Air minded

[Alex Potter]

When did people become "air minded", and why?

For me, it was in 1950, when I was about 4, when Dad took me to an RAF
"At Home", at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome and the sight of those beautiful
aircraft soaring and wheeling, high in the sky, and the sound of their
engines as the flew low and fast down the centreline of the runway. I
knew that day that I had to fly.

I never flew, even commercially, until my late 40s. Then I was lucky
enough to be able to afford to have lessons, and soloed a Puchacz shortly
after my 52nd birthday.

--
Alex

[Andy[_1_]]

On Nov 29, 7:25*pm, Alex Potter > wrote:
> When did people become "air minded", and why?

I don't remember if it started with reading Biggles (really!) or when,
as a teenager, I would cycle out to RAF Locking and watch the air
cadets flying winch launches and the Auster giving rides over my home
town. I remember being fascinated that I could hear the glider
instructor talking to the student as they flew final over the airport
fence. First time in the air was in a helicopter to the Channel
Islands but all I remember of that was it was noisy. As a student at
Bangor I joined a small group for a trip to the Mynd hoping to get a
flight. No one checked the weather though and the field was closed
with snow. Then an intro ride in a Super Falke at Lasham followed by
several years not doing anything about flying except thinking I
couldn't afford it. Then I was given an intro ride in an L13 at
Thruxton by a friend of my future ex. That gave me the bug and I went
on a holiday course at Challock. I still didn't understand the sport
though as I insisted that I wasn't interested when one of the other
holiday students told me they found a thermal on their flight. All I
wanted to do was learn to land solo. A day or so later I was able to
climb Kermit in a thermal and finally understood where the magic was
to be found. A few months later I ran off to US where I have been
flying for most of the last 30 years. Tempus fugit.

Andy

[SoaringXCellence]

I started building models when I was 9 and wanted to fly for as long
as I can remember. My father got a license in 1968 when I was 16 and
I got some lessons then. I crewed for him through the end of high
school. I actually got my own student license in 1985, private power
plane in 1987 and glider after I became an instructor in 1993. CFI-G
in 1996. A full-blown case of air-mind.

[Grider Pirate]

On Nov 29, 6:25*pm, Alex Potter > wrote:
> When did people become "air minded", and why?
>
> For me, it was in 1950, when I was about 4, when Dad took me to an RAF
> "At Home", at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome and the sight of those beautiful
> aircraft soaring and wheeling, high in the sky, and the sound of their
> engines as the flew low and fast down the centreline of the runway. I
> knew that day that I had to fly.
>
> I never flew, even commercially, until my late 40s. Then I was lucky
> enough to be able to afford to have lessons, and soloed a Puchacz shortly
> after my 52nd birthday.
>
> --
> Alex

I blame my dad. (grin). Looking through the chain link fence at Van
Nuys Airport. watching planes take off and land is the very earliest
memory of any activity with my father. I was 3 or 4 years old at the
time. Later, he took me to Sepulveda basin when he went there to fly
U/C with his friends. I started flying model planes with him when I
was 7 years old. As long as I can remember, I've wanted to fly
SOMETHING. Finally, in 2001 at age 47, my wife dragged me out to Jean,
to join the local glider club. My only regret is not starting about 30
years earlier.

[Alex Potter]

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:33:53 -0800, Grider Pirate wrote:

> My only regret is not starting about 30 years earlier.

My only regret is that the money ran out.

--
Alex

[Andy[_10_]]

On Nov 29, 6:25*pm, Alex Potter > wrote:
> When did people become "air minded", and why?
>

Dad was an experimental test pilot in the 40s and 50s. I grew up
watching movies of him testing all kinds of exciting aircraft. I
presumed this was a typical profession for a Dad. All our family
vacations involved flying somewhere in a private plane of one kind or
another. I first learned to fly on instruments because, at age 5 or 6,
I couldn't see over the instrument panel. By my early teens I'd
accumulated something like 700 hours of right seat time. A few months
after my 14th birthday we packed off to Elmira, New York where I
soloed after 8 days and 23 flights courtesy of the Schweizer soaring
school.

[Martin Gregorie[_5_]]

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:21:51 -0800, SoaringXCellence wrote:

> I started building models when I was 9 and wanted to fly for as long as
> I can remember.
>
I have a more of less parallel experience: I also started to build models
at the same age as you, eventually working up through C/L and sport FF to
single channel RC models. When I went to university I joined a proper
model club, discovered competitive Free Flight and never looked back.
I've flown mostly 1/2A power and F1A gliders since then.

