How Young Were You ?

[Mighty_Wings]

Myself and some fellow student PPL's are wondering how old some of the younger members were when they took your first flight?

Mine was 4/11/00 when i was 14 im currently 16 now

Discussion open :)


Steve

[ETOPS773]

Was 11 in PA28..on 15th Birthday got a go in a B757 simulator for 2 hours,landed at Kai Tak and JFK..great stuff!!
now 21.

[FormationFlyer]

Well I was 21....but my 16 day (Yes 2 and a bit weeks!) old son has just been plonked in the seat of a C152 where I teach...now all I need to do is work out how to get the car seat strapped into the cockpit properly and safely so I can get him airborne so he can fly his first circuit with me!!!!

(give him a few more months & im sure itll be sorted!!)

:D :D :D

[Mighty_Wings]

Piper Pilot
Wow thats young... I fly out of Newcastle Airport


Formation Flyer
OKay i think you win that one unless someone goes in to labour on board a plane :)

:)

[FormationFlyer]

Forgot to ask....given Im 31 now I guess Im no longer a younger member...oh well!! :rolleyes:

[Ian_Wannabe]

12th Birthday - Got a scanner

13th Birthday - Was impressed by all the slick sounding pilots so I had to go and try it for myself .... Cessan 152 - Hooked! :D :D

14th Birthday - Had to go and try it .... again, this time in a PA 28

15th Birthday - Had to go and try it.... yet again :D :D - Another PA 28

16th Birthday - Yup, again... Cessna 152

17th Birthday - Had to sacrifice a trail lesson for all the PPL equipment (my words on that day were 'ohhhhh **** yes!!')

I bet my parents wish they never bought me a trial lesson! Hooked at an impressionable age leads to an expensive career path!

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

First time in a light aircraft at age 11.

Went solo at 16.

PPL at 17.

Instructor at 20.

Now 27. The younger you start the easier it is and the more intensively you can train the better.

The Air Training Corps is a good place to start for anyone under 20. They will teach you how to fly and teach you more than is needed to know to pass the PPL exams and half the CPL ones. For free.


WWW

[nonradio]

14 with Richard Ellis at the Kingair flying club, BH.. You also know you're getting old when the air cadet gliders you had so much fun with are now considered 'vintage'. "Made of wood and covered in cloth...?"

Shucks.

[englishal]

30

[knobbygb]

Piperpilot - so how long ago was that first flight in G-BNOE and where? Thought you'd like to know I was up in her a couple of days ago and she's still going strong. I'm a little older than you were though.

[Romeo Romeo]

29

There seem to be two types of pilot - the youngsters who want to do it as a carear and us more mature people who have finally got enough money to do it and just do it as a hobby.

[skygazer]

34. G-BMXL, PA38 at BA Flying Club, Booker.

35 now.

Or 33 if you count the trip up in a glider at Lasham, which I think is where my obsession started!!:D

[Evo7]

I was a passenger in a C172 a few years ago, but first P.u/t was last summer, age 27 - parents never took the hint, so it had to wait until I could pay for it.... ;) :)

[Chilli Monster]

13 - Gazelle XX381

15 - Chipmunk (unknown)

22 - Gliding solo

25 - Gliding Instructor

34 - PPL

Now my twins - different matter. First flight in a Glider aged 4. One has flown a C172 with me at night, one has landed a PA38 with me - they would have been 10 at the time.

Don't hurt to start 'em young ;)

CM

[TheKentishFledgling]

14/10/00 - I was 13 and had my first light a/c flight, in a DR360 from Maypole (in the news section of Flyer this month!).

Have had 40ish flights since then, and am starting my PPL in a couple of weeks!

I turn 15 on the 25th of this month, but will be on holiday, so the lessons begin very soon after.......:)

tKF

[The Greaser]

20 years old. 6 weeks to get PPL in 1995.

Now fATPL 1500 hours hopefully airline F/O this year.

[Fujiflyer]

First flying - in a light A/C: 1986, as a parachutist (48 jumps). Discovered I loved the flying more but couldn't afford to learn to fly as a was a poor first year student.

10yrs later and earning just about enough money to learn I did my PPL and then IMC. Now got 260hrs flying time and a share in a very nice 4 seater.


FujiF :) :)

[bluskis]

9 pasenger in Dragon Rapide, Northolt- London round trip

17 solo in Miles magister

18 whole other life

28 PPL

?? now busy passing medicals

Still remember that first flight and some of the Magister flights, especially the spinning.

[Who has control?]

Romeo Romeo, sadly, I'm afraid I have to agree with you.
(puts zimmer frame aside )

First flight was in a Twin Otter from Edinburgh to Lerwick aged 27 (me, not the aircraft).

First flight in a light a/c was in the US, with a work colleague.

Now, 20ish years on, I too fly for a hobby.

[camaro]

Age four in Cessna 172 - don't know reggie.

Started PPL age 19 when I got a job earning barely enough dosh..took 18 months to get licence.

