Why I like to fly or would like to

[fireflyr]

We need a new topic.  Here's one for pilots and future pilots and folks that like flying and folks that like to talk about flying and anybody else that gives a rats butt about flying.   Tell everyone how you really feel about aviation or about a memorable experience while flying.

Myself, I always dreamed about airplanes, drew airplanes, built model airplanes, talked about airplanes, read books about airplanes---well, you get the picture!

My 1st lesson was my 1st time in an airplane and it was the fulfillment of all my childhood hopes and dreams.  Airborne at last, I discovered the beauty of the beckoning sky, the freedom of moving in a new dimension, a feeling of controlling my own destiny ---------
Flying to me is an experience of the soul rather than a form of transportation

                                                             ------PLUS-----

I GET TO GO LIKE A BAT-OUT-OF HELL, THE COPS DON'T CARE ,AND THE CHICKS THINK IT's COOL!!!!!!

[Gulfstream Driver]

My Grandpa took me to the Confederate Air Show when I was 12, and I've been hooked ever since.  He was training to fly B-25's when WWII ended, and he always had great stories about flying bomb runs over Oklahoma and low-level cross countries across three states.  I thought of how awesome it would be to do that kind of thing.  He was always excited to hear about my training at UND, and he was so proud when I graduated. 

Ironically, UND took some of the fun out of flying for me.  Up there, it's always "go, go go."  "This is the lesson today.  Can't do anything else."  We couldn't just go up and fool around.  It's a good school, and I'm glad I went there (met my wife there).  It's easy to get burned out on flying, though. 

[fireflyr]

I flew with an instructor a few years back, Justin Lobsinger, who is a UND graduate and if he's an example of what that school turns out, you have to feel lucky you're getting such a good education.

Justin went to work for a part 135 carrier in Concord CA and I belive he's sitting left seat on a Beech jet now.   Absolutely one of the finest young men I've ever flown with, and HE KNOWS HIS STUFF!!!!

We need more quality schools like UND.

[Gulfstream Driver]

Name's not familiar.  UND used to be the best school for aviation.  The problem now is, if you aren't friends with the lead instructors and administration, you don't get hired as an instructor.  It's starting to get "inbred" a little bit.  There are exceptions to that rule, and there are some excellent instructors up there, but there are some really crappy ones, too.  Students get abandoned when instructors get hired and leave without finding replacements.

It's too bad that that's the situation up there, but that means more good instructors are getting out into the real world.  The school isn't as good, but maybe the real world is better for it.

[Plthijnx]

back when i was fourteen in the early to mid 80's my dad and i went on a fishing trip in the great white north and i piloted my first plane: a DeHavilland Beaver float plane! i was hooked from then on but never pursued it until i was 27. i would have learned much earlier had i not been under the misconception that you had to have 20/20 uncrorrected vision. at the time before lasik i had 20/400. well, that and racing supercross and chasing women didn't help either!

[Mike]

This is a good thread, I like it...

I was into big trucks and boats as a little kid but when I was ten or so my parents took me to the local airshow and there I saw the plane of all planes: The AV-8 Harrier !!
That did it for me. I got into building plastic model planes, then RC planes, talked about planes, drew planes, just like Jim. I always loved helicopters though (it was the hovering thing that impressed me the most with the AV-8) but people told me my vision isn't good enough and it's too expensive to learn how to fly helicopters and so on...
So I put the helicopter idea aside an concentrated on planes. As long as I would fly it didn't matter. When I was 14 my aunt won a 30min plane ride at some raffle thing and gave it to me. My first flight then was in a small Piper Cherokee (I'll never forget the day). I was hooked even more although I thought this wouldn't be possible. Man, what a feeling to be up in the sky looking down!
When I was 16 my dad paid for the family to go on a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon during a USA vacation. And a day later I saw a Jet Ranger park at the little motel we were staying somewhere in Arizona or Nevada to spend the night. He landed right in the motels parking lot!!!
I totally thought I had never seen a cooler thing in life ever at the time!

And that's where my career started. . .

[Gulfstream Driver]

at the time before lasik i had 20/400.

Does the FAA have any complaints about Lasik?  Any trouble on your medical?

[chuckar101]

I've been obcessed about aviation since I was about eight.  My Dad got me started by telling stories and getting me plastic models for Christmas.  I joined CAP in middle school and have been dying to get my license since then.  Hopefully I'll have soon though. 

[Mike]

I've been obcessed about aviation since I was about eight. My Dad got me started by telling stories and getting me plastic models for Christmas. I joined CAP in middle school and have been dying to get my license since then. Hopefully I'll have soon though.

You forgot to mention what your dad used to do back in the days!

RESPECT! I must say!

[leiafee]

I actually wasn't one of those kids who was always mad about aeroplanes.  My grandad was the airminded one of the family.  Ex-RAF and a tendency to point out things in the sky with types instead of something more generic.  I thing knew the words "Sea King" before I knew the word "helicopter"

I had a jolly in my dad's friends Cessna when I was quite small and remember asking the pilot voer and over to turn around again because I liked the feel of it and that the view was better when we were banked.

Sort of ambled along thinking flying would be nice, but that it was naturally out of reach of "normal people".  Trial flight with some birthday money a few years ago changed my mind, and prompted me to do some serious rebudgeting to see how much I could afford to fly.  Making my own sarnies for work, and walking instead of taking the bus pays for most of my first hour a month.

Two years real time and 30 hours flying time later I'm still training but still adoring it.

[Plthijnx]

Does the FAA have any complaints about Lasik?  Any trouble on your medical?

not really. i did have to jump through a number of vision tests though by my optomitrist to be sent to my AME. actually what was worse is that i had to jump through even more hoops because when i was 17 i had a double pneumothorax, (collapsed lungs) from a supercross racing accident. but all this was on my initial student pilot/medical certificate. since then, i just write down "previously reported" and they are content with that.

[fireflyr]

Two years real time and 30 hours flying time later I'm still training but still adoring it.

Good for you ,

Sounds like you are persistant---Keep it up!!!!

Jim

[chuckar101]

Okay Mike.  My Dad was an air traffic controller in the Army and flew helicopters with them as well.  He was one of the pilots that picked up survivors off the embassy roof and had his helicopter dumped in the sea.  I respect him greatly and wish I can be half as lucky as he was when it comes to flying.  Although I want it to last longer and avoid high blood pressure and eye problems.  He now flies the ultralight with me and we argue on procedures with the airplane all the time.  It's kinda fun. 

[FlyingBlind]

As you know im not a pilot - im a parachutist.So i guess i kinda got interested in flying when i was very young...i always was fascinated by the F-16 and used to play a game called: F-16 falcon.Then my parents gave me a model B-18 Flying Fortress Do-It-Yourself kit, and i made it.Then my father started parachuting..he asked if i would like to i said hell yes! And so im jumping....

[madpilot44]

When I was a little boy my dad was a helo pilot with the Guatemalan Air Force, flying hueys and 412's, I started getting rides and I loved flying. I remember this one time when he got asked to ferry a chopper from one air force base to another, and decided to get the whole family. each one flew in the left seat (copilot's) for a while but I was jealous whenever I wasn't in the left seat. I was hooked and I knew then and there I was going to be a pilot, and I'm training for it.