What finally prompted you to take flying lessons?

Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.

I've always been interested but never really said "I definitely
want to do it.

I flew a ton for work for 2 years (3 time 1K with UA).

Then my friend's brother flew us from his home airport MMH (Mammoth, CA)
to San Diego Montgomery. Then he dropped me off at CLD (that is
the airline code, I forget the IATA code) which I flew out of
commericially a number of times. I thought that that was the coolest
flight of the year out of 100+ commericial.

I read a bunch of books, both technical and non-technical fun-stuff.

Then my friend, a UA pilot (A320, 777, 767) took me up in a
C152. More 'that is cool. I'm doing this.'

One day go to SQL (San Carlos, CA) and get a DISCO flight with
a CFI ferrying a plane 10 miles to PAO. I wasn't sure where
it was all leading but I went for it. Got my license a couple
of months ago on 12/17/03 (I say this all the time but I think
it will be cool to say for the rest of my life ). 30 plus
hours since that date, I started my IFR and after 2 times on
the sim I'm already doing oscar patterns (not great but fun).


And a further story, one day my CFI and I areclimbing out to a
practice area my CFI says, "when you're
not flying do you think a lot about flying?" Well I said,
"for about 5 weeks I flew with you on a monday, I then flew
somewhere with UA on Tuesday, back on
Thursday and then up with you on Friday. I'm at airports more than
you. of course I think about flying a lot."


Gerald Sylvester
PPL-ASEL (Instrument student) - total time of approx. 100 hours.
UA - Prem. Exec. - over 400,000 flown miles in the 5 years
(over 800 hours)

EDR wrote:
Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.
For 15+ years I've been flying MSFS (even back in the pre-Windoze, DOS
days). Finally, last February my wife bought me the $49.00 Intro flight
at the local Cessna center as more of a joke birthday gift than anything
else. Well, no more of those sorts of birthday gifts. Eight months later
I had my PPL and she has to now fly with me. She swears that she'll only
by me things like socks and underwear from now on.

I always loved airplanes from the time I took my first flight in a TWA
Connie from NY to SF at the age of three. In junior high and high
school I would sit in class and draw pictures of airplanes in my
notebook. I spent hours reading books about aviation, my favorites were
"Fate Is The Hunter, and "The High And The Mighty" by Ernest K. Gann. I
almost got a job at an FBO at Teterboro as a line boy when I was 15,
but they decided they couldn't hire me because of my age. I was so
disappointed that I gave up thinking about learning to fly for about 20
years until I took my two kids to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome and we
took a ride in an old bi-plane there. That flight rekindled my love of
flying and 18 months later I was a private pilot.

EDR wrote in message ...
Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.

I grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippines, so I travelled
commercially from the time I was a few months old, and always
spent my time at the airport and in the airplane looking out the window.
As soon as I was old enough I started building plastic airplane models,
then moved up to RC in my teen years. As soon as I secured a job
that paid enough, and saved up enough to carry me through most of
my lessons without financial delays, I started taking flying lessons,
then sold my RC planes and equipment for more flying money. Much
like EDR I was 24 and single.

--
Allen Johnson

Lack of money.

At least, it seems that way now.....

I'd always had some curiosity about flying. I took an intro lesson in
an ultralight years ago. This was a plane who's frame and fuselage
was two large pipes. One long one with the pilot & student seats
bolted on the front and the tail on the back. The shorter pipe ran
verticle for the wings and engine. Kinda cool to look down between
your knees and see the pipe, then the ground 5000 feet below.
Seatbelts are good to have!

Didn't have the money then, so it all got postponed. The idea was
reawakened some years later by a flight with a friend. Several years
and a new job after that flight I got my PPSEL last September. I've
got 120 hours or so now. My wife likes to fly with me. I rent Cessna
172s and a Diamond Eclipse. No ultralight or experimental yet...

-Malcolm Teas
JYO in the ADIZ

EDR wrote in message ...
Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.


I'd always wanted to fly, but had almost zero information about it.
An old friend of mine got his private ticket just before applying to
be a Navy pilot. He explained what was required and how it was not
beyond the reach of the average person. It opened up a whole new
world. My ignorance of general aviation was the only thing that had
stood in my way.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

(John Galban) wrote in
m:

An old friend of mine got his private ticket just before applying to
be a Navy pilot. He explained what was required and how it was not
beyond the reach of the average person.

Wow!!! A navy pilot who didn't tell you that flying required the reflexes
of an olympic athlete, the brains of a genius, and the looks of a god? Did
he make it in the Navy??? {:)


-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
-----------------------------------------------

"James M. Knox" wrote
Wow!!! A navy pilot who didn't tell you that flying required the
reflexes of an olympic athlete, the brains of a genius, and the looks of
a god? Did he make it in the Navy??? {:)

I did!!! Of course that was back in 1958, I've improved a little
since then. :-)

Bob

"James M. Knox" wrote in message ...
(John Galban) wrote in
m:

An old friend of mine got his private ticket just before applying to
be a Navy pilot. He explained what was required and how it was not
beyond the reach of the average person.

Wow!!! A navy pilot who didn't tell you that flying required the reflexes
of an olympic athlete, the brains of a genius, and the looks of a god? Did
he make it in the Navy??? {:)

Of course, he told me that before he actually became a Navy pilot,
now it's a different story altogether :-)

Actually, most of the Navy and AF pilots I know are not that bad,
but I've met a few who think they are godlike. Several years ago
some AF friends invited me to fly one of their sims. It was a
"multi-player" version where 4 sims could be tied together and pilots
could fly against each other. After taking a beating at the hands of
several instructor pilots, I got off a lucky shot at the Chief
Instructor (not one of the ones who had invited me) and put a
sidewinder up his tailpipe. After a few minutes of ribbing by his
subordinates, he announced that game time was over. The other
instructors later told me that he was pretty ****ed about it, and that
I was not to be invited back again.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)