Meanwhile, I'd had my first flights in the DC-3s and Fokker Friendships
used by NZ's internal airline while travelling to and from boarding
school. Along the way I had a flight in a Ka-4 and a couple of impromptu
flying lessons in a friend's Mooney.

I flew FF for the next 35 years, which took me all over Europe and to the
USA. Then I met an ASK-21 at Front Royal, VA in 1999. That set the hook
and I took up gliding in 2000, soloing later that year. I never seriously
considered learning to fly before that flight in 1999, being fully
occupied with the competition FF scene in the UK and Europe.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[[email protected]]

On Nov 29, 9:25*pm, Alex Potter > wrote:
> When did people become "air minded", and why?
>
>>
> --
> Alex

Made my first "aaplane' at 2 yrs old from 2 crossed clothespins.
"Flew" it all over the house.
Attended first soaring Nationals on Harris Hill in '54 and flew in
kids model contest. I decided on the spot
that I would be a glider pilot some day.
Built and flew models from 5 yr or so till present. Competed in
control line, free flight, and indoor with Nats trophys
in all at one time or other.
Then RC soaring.
Out of college started gliding full size with Pat and Harriet in
Florida. Had to borrow a car because I spent my
money on gliding first.
Solo and private in '73.
Comm, CFI in '74
First contest '76
First Nationals '79
Obsessed the whole time.
More stories guys!
UH

[Westbender]

When I was about 8 years old, my older brother got me involved in C/L
flying. He had single-channel R/C models back then which planted "the
seed" for my later years. I continued building and flying C/L up until
I was in my mid-teens. At the same time, my brother was also a full
scale power pilot and took me flying on numerous occasions. I was
afforded quite a bit of "stick time" in SEL aircraft. In my early 20's
I began building and flying R/C models including sailplanes (thermal),
which has continued to this day. I currently have a basement full of
various R/C models ranging from sailplanes to ducted fan jets to giant
scale aerobatic "gassers". However, the R/C stuff has been collecting
a bit of dust since I've gotten into full scale soaring. That started
about 5 years ago. By the way, I'm 54 years old now and still loving
all of it. Although flying my LS1f is now at the top of my priority
list.

[Gary Boggs]

I was fascinated with birds and planes from as early as I can
remember. Built models and helped my older brothers with free flight
gliders. In 1967, at the age of 14, the article in National
Geographic absolutely hooked me on gliders. I could not believe that
you could fly for hours, and to such incredible heights, without a
motor! I must have read that article a hundred times. It took me 10
years to figure out how to get started tho. I have been soaring ever
since...

Boggs

[Tony[_5_]]

My uncle got his airplane cert and bought a piper cherokee when i was
in elementary school. i flew with him a few times including some
short XC trips to see my mom. i had a fairly typical set of airplane
toys when i was a kid but didn't really "always dream of being a
pilot". In high school i worked at my dad's pizza restaurant and a
few CFI's started working there after they got a break from flying
thanks to 9-11. Then i decided i wanted to be an airline pilot so i
went through all the power training through Multi Engine Instructor.
By the time I was done with that I realized that I didn't want to be
an airline pilot but being a corporate pilot couldn't be that bad. My
parents had other ideas and made me go to college so i had a "real
job" backup. So I went to Aerospace Engineering school and basically
by chance learned to fly gliders. I worked a lot as a CFI and Charter
pilot while sometimes going to class. Now I work as an engineer but
really just want to fly gliders all the time.

[Papa3]

On Nov 29, 9:25*pm, Alex Potter > wrote:
> When did people become "air minded", and why?
>
>
> --
> Alex

Dad was ex-US Navy Air Corps (ca. 1944-46), and he had me fiddling
around with various aircraft toys from as early as I can remember.
One of the first plastic models was of an F4-U Corsair, dad's favorite
and still one of the sexiest fighters ever built.

Fast forward to a vacation in Franconia, New Hampshire, around 1973.
A hang-gliding event was going on atop the local ski area at the same
time as the local glider operation was towing. I spent hours lying
in the grass taking it all in. Combine that with trips to visit the
cousins back in the Fatherland, where they all flew both model and
"real" gliders, and I was completely hooked on aviation.

Fast forward again to 1984, when I headed off to college to become an
aeronautical engineer. Well, turns out that required great math
skills and 40 hours of problem sets each week - who knew! So, while
I waffled between majors, I ran across a gliding club right on
campus. Cha-ching! For the next four years, I biked out to the
airport when I couldn't bum a ride and spent most of the money I
earned waiting tables (who needs to buy textbooks when you have
roommates) on tows.

