How did you get into flying? [Archive]

camaro

19th Apr 2003, 01:45

Grew up around aircraft.
Dad was very active member of Sheffield Aero Club in the 1970's but never actually learned to fly due to a lack of time/money. Spent most of my formative years with him at Netherthorpe and started flying aeroplanes sat on peoples knees at the age of three.
I progressed to working behind the bar in the clubhouse whilst at college and then as soon as I started my first "proper" job spent every spare penny on flying lessons - been totally broke ever since!:hmm:

ratsarrse

19th Apr 2003, 01:58

A combination of factors really. Grew up with a variety of planes overhead out of Cranfield and Thurleigh, so from an early age, I tended to walk around looking skywards - how did I avoid getting run over?
Joined the RAF bit of the CCF at school. Really wasn't interested until we went flying at Cambridge. Ah, Chipmunk!
Got Flight Unlimited III and FS2000 for the PC and realised that flight sims had become quite impressive. They are detailed enough to make it quite daunting for a newcomer, and I like a bit of a challenge! One of those things where the more you find out, the more there is to find out.
Dithered and procrastinated for a couple of years after deciding that I wanted to fly in real life. Started my PPL properly in January and I've been incredibly lucky with the weather so far. In fact, it's going too well at the moment so something will have to screw it all up monumentally at some point in the future. I might put my money on nav being the bit that really stumps me...

Hilico

19th Apr 2003, 03:06

Born. Given yellow plastic model S51 Dragonfly aged 3, thought 'ah, that's what I've been looking for!'. 18 - fail A-levels, get job. Realise bank balance at e-o-month is 200 quid, up from five. Ring flying club. Rest history.

knobbygb

19th Apr 2003, 04:37

Spent many Saturday afternoons as a kid 'planespooting' on the terraces at Manchester (late 70's/early 80's - Tridents, VC10's, DC8's etc.) - I was hooked although my only aspirations at the time were to be a passanger one day!
Then saw some light aircraft flying circuits at Barton as a teenager and realised that 'normal' people could fly too.
Bought the Thom books one by one over the years and studied them while playing on Flightsim.
Met my first real PPL a couple of years ago and decided that waiting until I could affort to learn would take too long, so got the credit limit raised on a couple of cards and went for it anyway. Should have done it years ago!

Juliet Papa

19th Apr 2003, 04:52

Well, lets see - brother in the ATC, lots of airfix kits, then when I was old enough a radio-controlled glider. Taught myself to fly it by reading a Woolworths 'How Planes Fly' book. All the while supplementing this with yearly trips to the Shoreham airshow befor it stopped in the early 80's - BTW i saw the Vulcan there - WOW!!

Then got out of the habit when I went to college and found girls and pubs and clubs, but never lost the yearning. My partner got pissed off with me constantly looking up at the sky whenever a plane went over (she's used to it now) and bought me a trial lesson with a club at Shoreham when the revamped airshow was on. Took it in the winter, was a bit underwhemed by the whole experience (i think due to an indifferent instructor ) and did nothing for a couple of years, until a new school started at Shoreham and I went along to their open day. Next thing I know I'm doing my PPL and loving it!!

Earliest aviation memory - being on the beach in front of my folks house with my mum and seeing Concorde fly along the coast, gear down, nose down, high alpha, high noise. Must have been two or three at the time, so '71 or 2. Dunno what it was doing, but I think that maybe where the seed was sown...

hungry_flygal

19th Apr 2003, 19:33

Just love the travel, the freedom and the views ....

Used to *really* envy the birds that kept stealing my lunch as a kid ...

thought i'd join them - one way or another :p

jonnys

19th Apr 2003, 20:42

First flew when I was 9 years old...still remember standing, apprehensively, at the cold, dismal gate at a rainy Manchester Airport at midnight (really seemed like the middle of the night for a 9 year old!) and as soon as I heard those engines running up, that was it, I knew what I wanted to do!

First flew on my 14th birthday, got a paper round and saved every penny so I could fly again. Finally got my PPL last year (at the age of 20) Did the traditional airfix kits, standing at the end of 24 at manchester in awe for hours on end, watching all the films...and really boring my family!

That RHS in a 737 still beckons..!

Genghis the Engineer

19th Apr 2003, 22:32

Working as a junior Engineer at a small firm in Somerset called Westland Helicopters. Realised that all the most interesting Engineering jobs went to people who knew about flying, and I'd better learn. Later discovered that flying was fun for a whole bunch of reasons unrelated to Engineering.

