could afford it and the PPL followed when I found a wonderful opportunity to learn cheaply. My PPL cost me £60 in 1967. (It cost more like £2500 to revalidate it after a 20 year break).

[KandiFloss]

[quote]IO540 (can't remember which website I found her on but I do remember she turned to be a certified bunny boiler) [quote]

IO540 ... that's SOO funny! PS. I looked at your website ... brilliant!

Anyway - sorry to waffle folks.

When I was around 8 years old my mum took me to East Midlands and pretended that we were just going to 'look at the aeroplanes'. She had actually booked a surprise holiday. What was so special was the fact that on the aircraft (Britania 737) she brought me a 'flying log book' which had all the info about the aeroplane. Later in the flight I was allowed to go and see the pilots, and the Captain signed the log book for me.

Fast forward 15 years ... a friend and I were flying from East Mids again. I asked the Air Hostess if I could go up to the flight deck, which she sorted out for me. When I got there there was a female FO and she was really inspiring.

The following year a group of us were flying back from Corfu and I asked if I could go and see the flight deck (pre 9/11) and so I was taken up. Pablo Mason was the Captain and he was lovely and again really inspiring. I was allowed to sit in the jump-seat (NOTE ... pre 9/11) and gained a taste of what it would be like to be flight crew.

I also had a friend who I used to work with who flew. He had a share in a Kitfox which he took me out in once, he also took me out in a Decathlon and did aerobatics.

No one in my family have ever been involved in flying so i'm not quite sure where my passion comes from. I do remember seeing a psychic once (just a bit of fun organised at work many years ago... BTW ... i'm not wierd ... just incase you were thinking that!) who asked if there was anyone in my family who flew as he could see this, and he also said that he could see a man dressed in old fashioned 'biggles gear'. I hadn't told him about my interest in flying which was the most astounding part about it.

I just find aircraft amazing and like looking at them and being near them ... I know that to most people that will sound odd ... but it's true!

[kevmusic]

Despite having been in the Army during the war, Dad always encouraged my older brother and me in our pursuit of all things to do with armchair aviation: from modelling to airshows. In fact, my brother built some beautiful free-flight models. Many years later, I'd taken Dad down to Manston, where I was an ATC 'C' Cat gliding instructor, and wangled him a flight with me as pilot. We were sitting down over a pint or three that evening when he let drop that his 'job' during the war had been as an army glider pilot who'd flown a Horsa into Normandy on D-Day + 1!! He'd never mentioned it to the family ever before - not even Mum! Subsequently came all his stories of selection and training and of coincidental meetings with old comrades years later. He even told of how he'd run away to join Alan Cobham's Flying Circus during the Thirties but returned when homesickness and hunger got the better of him.

But he'd kept schtum through all the years of my brother's and my fascination for flight. Is it in the blood, or what?! :ok:

[Crash one]

Watching fighters chase Doodlebugs over Kent must have been my first experience of aircraft.
I was told, I think I was too young at age 4 to remember, that I once in 1944ish nailed a few bits of wood together in the form of a Doodlebug complete with a red rag on the tail for the flame out the back. My father hung this from the rafters & I spent hours "flying" it, Flight Sim 44?
Built models as a kid, did the ATC gliding at RAF Hawkinge in 56, went solo by Wednesday. Spent the Summers biking to Tangmere 20miles away to gawp through the fence. Never had the dosh to do much till I retired.
Got there in the end, although a bit late.

[kms901]

For me, its was a combination of Biggles, my grandmother and her collection of signed photos of fighter pilots, and a passion for flight that started about the age of 6.

A+C, I remember the Indian Air Force Constallation. As a young reggie spotter I turned up at the guardhouse of RAF Northolt and asked if I could go in. I was sent to the control tower and given the grand tour by the Flight Sargeant in charge. He insisted that I wrote his name down so he could get the bounty if I joined up !. I got taken out across the tarmac and given a look around the inside of the Connie, including the flight deck and flight emgineers position. It had that indescribable old aeroplane smell. No hi-viz, no security and a nice cup of tea.
I ended up watching it take off from a jeep sitting on the peri track. If I close my eyes I can still remember the sight of it clearing the boundary fence, nosewheel just coming up and engines roaring. It seemed like a living creature to me. Magnificent.A different world.

Things like that inspired me to want to fly. Gliders with the school cadet force at 16, andFlying Scholarship at 17. Ever since then, on and off, I have flown whenever I could afford it. Nothing grand,but for fun.
I avoided flying as a career. I didn't want to risk losing the magic and thrill if I did it for a living. Thirty five years on and I am just as keen (and broke !) as ever.

[Droopystop]

Because you get a poor view from the backseats.

[WALSue]

I had a father who loved aviation, dragged me round various airshows and museums, bought me the 'I Spy Book of Aircraft' that sort of thing.
I think it was seeing Concorde fly over many years ago that made me want to learn, that and the poster of a 757 flight deck in my room (and I wondered why I never had any friends!!!)
Just a shame about the old money issues and didn't get to take the controls until I got older and crustier

[JDCP]

I was always fascinated by aeroplanes. My father was a Horsa pilot (Early hours of D-Day). I suppose it was a combination of those things. I remember Dad making me an airfix hurricane circa 1967, and it being placed on the mantle piece out of my reach...I think that was the start. Tried gliding at age sixteen, but just couldn't get the hang of it. At age around 26 wandered into RJS aviation at HalfpennyGreen, asked about learning to fly and had the disease ever since...I'm not looking for a cure.

[rogerbucks]

My first flight in a DeHavilland Heron (Jersey to Southampton) when I was about 10. Then, mum & dad started to venture abroad for 'package' holidays, and a few flights in Dan-Air Comets & and pastel-coloured Court Line BAC 1-11's.

I just loved it, and dreamed of being a pilot. Used to cycle from Sidcup to Biggin Hill to watch the flying (much easier homebound than outbound!), then booked a trial flight at King-Air. Blew all my money(then) on a PPL, and never regretted it!:ok:

[Alys's]

It was about 1950, I was well into building Keil Kraft kits one day news arrived at school that an aeroplane had crashed in a field about 3 miles away, after school I collected my mums Box Brownie and cycled to see the stricken aircraft only to be 'disappointed' It hadn't crashed, just tipped onto its nose, anyway, 2 pictures were taken of the Auster 5, these pictures were 'stashed' away and almost forgotten!

Move on 35 years (still building and flying models) and the Auster pictures were found, by then I had given up sailing, and motorcycles, by chance my wife's employer took us for a trip in his PA28, I thought 'I could do this' After gaining my PPL at Ipswich I became stuck with flying and It will stay that way until the AME says stop.

Oh yes, about 6 years ago the pictures came to light again so I thought I would attempt to find G-ANIE - the Auster 5 - I did find her at Gt Oakley, still airworthy but no dent in the cowling. :hmm:

[kevmusic]

And the pictures.............? :)