25 years, a commercial and CFI-G rating, and about 2,000 hours later,
I still find gliding as enthralling as ever.

P3
Which, by the way comes from my Dad - Henry Mann III - who loaned me
$5K to buy 1/3 of a Grob back in 1988. Pappa III.

[mattm[_2_]]

On Nov 29, 9:25*pm, Alex Potter > wrote:
> When did people become "air minded", and why?
>
> --
> Alex

As far back as I can remember I would watch the gliders flying
overhead
our back yard (airport was about a mile away over a hill). Big
brother
went off to air force flight school when I was 5 (he washed out for a
vision
defect and wound up as a tower controller) but he did take me out to
the airport to watch pattern ops, setting the hook a little deeper.
Built numerous plastic models as a kid, and one "real" glider in which
I catapulted my
friend down the backyard hill in 3rd grade. Despite his admonitions
to
"stick to go-carts" I continued dreaming of flying until I had my
first
real job after finishing grad school. Office mate was a real pilot
who flew tow and glider rides at the local airport and finally invited
me
down to meet the operation. Soloed in 1986 (day after GL at same
place)
but got married later that year, so finally got private glider
licence at Harris Hill (Elmira) in 1992 (signed off for checkride by
GL!).
Crewed one day for P3 not long after that and vowed I'd fly contests
someday. Finally made it a few years ago thanks to great club
aircraft, and now actually own my own plane.

-- Matt

[Mike the Strike]

I was already actively into model planes when the 1954 World Gliding
Championships were held not too far from my home in Derbyshire. One
day, a competitor made a low save (~ 500 feet AGL) not far from our
house and I last saw the ship climbing in a thermal and heading
downwind. I was very impressed and took gliding lessons as soon as I
was old enough and had the money.

Mike

[cernauta]

On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:25:16 +0000 (UTC), Alex Potter
> wrote:

>When did people become "air minded", and why?


You know what? I don't remember.

Sure I remember that flying toys were among my favorites. Aviation
movies and TV series like "les chevalier du ciel" with Mirage pilots
had me waiting anxiously for the broadcast to start.
Nevertheless, bikes and, later, motorbikes, were my real addiction.

I have no idea when I knew about gliders, probably in my late 20's. No
models, no building, no kites.

I started gliding after some friends introduced me to boat sailing. I
was surprised to feel the emotion of speed at a few knots, while the
sail was producing lift depending on its angle to the airflow. I
jumped off the boat and straight into a K-21 in the local club. Only
to find out how... boring it was. You know, a glide in calm air.

I decided I wanted to learn to fly anyway, so took the course. Gliding
hooked me later, through imitation with the club's best pilots (all
seemed to me to be "the best pilots") who soared for hours to the
mountains and flew competitively.

It's been almost 20 years now, well over 2000 hours, and a national
record +some decent competition results and a few XC safaris.
I now plan to get an Instructor rating.

aldo cernezzi

[Walt Connelly]

I grew up on a small farm with a small airport/grass strip about a mile away. For a kid riding a tractor with a plow or a disc, those airplanes taking off and landing not far away were fascinating. They were the typical single engine types one would find at such a field in the 50's and 60's.

I started building models and day dreaming about what it would be like to fly for real. I would walk down the side of the highway with a burlap bag picking up pop bottles which would get you 2 cents each, but I was really just interested in getting a close up view of those planes. I managed to wangle a ride in an old Piper Pacer, if my folks had found out I would have had caught hell.

I joined the Air Force after high school and managed to find myself on the Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center during the Vietnam War. I wasn't piloting but I was a crewman and that was going to have to do for a while. I could tell you what I did but I would have to kill you afterwards.

Once I was discharged I enrolled in college but the flying bug just never went away. I found myself with a part time job at a small local airport and worked for flying lessons. In less than year I had a commercial, single engine land license.

Some 1200 hours and 38 years later I found myself at Seminole Lake Gliderport doing an add on. I obtained a Commercial Glider rating and have been flying as regularly as I can for the last year. Gliding/soaring is without a doubt the best form of flying I have ever experienced.

Air minded beats Air headed any day.