The fact that Genghis Sr. was an Engineer at Supermarine, and named me after his favourite war hero (an RAF pilot), the story of whose exploits was a compulsory part of my upbringing may also have been significant.

G

witchdoctor

19th Apr 2003, 22:47

It all started with an airshow visit as a kid of about 5 - the noise was fantastic!!!! Starfighters, Phantoms, Vulcans, all the really great noisy, smokey stuff we used to have around really set something off inside.

Got into model kits after that. My friends just really didn't (and probably still don't!) understand the fascination I had with planes, especially the military fast jets. Loved going to airshows, and always stopped to stare when anything ripped past the house at low level back when the RAF could afford to fly, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Older brother joined the RAF when I was 12, and all his tales just made me want it more. Joined a UAS when I was 18 and got my first ever flight - Bulldog T1. Must have grinned for a month. Logged about 50 hours there, including some solo aeros - what an absolute hoot - and all at the poor old taxpayers expense!!!

However, met my wife at around same time and the RAF thing sort of went pear-shaped. Couldn't get flying out of my head though despite trying to, and 2 years ago took the biggest gamble of my life and packed in work to do my ATPL. Now working as company pilot for a small aerial survey outfit and I love it. You really just can't call it work:D :D :D

Kingy

19th Apr 2003, 22:51

Easy - I grew up with it. My dad passed his PPL when I was 4yrs old and I have some great early memeries from the many, many hrs I flew as pax... I remember poleing around a Rallye long before I could reach the rudder pedels.
Also, me and my brother thought it was great fun pulling the rudder cables when flying in the back of our Tri Pacer much to our chastisement from mum. 'Will you two stop messing around, daddy's trying to land!...'

We also used to take turns riding in a Cub with the doors open to fly over the strip and throw Action Man out on his parachute - very cool when you are six! As a strange quirk of fate - I'm now a co owner of that Strip and a Cub too nearly 30years later.

It took many years to get my PPL mainly due to women/money problems but I did loads of gliding and stuff which kept me flying in the mean time.

Kingy

Whirlybird

19th Apr 2003, 22:53

Well, let's see...

I could tell you that my very earliest memory is of flying to Holland with my dad at the age of two (scheduled airline; none of my family were pilots); I remember looking out of the window of the aircraft at this much bigger one, shining with the sun on it, and calling out: "I want to go on that".

I could tell you about cycling up to Biggin Hill as a child, sticking my nose through the wire, and wondering how you got to persuade someone to take you flying.

I could tell you about discovering the father of the kid down the road was a glider pilot. I stopped beating her up and throwing sand in her hair, thinking maybe if I was good he'd take me flying...but he never did.

I could tell you about getting stranded in a village in Bolivia while trying to travel down the Amazon just after university; I caught the once fortnightly flight out; it acted as a sort of bus service landing at roughly cleared strips in the jungle, and as the only foreigner I got invited to do the whole trip on the flight deck. I absolutely loved it.

All of the above are true. And I maybe considered flying, but never seriously; I had no idea it was possible really. And I was always doing too many other things, and permanently broke. Until one day in 1997, having just had a windfall and paid off all my debts, when I screeched to a halt outside my local airfield, having taken a scenic route home, and booked a trial lesson in a PA38, completely on impulse. Had no plans even to get a PPL...but I just kind of never stopped.

So I won't re-write my personal history and pretend it was planned...even though it might make a better story. :)

Monocock

19th Apr 2003, 23:18

At 14 my father learned to fly (but never actually finished his PPL). I expressed an interest at 16 and had my first lesson. Got to solo stage and waited and waited and waited until...........turned 17 and completed rest of syllabus within 4 weeks!

That was 14 years ago and I reckon the PPL was the best thing I have ever done (in terms of the self satisfaction I achieve from my flying).

Oh and I love my wife and kids too!!;)

Fujiflyer

19th Apr 2003, 23:54

For me the thing that really did it was the flying I did as a "passenger" in the mid/late 80's as a skydiver (at the then named Leeds Bradford Freefall Club). One of the a/c I used to jump from was an Islander piloted by a gentleman by the name of Tom - I believe he is now the Aerobatics Association Vice-chairman Tom Cassells. I remember him as a pleasant chappy who was always happy to explain things to me.

Thinking back now, aviation had always appealed to me anyway but the parachuting really brought me much closer to it. Unfortunately as a student I could not have possibly afforded to do a PPL then let alone the subsequent flying so I put it off until the mid 90's :{ when I could sort of "afford" it.

