Liked what I saw about airplanes and pilots in tv and movies as a kid, but I had no contact with it other than an occasional airline trip, as there were no pilots in the family. Wanted to be a pilot in high school for the adventure but failed to meet air force vision mins, no lasik in those days, and went into music instead. Finally acted on the desire in my 30's having access to a university flying club, although it turns out I design airplanes for a living. I presently enjoy flying skydivers on weekends, and plan to teach in order to build time. It's funny how we tend to display innate, interest-driven proclivities like those aviation satisfies.

When I was in aeronautical engineering school, it always amazed me that most of the students had no interest in airplanes. They were engineers who happened to be working on stuff that goes into airplanes, and gave little thought to the subject of flying. The complexity of systems in large aircraft is enough to permit specialization to the point of obscurity.