[Leslie]

13 ish - Chipmunk
17 - Fly schol -C152 solo in 8
17.5 - PPL complete
18 - Harrier T4 (ZB602 - the exact one from The Living Daylights - James Bond)
22 - Seneca (200 hrs TT by end of course)
23 - B757 (what a beauty!!!)
24 - B767 (company thought flying one type was not enough!)
now about 1400 TT

[KazBird]

Feb 2000, aged 22 - 1st flight in R22
June 2000 - first flight in C152 (bug took hold!)
July 2001, aged 23 - PPL passed in C152
Feb 2002, aged 24 - conversion to PA-28 complete, first solo flight and first flights with passengers - fantastic!

[Spamcan defender]

Started on my 12th birthday. C152 Aerobat G-BAUY. Really loved that little 'plane (Didn't actually LOVE the plane, just in case all you sicko's were wondering :D )
Just wish that i'd been told at the start that all hours under 14 didnt count towards PPL. I was WELL Pi***d off !!

[Penguina]

Feet didn't leave the ground, even as a passenger, until 20, so never gave it much thought except to gaze upwards from time to time. First flight going to work in the USA one summer vacation in an Air India B747 and was gobsmacked. Soon as I left uni and got my first job (earning 13K!) took it upon myself to find out more and go for it. Hoping to have my PPL before the summer's out... and then...

[tomcs]

I took my first flight when i was 14 in G-BPNA C152....I then flew G-ROBN and G-BSZW by this time i was 15 or 16 and i got my PPL when i was 17. I am now 18 and loving every minute of it!

Tom

[LowNSlow]

First flight in an ATC T31 glider at age 14
Started PPL at 22 then got married and couldn't afford more than a few lessons.
Finally re-started PPL at 32 and got it in 18 months (!!!!!) due to weather and job moves. Never start a PPL in the UK in October....
Now 45 and flying for fun in an Auster :D

[Cusco]

16th Birthday glider solo (BGA A & B Certificates) RAF Henlow

First barf down the side of a T21 age 16+ 1 day.(Instructor made me wipe if off with grass)

Air experience Chipmunks age 17: more mega barfs:never really got used to aerobatics : then 30 year gap til PPL age 47

Doesn't time fly


Cusco.:eek:

[Cusco]

OOPs

Forgot the short hops to ten feet or so as a RAF CCF corporal at school in the school Grasshopper twanged across the playing fields by bungee pulled by a small group or grousing fifth formers.

The actual grasshopper I flew I'm told is now on exhibit at Shuttleworth collection.

So there you are - a link with history of flight.

Cusco

[BEagle]

First flight- Piper Caribbean from Lulsgate at age 11
First airline flight - Vickers Vanguard from Gatwick at age 12
First military flight - DH Sea Vixen from Yeovilton at age 15
First solo - Slingsby T21b from Merryfield at age 16
PPL - Cessna F150 from Cranfield at age 17

Then Cherokee, Chipmunk, Jet Provost, Gnat, Hunter, Meteor, Buccaneer, Vulcan, Hawk, Phantom, Jetstream, VC10, VC10K, Bulldog - and then back to VC10/VC10K and Cherokee/Warrior!

[Loony_Pilot]

13 first flight in a glider
14 first flight in light aircraft (Robin of some sort)
17 Trial Lesson (in G-BNUS with Mark Hewett at Stapleford) (now ATR Captain)
20 CPL
21 Instrument Rating
23 Instructor Rating.

just turned 24, hoping for Airline job before 26....


Loony

incidentally.. my youngest student is 16, my oldest is 78...

[Wee Jock]

First airborne aged 19 in a Wessex. Age 22 in a Phantom, and 20-something in Scout, Blackhawk, VC10, C130, German Air Force C160 and Jet Provost. Best civvy trip aged 38, the Conc. Just had to be done.

[EI_Sparks]

Formation, I have Formation v2.0 beaten - first flight for me was on Mom's lap in a C150 (EI-AUO) out of Farranfore (now EIKY) at the age of 14 days :)
It's listed in Uniform Oscar's logbook as a flight with 2.5 passangers :D

Flew every other weekend for most of my first seven years with Dad, and was the stereotypical airport kid, albiet with a kerry accent :D Then Dad went to college and the PPL lapsed. :( But he's now finally getting back into the air and I'll be sitting the writtens with him and finally starting into my own PPL in January next year - only a decade past the originally planned deadline!

And if Berkut Engineering get a new venture capitalist, the side garden is just crying out for a small workshop to build a berkut :)

[formationfoto]

Agree with Chilli start young. 10 days old in the case of my son in a Jodel from Seething. Wasn't much use as a navigator though but seemed to like the spirited non aerobatic handling - at least didn't end up with anything to wash of the canopy!

[Keef]

37. Do I qualify as "oldest"? Got my PPL when I was 39, added night and IMC, then FAA PPL/IR. Nearly did FAA CPL but realised I was too old for it to be relevant so saved the money.