Fujiflyer :D

Long-EC

20th Apr 2003, 08:03

I got a go in a MD83 simulator as a present. Then started spending too much time playing FS2000. Then was surfing the internet and found sites of various people (mostly in the US) who had built homemade full cockpit simulators (one guy even bought the front end of an airliner) and found myself wondering (a little scathingly I admit - sorry) why they didn't just fly for real. The irony hit as I started FS2000 that evening so I started looking at PPL courses. 4 weeks in the States and the bug had bitten.

Evo

20th Apr 2003, 17:44

When I was an 8-year-old "unaccompanied minor" en-route from Schipol to Gatwick a kind British Caledonian BAC1-11 captain invited me up to see the view from the pointy end. Wanted a PPL since then. Took me 19 years to be able to pay for my lessons, but got there eventually. :)

ukhomerj

20th Apr 2003, 23:48

I have been around flight sims for many years, even had the first Microsot Flight Sim. I must have spent thousands on them over the years, whilst I was simming two of my friends had the real lessons, and one is now a BA captain.

Finally had a light aircraft flight over Lanzarote and just loved it. But went back to simming, and have ended up with about 2 grands worth of Go Flight gear, yoke, pedals, all the scenery add ons and now building the dials from Simkits.

I have been around aviation parts manufacturing for a few years too, selling industrial laser equipent which drills the holes in many jet engine parts, so met some really interesting guys at Rolls ROyce and P&W.

Got a trial flight for Christmas, and now i am hooked on doing my PPL, and getting an Instructors rating. I have left it too bloody late to become a commercial pilot, but not sure if I could afford the pay cut, initially. So now I simm, and practice my lessons, and fly as often as i can.

Andrew M

21st Apr 2003, 02:43

Finally had a light aircraft flight over Lanzarote and just loved it. But went back to simming, and have ended up with about 2 grands worth of Go Flight gear, yoke, pedals, all the scenery add ons and now building the dials from Simkits.

Simming is good, real flying is better......

Most people sim because they cannot afford to fly for real, wish I had £2000 - but I would have spent it on going to US for a JAA PPL !

AerBabe

21st Apr 2003, 03:04

I'm not sure how I got into flying. I was excited the first time I ever flew, but not enough to want to learn. Dad was always interested in aircraft, but not flying them. I expect someone said it might be difficult, or told me I couldn't do it. That would be enough of a reason to make me try! Once I had had my trial lesson I was completely hooked and now I can't get enough.

phnuff

21st Apr 2003, 04:49

Grew up under the 26 approach path to Luton and as a kid, spent hours laying on the ground watching them. Decided that I was going to fly for a living aged about 12 (when I realised I was never going to play for Arsenal), and took all the right stuff at school, before being told at the age of 16, by a careers teacher, that I couldnt fly because I had hayfever. I believed him and bumbled along through college and ended up in IT. A couple of years later, worked for a guy who had been an RAF test pilot and a Court Line captain (I still have the company tie he gave me). I wandered into his office one day and his eyes were streaming
'its hayfever' says he,
'no it can't be' says I and I told him the story.
'Complete carp' he tells me
and a few days later, with no intention of turning pro cos I was married and actually doing pretty well , I took my first lesson 'just to show 'em'!!
Still in IT, still PPL and still stare wistfully at aircraft as they pass overhead! If man has created a more inspirational machine than an aircraft I would love to see it.

Kolibear

21st Apr 2003, 04:53

I was born and lived just off of the approach to 06 at Southend, so my childhood was punctuated with the sights and sounds of Dakotas and Bristol Freighters on finals. Later on they changed to Carvairs, Viscounts and BAC1-11s. My father had many books about the exploits of the RAF, all written during WW2, which I read avidly. He told me of his experiences at North Weald during the Battle of Britain and my mother told me of the Eagle Squadrons stationed at Southend. So I was surrouned by aircraft from a very early age. Later on, I built airfix models of aircraft and started work at Marconi, designing avionics for miltary aircraft.

Many years later in a different job, I was working next to a guy who was doing his PPL, and after my wife bought me a trial lesson, he took us both flying. We went back into the club and I booked my first lesson there and then.

In all the years I spent watching aircraft land at Southend, I never dreamed that one day,I would doing it.

Pprune came along a lot later but I've learnt so much from it, its also given me a chance to put something back.

Negative Charlie

22nd Apr 2003, 18:16

Living just down the road from a friendly airfield did it for me - there's nothing like a continuous stream of tiny aircraft failing to fall out of the sky to make it look both safe and easy.

Any time you're turning final on Rwy 25 at Wycombe, wave - that's me down there!

big.al

23rd Apr 2003, 00:19

Lifelong fascination with how something weighing several hundred tonnes could ever get off the ground. Still amazes me now when I'm flying C150s that mankind/womankind/personkind has conquered the force of gravity (or at least found a way to overcome it).