Walt

[Bob Whelan[_3_]]

- b. '49;
- nuts about flight for as long as I can remember; (in fresh spring grass)
used to race DC-3's on hands and knees before/in grade school (knew what they
were);
- remember my first plastic model (pale green P-80 given each of dad's helpers
collating previously-treed bits into plastic bags for his volunteer fire
department fund raiser one year; hated the work but treasured the plane!);
- could identify all common round-engine recip airliners and 1st-generation
turboprops by sound (and can still distinguish Merlins from Allisons);
- 'discovered' (w. older brother's help) balsa wood in grade school & learned
the basics of W&B from years of hand-launched gliders;
- messed about w. plastic models (still have a few from back then!) & later
control line stuff - thought the hand-launched gliders were the most fun of
all though;
- eyesight ruled out military/airlines; to avoid having to do real
work/continue to live off parents' dole, was 'forced' to take aerospace
engineering (instead of the preferred aeronautical) due to the big NASA/moon
push in the late '60's;
- blundered into soaring through my 1st post-school job/officemate (Wil
Schuemann), hit the glider side of the field first (fall '72/license summer
'73) & never did conjur up sufficient motivation to obtain my power license
despite several years' co-ownership of a C-150/passed written/signoff to take
the practical/trip to Oshkosh in it ('79);

Something about flight in general just 'was always' in my brain, & the
fascination has never left. Soaring offered/offers a tremendous palette of
experience for those with the disease, & though all flight is good, soaring
can't be beat, IMHO!

[JC]

I´m 44 and my father got me started with model planes when I was 7 (I
still have my first control line plane). I flew control line stunt and
then R/C and still fly models when I can. When I was 8 or 9 I took my
first glider ride and it was fun but what really set the hook was a
flight in an IS 28 with a friend who was a serious competition pilot
when I was 15.. We were up for an hour and we climbed and did some
wingovers and he let me fly.. That did it..
I couldn´t afford to start lessons at that time so I would go to the
club and help out and I crewed for this friend in four Nationals. When
I was 20 I was in school and had a lousy job but it was just enough
and I was able to get my glider licence and start flying. I was only
able to fly a couple of years before the ups and down of the economy
in my country made it almost impossible to keep flying and for several
years I only flew sporadically. In 1999 I finally got things lined up
and started flying again in earnest and fortunately have been at it
ever since.
If there are thermals all I want to do is go XC but I also instruct
and fly the towplanes. I always had a keen interest in experimental
planes and I´m involved in the construction of an aerobatic plane with
a 400 HP Corvette engine.
I sometimes wonder what ´´normal´´ people do.. I can´t think of
anything except planes and flying..

Regards,

Juan Carlos

[jsbrake[_2_]]

I'm 47. Got a joy ride in a chopper when I was 4 or 5, fascinated by
birds and aircraft from childhood. I built c/l models, small ff
gliders and designed my own 8' span r/c glider when I was 14.
I joined the Air Cadets at 11, first had a flight in a 2-22; got a
scholarship at age 16 for GPL and 17 for PPL. Joined the Canadian Air
Force at 18 to be a pilot, but that didn't work out and went through
university too poor to fly. Graduated and had health issues that kept
me from flying, so I bought a sailboat.
I got my health sorted out 6 years ago and my wife took me for an
intro ride at a local club. I joined that day and got my rating back,
built my hours, put a trailer at the field, became an instructor,
bought a Kestrel 19 and I'm doing xc whenever I can.
My wife decided to become a pilot and got her GPL this summer :)
Now, to win the lottery and buy an Arcus M or E :)

[Nigel Pocock[_2_]]

I was bought up at various airfields in the Uk and far east as my father
was a navigator in the RAF.. I had no interest in flying at the time.
Fast forward to my mid 20s. I was a rally navigator, sitting next to
nutters driving far too fast down farm tracks. One day my driver anounced
that he was giving up to join a gliding club. i went along with him to see
this wierd sport. (no engine, how can that be exciting). After a 45 min
trial flight that included soaring and simple aerobatics I was totaly
hooked and have been for the past 35 years.
I fly very little these days for financial reasons but still manage to
scrounge the occasional 2 seat flight. (4 hrs cross country in a Nimbus3dt
with a british team member. Thanks Kim)
Nigel>

[Don Johnstone[_4_]]

My uncle took me to the Farnborough Air Show in 1955, I was 9 and I
witnessed Roly Falk roll the Avro Vulcan, something I will never forget
for as long as I live. I joined the Air Cadets at 13 yr and spent all my
spare time sitting in the Communication flight crew room at RAF Horsham St
Faiths (now Norwich International Airport). I flew all over the UK in Avro
Ansons. I did a gliding course at 611 GS RAF Swanton Morley in 1962 and
went solo, accepted as a Staff Cadet and obtained my first instructor
category in 1964, aged 18 years. I eventually retired from 611 VGS in 2000
with an A2* cat and appointed as Officer Commanding. Instructed at BGA
clubs from 2000 to 2006 when I retired from instructing, or so I thought.
Seems other people had other ideas, still sitting in the back seat as
noisy ballast.