What finally prompted you to take flying lessons?

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

That's my answer, too (the first part). How I loved those little
rubber-powered balsa jobs.

(Anybody catch The Simpsons last night? Had some "bargain airline" that
was flying- you guessed it- giant rubber-powered balsa planes full of
people. I got a hell of a laugh out of that one.)

I didn't take my first lesson till I was 31, having spent a number of
years doing R/C. I wish I'd have started flying sooner.

Nomen Nescio wrote:

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I knew that I was going to fly since I flew those little balsa wood
planes with the rubber band at age 4 or 5.
When I was 17, I worked as a tin knocker all summer to pay for lessons.
Got my license......never looked back.

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Lack of money.

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

"Brad Z" wrote in message news:VnhXb.307548

A 15 minute ride in an old radial engined airplane on Cape Cod on my 16th
birthday back in 1990. I loved every single second of it.

Excellent! The bright yellow one, right? That aircraft is a 1931 Stinson
Detroiter, with a Lycoming engine. Owned (when I flew her) by PBA.
Affectionately known by all who flew her then as Willie. A real wooden
steering wheel (yes, not a yoke), leather seats, and crank-down windows,
just like in your car. A marvelous plane, and great fun, although by the
time you've finished your 30th trip around Ptown on a hot August day, it's
Miller Time. I've got several hundred hours in Willie, and wouldn't trade
one of them.

Willie was purchased some years ago by a former PBA pilot (current shuttle
pilot, I think -- who owns the BOS-NYC shuttle these days?) and moved to the
Marstons Mills airport. As of a few years ago, she was back in Ptown, back
doing the sightseeing flights. I'm not sure of the exact chronology. I
think it is coming up on about forty years that that craft has been gracing
the skies of the outer Cape.

Thanks for the memories.

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

That's it, John! All these years I had been wondering what kind of bird she
was. The roll down windows and wooden wheel with chain drive stuck out in
my mind as "really neat". I can attest that this plane resulted in the
creation of at least one pilot.

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Brad Z" wrote in message news:VnhXb.307548

A 15 minute ride in an old radial engined airplane on Cape Cod on my
16th
birthday back in 1990. I loved every single second of it.

Excellent! The bright yellow one, right? That aircraft is a 1931 Stinson
Detroiter, with a Lycoming engine. Owned (when I flew her) by PBA.
Affectionately known by all who flew her then as Willie. A real wooden
steering wheel (yes, not a yoke), leather seats, and crank-down windows,
just like in your car. A marvelous plane, and great fun, although by the
time you've finished your 30th trip around Ptown on a hot August day, it's
Miller Time. I've got several hundred hours in Willie, and wouldn't trade
one of them.

Willie was purchased some years ago by a former PBA pilot (current shuttle
pilot, I think -- who owns the BOS-NYC shuttle these days?) and moved to
the
Marstons Mills airport. As of a few years ago, she was back in Ptown,
back
doing the sightseeing flights. I'm not sure of the exact chronology. I
think it is coming up on about forty years that that craft has been
gracing
the skies of the outer Cape.

Thanks for the memories.

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.

You know, leave out the word "Skydiving" and that post takes on an
entirely different meaning.