I gather than the very first word I ever spoke, as a baby, was lying on a Norfolk beach on a sunny day and looking up at the sky... I'm told I pointed up at a 'plane flying over and said... "car".

Naturally I was hooked.....
:p

Northern Highflyer

23rd Apr 2003, 18:14

Going to Spain when I was 4 and looking at the FD, all those switches, knobs and dials opened my eyes. Had a million and one questions which continued whenever I was on a jet to somewhere hot.

The sight, sound and smell of an airport had me hooked but I never considered civil aviation to start with, I loved the Phantoms and Jaguars of the RAF. Sadly that never came to fruition but the love of planes never died and it's all gone from there. I think I have got worse as I have got older and spend any spare money on a quick trip round the skies.

Still hoping to sit in the point end one day but it doesn't look like I will be sparking the imagination of a 4 year old now the FD is off limits.

Hen Ddraig

24th Apr 2003, 06:55

Grew up with a sky full of aircraft.
2 local RAFVR squadrons of Meteors
A de Havilland plant producing Hornets, Vampires, Venoms, Doves, Herons and Comets.
A real airport Speke, with lots of DC3, DC4, Rapide etc activity.
All within ten miles, and also a constant flow of Transatlantic traffic for Burtonwood. My enduring memory of which is 2 full squadrons of B36's passing in formation.

That collection's enough to interest anybody in flying

Andrew M

24th Apr 2003, 08:59

Still hoping to sit in the point end one day but it doesn't look like I will be sparking the imagination of a 4 year old now the FD is off limits.

Now, thats not true. If you have children of your own, or nephews or nieces - why not get them interested. Always guaranteed when kids are around 3 to 4 they start questioning everything around them. Young kids question things such as "Where do babies come from" but, you may find one will ask "How does a plane manage to fly ?"

I was told I asked that question when I was around 4 - went with my dad a visit to the airport (not spotting, but picking up a relative coming back from their holidays). This is where I pointed up at a departing aircraft and asked the question.

***(sorry about the posting mistake - accidently deleted a part of my previous pos :oh: ) ***

In conclusion, you don't need to be a pilot to inspire the little 'uns. Just see if they are interested and if they are then you can take them to air shows and such things. Even if your children, nephews etc... don't grow up to be pilots - it still gives something in common between the two of you.

Good luck - :ok:

scottish_ppl

24th Apr 2003, 09:46

Won a trial flight in a raffle when I was about 20. Hadnt given it a thought before then, but based on that experience took it up when I got some cash together.

So do some marketing with those trial flight vouchers !

DRJAD

24th Apr 2003, 15:52

Father was an RN instructor officer, and was posted to Culdrose in the early sixties when I was a child. His duties as also a met. officer there made aviation a constant background during the two years we remained there.

Later, in Birmingham in the early eighties, I started a PPL course, went solo, but gave up a few hours later owing to lack of flying/drinking/curry vouchers.

Early mid-nineties started again, in Leeds, but stopped when I failed the JAR medical. Started on a long course satisfying the various medical tests the CAA required.

Mid-2002, the NPPL arrived. Flying salvation! So, took the course, got the DVLA-type medical, and gained the NPPL in late 2002 - now having satisfied the CAA for JAR medical I have converted to JAR-PPL.

I never realized I was so determined to get qualified as a pilot, until, as has already been said on this thread, one realized quite how much satisfaction it gives.

Dop

24th Apr 2003, 17:57

When I was a kid I was always into tales of airborne derring-do, and built airfix kits and balsa-wood aeroplanes. I thought that actually being able to fly an aeroplane must be the best thing EVER!!
Then computers came along and I got into flight sims. Still thought that flying an aeroplane must be the best thing ever.
However I never really expected that it was something I would ever get to do. As my old grandma was like to say, "That's not for the likes of us".
"Bo**ocks" I thought...
What really sprung it was when a colleague at work started taking flying lessons. He had to give them up due to money/family committments, but that was the first inkling I had that I could afford it.
Once I'd done a costing, and realised that I could actually afford to take a couple of lessons a month, there was no turning back.
Until that time, I'd only ever been on any kind of aeroplane twice, going to and from Oslo on a holiday in 1991.
So I had me a trial flight at Biggin Hill, and I was hooked. Started taking as many lessons a month as I can possibly afford (three or more on average) and did my first Solo last September.
Had far too long a break this year for bad weather, but now I'm on navigation and will soon be doing my first solo cross-country.

