Im curious to hear everyones story as to why the got into flying. Was it a family member or just a childhood dream to fly like superman.


For me the flying bug got me when I was about 4yrs old; every week my mom would take me to the airport to eat Mcdonalds and watch the planes.

The spark turned to a full on blow torch during preparation for my first "Big Airplane" trip to Florida at age 10. My dad hired a plane and pilot to take me and my brother flying to make sure we weren't going to freak out in the big plane. I sat up front and took the controls for a little while and that was all it took....

 

I've always been interested in flying. My first trip in a commercial airliner was when I was about 4 or 5 years old. We went to California. While in Cali we visited Disney Land and Universal Studios. I don't even remember going to Disney Land but I remember the plane ride over there. When I was 14 my folks sent me on a discovery flight in a 172 and I got to fly the plane a bit. That's when I decided that I wanted to be a pilot.

 

My dad had an Aeronca Champ, then a Citabria when I was just a rugrat. We'd go flying just about every weekend and I just loved it. He dropped out of it when I was about 12 due to cost and medical reasons and I was crushed. I kept the spark alive with plastic and R/C models until I was in college and could take lessons. I did an internship at OSU airport with the field maintenance crew. There is heavy corporate activity at OSU and I decided then that it's the type of flying I wanted to do. Just kept plugging away at it.

 

Grew up within a mile from GRIMM LOM for JFK's approach to 31R. Loved watching the heavies fly over all day as a kid around 5 yrs old. 29 years later, I get to be that guy.

 

I wanted to fly when I was a tyke. Of course at that time I also wanted to be a trash man. In middle school we had to do research about careers and I looked into airline jobs. I thought that I would be unable to get a job like that due to vision and the fact that I did not want to enter the military. Senior year in high school, a friend told me all about the program at MTSU (where he was an instructor). I had the program in my back yard and the ability to get into the industry and haven't let go since.

 

1. Chicks
2. Big bucks

Maybe not in that order.

Boy, what a wakeup call I had...

Oh, and I spent my whole childhood (and so far my adulthood) completely obsessed with anything that even looked like it could fly. I live my dream everyday.

 

We had a family friend who used to fly King Airs, apparently one day, when I was a little guy, (I don't remember this, mom has told me about it) the topic of conversation was Mr. Ralph's (family friend/King Air) job. My remark or question was something along the lines of . . ."you mean Mr. Ralph gets PAID to FLY?" I think Mom knew I was hooked . . .

 

Always a childhood dream. Lived for 11 years not even 5 minutes from midway so when I was younger we would get ice cream and watch planes all day. Finally after high school hockey wasnt working out so I decided this was a good option. Here I am not even a year after begining training and about to go up for the comm ride.

 

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.

 

A ride in a Beechcraft Sundowner (first flight), and a transcon trip on United in my youth.

I later got to fly the same Sundowner.