[javelin]

11 - Aircoupe G-ARHC Enniskillen
17 - PPL Flying Scholarship - Ipswich August 1975
18 - Told RAF to poke it after being offered commision

All sorts of bits and pieces

30 - Shorts 360
32 - 757
33 - A320
38 - LHS
43 - Happy as the proverbial !

[Bouncy Landing]

From as young as I can remember, wanted to fly.

Age 5 spent hours on Quantas B707 jump seat to Aussie & back

Age 11 take up in a C172

Age 17 RAF decline my generous offer to fly one of their nice shiny new Tornados

Age 22 take 6 months to get PPL

Age 42 contemplating how / when to take my 11 1/2 month old son up in my group aircraft. His first flight was in a Scarebus 319 age 4 months.

[Jinkster]

Hello,

I was 14 - first flight in a Scottish Avaition Bulldog from RAF Church Fenton with the Air Training Corps.

Did my PPL at 18 and am now 19 currently studying ATPL thoery - 20 in March 2003.

Jinkster

[RotorHorn]

First time I flew - 23.

First time I flew in an aircraft - 32.

First time I flew was as a result of an argument between my motorbike and someone elses car - the car won and I did a 'superman' over the hedge at the side of the road.

Mid-air I looked down at the XR3i Cabriolet and saw this guy watching me go overhead. I landed on the grass embankment on the otherside of the hedge doing 'the dying fly' (non-TISWAS people want remember that) and came to a halt at the foot of the slope.

This guy popped his head up over the six foot hedge and asked me if I was ok. I still had all requisite number of limbs attached so said 'err.. I think so'.

and then he drove off............


Started flying 'proper' at Xmas 2000, passed my ppl(h) 18 months later. Age 34 (going on 18)...

[foxmoth]

mine reads as many others ex ATC, Solo (glider) at 16, PPL at 17 (needed a student pilots licence to go solo in those days, waiting for that from the CAA meant I missed first powered solo on my 17th birthday).unfortunately the ATC don't do the flying scholarship anymore, but you can still do AEF and gliding courses I believe.

[ShyTorque]

First flight in RAF Chipmunk 7 AEF, RAF Newton, age 14 1970

Then glider solo in Slingsby, age 15, RAF Swanton Morley 1971

First powered solo C150 G-AYRK Age 17, Ipswich 1973

First jet solo, JP3A XN586 RAF Church Fenton 1977

First rotary solo, Whirlwind HAR10 XR458 RAF Ternhill 1978

Now ATPLH and CPLA. Never held a PPL though.

[g-okay]

Age 13 months over a drop zone down south. That count?:D

[djk]

I started at 29, couldn't afford it till then :D

[Lawyerboy]

10 months, long ol' flight to Marbella on a Trident, if I recall.

23, trial flight in an AA-5.

27, first solo PA38.

29, still waiting to do my QXC...

[Grim Reaper 14]

I hate to turn this thing on its head a bit, but it seems that nearly everyone starts getting interested at about 5 and takes it from there. I can honestly say that I had absolutely no interest in aircraft or flying at all until I was 36, and then started hanging around with a few people with a heavily developed interest. The brainwashing obviously worked, leaving me now 37, with a brand new turd brown PPL (delivered this morning). From no interest to qualified in 18 months is a very steep curve....... and I'm loving every minute of it!!:D

[Wireless]

Mmmmm......... I always suspected that there was something "not quite right" about the colour of those PPLs :D

I was dragged around airshows by my Grandfather. I remember Hendon, because they had the wreckage of a burned out airframe pinned to a wall. That haunted my sleep for nights to come!

When I was 14 I came across an article in one of my Mother's "Country Living" magazines that was centered on the guys that promoted the Denny Kitfox in this country. This was about 1994. I was very much into making Keilcraft balsa models that always ended up as crappy affairs that got eaten by the dog, so I wrote to the folks in the said article for advice on designing my own aircraft (I think it was a chap named white, but I can't remember) . I even submitted my idea of what should be their next design. It was called the Kitten!:D . They sent back a wealth of information on PFA aircraft and who my local PFA Strut was. They even sent a couple of issue of Popular Flying. One of the articles detailed the costs of a PPL (It reckoned on 5K). I forgot about this for a year or two whilst I built and crashed more balsa wood, until our family moved virtually a couple of miles from where this local strut was. This story is waffling now, so I'll cut it short. I ended up dropping out of college to work at a factory and then the local flying school to pay for my PPL. Once I had the "Pay a hundred quid for a cup of coffee a hour a way" ticket I realised that I was broke. I joined a group who flew a Luton Minor. Best flying I had for 3 years. I discovered farm strip flying. This was the singular thing that made me realise that I wanted to make a career out of bush type flying. I have managed to do other things such as towing gliders for a year in a pawnee but 5 years on I am still working to get some form of CPL, and 5 years on I dare say that I shall still be doing the same thing!

Bill

[AfricanEagle]

1 month DC-3 (as pax)
10 Cherokee 28 (as pax)
11 Cherokee 32 (held controls)
15 to 17 stowaway on all aeroclub flights
18 solo and PPL
..... and then lots of Cessna 152, 172, Katana & PA-18.

Ciao