And you know what? I was right. It IS the best thing ever!

Hersham Boy

24th Apr 2003, 20:46

Various family members (current and late) who are/were variously military, commercial and aerobatic pilots. I was wanting to do this since I was 16 and finally managed it at the age of 30.

I still smile when I think that I've actually got a PILOT'S LICENCE!

:D

AerBabe

24th Apr 2003, 21:07

... and the rest of us wonder what on Earth went wrong with the testing procedure to allow you to get one. :uhoh:

Se you next Friday mate. ;)
Don't forget my books and the jug of sea breeze or whatever it is you've owed me for about 3 years!

Bootlegger

24th Apr 2003, 21:15

First got the bug after watching "REACH FOR THE SKY" film, but never thought it was within "my reach". As a kid in the 80's went to Finningly airshows...again had massive yearning. Then one day had trial flight (a year ago to the day actually)...totally hooked..passed my ppl in December, and still have to pinch myself daily to realise im not dreaming...i try to fly at least twice weekly and totally addicted. (FS2000 also ). :) ..if anyone is concidering it...Just do it !!....The best feeling in the world (well, nearly ;) )

Andy_R

24th Apr 2003, 23:22

Much like many on this thread i spent my youth dreaming about flying and tripping up looking at the skies whenever a plane flew overhead. I used to cycle to Gatwick, a 70 mile round trip to just sit and watch and wonder in awe.

Like many others I thought it was out of my reach.

Years later a girlfriend bought me a trial lesson and I was hooked. After completing my first 38 hours I had a financial disaster, but after 18 months am now back on track and hope to complete PPL in time for summer. During that bleak 18 months I could barely think of anything else apart from getting myself back on track. If you want something badly enough I guess you will achieve it.

I would encourage anyone thinking about it to actually go out and do it. Hopefully when I obtain that coveted licence I can start converting!!

GroundBound

25th Apr 2003, 18:36

Never really thought about it in the early years. Loved watching aeroplanes, and built the models, though. Never thought I could be a pilot (it wasn't what I was studying) and didn't even know how to go about it.

Quit school with no idea what to do, and saw an advert for Air Traffic Controllers. Part of the advert said "we will train you to PPL". So I applied, became a controller (didn't even know what that was either) and got the PPL. Luckiest break ever - found out I loved all things aviation. Loved controlling, but always wanted to fly. Couldn't keep the PPL going though, as one hour's flying was a week's wages in those days.

Times have changed, the kids have flown the nest, and now I've got enough time and money to get back into the air - brilliant! :)

matspart3

25th Apr 2003, 21:27

Dad was an engineer at Southend Airport in the early 70's. He used to take me to the Historic Aircraft Museum there every Sunday morning. I can remember the anticipation and the thrill I got from clambering over the Beverley and peering into the cockpits of the Meteor, Sea Hawk and Javelin etc., asking him the same questions week in, week out! I can even remember the smell!! We'd always leave with the latest release from Airfix, which he'd build and I'd inevitably smash up!

He'd stop at the Airport 'Flarepath' Club on the way home for a pint, while I stood in the car park with a bottle of Coke and a straw, watching the Carvairs, Heralds and Viscounts coming and going.

The fascination remained, I'd always ask for flight deck visits whenever we went on holiday, Dad still organised impromtu trips to Duxford, Hendon, Mildenhall etc....and a pleasure flight from Clacton in a Cessna 172 in about 1980 (G-AWUW).

When we moved house to within walking distance of the Airport, I inevitably ended up becoming a 'spotter'. In my teenage years I discovered sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, ditched the notebook and anorak but went through school with the intention of having an 'aviation related' career. Applied unsuccesfully for a BA Cadetship in the mid eighties and drifted into Air Traffic Control as an Assistant. Got sponsorship for Controller training and, cutting a long story very short, ended up where I am today. Getting paid for a job that I love!

The PPL always seemed prohibitively expensive, especially with mortgage and kids around, but I got mine in 1996, thanks entirely to an instructor friend who gave his time, effort and money to get me through at a fraction of the cost. I still owe him hundreds of beers and curries...cheers Paddy...you are the World's nicest bloke!! My first solo will remain one of my greatest achievements. Night and IMC Ratings have followed, and I've enjoyed every single second of it all. I still get a big cheesy grin from ear to ear whenever I 'slip the surly bonds', and haven't entirely ruled out ATPL's.

A boyhood dream has become a reality, thanks to some inspirational people, that's probably why I bore the hell out of friends, family and complete strangers, harping on about what a privilege it is to be able to fly......thank goodness for pprune!!

:O