I think I was lucky in that my first flight was in a Piper J-3 Cub, when I was 11, in 1969. Niney Rodriguez, a local pilot, flew me around our town of Firebaugh, California and then took up my 10 year old brother, Phil. We were both inspired to become pilots.

My uncle who was an engineer for NASA took me to Oshkosh when I was around 11. While there he bought me a ride on a Boeing 247. That was 41 years ago. When it was built, according to the literature plane side, they thought that it would be the biggest airplane to ever take to the skies. Technology simply didn't exist to allow anything larger to fly. I'm sure that information was current for about a week.

I remember it like yesterday, summer of '55 in my uncles brother's PA-12, grass strip out of Highmore, SD. Remember leaving the ground, circling around and seeing my aunt wave, that was it... from there looking up at every airplane that passed overhead, building models, and wishing untill I got my first lesson. Now all I need is a reason to go up... like gee, I think I need a cup of coffee somewhere!! Thanks for shaking the memory tree.

First ride...

...cost me $2.00 for 15 minutes in a Navion back in 1964. My girlfriend and another couple with whom we were double dating all went at the same time....$2.00 each. Us and the pilot. Five in a Navion. My next flight was in a C-120 as a student pilot in 1966. First airliner was a Lake Central Airlines CV-580 from Terre Haute, Ind. to St. Louis Mo. enroute El Paso Tx. for Army basic training in 1969.

Quizz just for fun............. That girlfriend whom I mentioned and I are grandparents to the same two little girls with a third one on the way. Yet she and I never married and we never had any children together! So how is it possible that she is Kaia and Indi's grandmother and I am Kaia and Indi's grandfather??

Happy Trails,

bob

Your kids got married?

My first small plane ride was in a Piper Seneca I think... been a long time. My first lesson was in a Quicksilver MXL ultralight. I will never forget that initial feeling of leaving the ground and looking between my legs at the asphalt.

Hey Bob,
How about you and she each had children from separate marriages, those children met and married and now have children of their own making each of you grandparents to the same children.

Zane you beat me to it.

10 years after my first plane ride home from school following a snowstorm my mother fanagled a deal with Lowinski flying service in Watertown, SD to solo my brother and me out for a $100 each in 1968. Even then that was cheap.

dirtstrip wrote:Zane you beat me to it.

10 years after my first plane ride home from school following a snowstorm my mother fanagled a deal with Lowinski flying service in Watertown, SD to solo my brother and me out for a $100 each in 1968. Even then that was cheap.

That was pretty cheap. In the 50's there was a guy in Yakima that would give kids about a 20 minute ride around the valley for a penny a pound I think it was. I didn't have the 80 cents though.

In 1956 while in high school, one of our teachers, a Catholic priest, took our whole English class flying four at a time from Wings Field outside of Philadelphia in his Piper Arrow.

The next time I flew in a single engine airplane was when I began flight training at McGuire AFB in 1986 when I was 43 years old. It was a Cessna 152, N714YY.

[quote="dirtstrip"]Hey Bob,
How about you and she each had children from separate marriages, those children met and married and now have children of their own making each of you grandparents to the same children.[/quote

See what that FIRST AIRPLANE RIDE can lead to!

Bob

My first ride was with my grandfather; from Jackson MI on June 18, 1975. He took me up in a Cherokee 140; N578FL. I remember the ride but the other detailed information came out of the log book he bought me that day to log the flight…which I started using again in 2000 and completed my PPL with it. So, Fast foreword almost 30 years to Jan of 2005. I finally got a chance to return the favor. I rented a plane out of Brooksville FL and took grandpa to lunch at Lakeland.

It all has to start someplace. In my case, thank goodness for family.

I was 13, went with my uncle Bob in a Piper Cherokee. I was hooked from that moment on.

remember well...

saturday in the fall, and i was 9 or 10. shot pheasants 'till noon off of the big front fenders on a jeep, jumped in my uncle's 210P, flew from monteview, id to salmon, id. for lunch...30 min flight...walked to town for hamburgers...even thn a total blast! not long after, remember doing trips in stinsons and call-airs to falconberry and upper loon...!

My first & second plane rides were as a CAP cadet, late 60's. The plane was an L16 (Champ), at an airport in Michigan (Berz), which is no longer in use. I remember the pilot was talking to us, explaining something, when he turned around while pointing with his finger & put a hole in the skin. We were all pretty disappointed that we weren't going to get our ride, but he used some Duct Tape to make a repair, and took us for our rides. Now that I have a Supercub, I still use Duct Tape for repairs.

I went on these rides completely illegally, BTW. My folks didn't know I had joined CAP and was going flying, and I had forged my dad's signature on the release form. It was way worth the deception.

ASW.