First Plane Rides

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Miles I don't know if "best" is the right word to describe Metal Masters as I don't think it's a contest but it is a good story and one I'm glad he told.

I must admit I took a few moments to process it and reread it. I was struck first because I'd never considered the first aircraft ride many Americans have made like his and what the circumstances where surrounded it.

Perhaps it because like him I also visualized flight from the back of my parents car and there was no question if given the chance I could fly any plane.

Or maybe it was the struggle he has which parallels my own in some ways to maintain a medical including that I also had an unwarranted angiogram just to regain my medical.

I know I'm not alone but I really know what he means when he says "Well I Like my 170A real well."

[GAHorn]

My first ride was at 9 or 10 in a Bell 47 that was hopping rides at a local train museum. First fixed wing (non-commercial) ride was my introin a 152 just before starting work on my private.

Me too! First time off the ground was in a Bell 47 at Aquarina Springs, San Marcos, TX on the way to Boy Scout camp. We talked that helicopter guy (who was trying to sell rides to the public for $15, and having few takers) into taking me and my fellow Boy Scout both up for $5. (My Dad was scoutmaster and he had no idea I was anywhere other than in the Aquarina Springs grounds with the rest of the sea of kids in khaki shorts and neckerchiefs. These days, anyone giving rides to kids should first have written permission from a parent.)

First fixed-wing experience was in a Delta Convair 340/440 from Hot Springs, AR to Houston Hobby. I'd always dreamed of flying since age 5, but remember looking down at east TX pine forests from 12,000 and imagining it more realistically. (And I recall the stewardess serving me a hot, inflight meal, complete with a 5-pack of Winston cigarettes at age 12.)

Didn't really get busy on a certificate until I was on my own as a young adult. Went out to Hobby airport, and paid $8.25/hr, wet, for a 59 C-150 and $5/hr for the instructor. Got it all done in record time (May '70) and by the end of the year had my COMM-ASMEL and CFI. Three years later got my ATP-MEL. I'm still obsessed with this stuff.

[Barike]

Well, I thought I'd resurrect this with my story and see how many others come on board. I'm sure there's LOTS more that haven't put their story in.

Well, my first flight was in a 1952 Cessna 170b. It was back in the early spring of 2006 I believe. And mom gave me a discovery flight as a birthday present. I'm 18 now, so I think it would have been for my 15'th birthday. I've felt God is calling me to the mission aviation field for many years (since roughly 2002). But hadn't had a chance to go up. Well, I've now had a chance to go flying a sum total of 4 times! Okay, 2 times don't really count since that was flying commercial in CRJ700's back to Oklahoma City from Spokane, WA the summer of '07... The first time up was again in the C170b... And the second time, well... I'm not rightly sure what it was... All I remember for sure is it's a Piper... tail dragger... based in Thompson Falls Montana, and the pilot is a retired Alaskan Bush pilot... My hope is to be able to start flight lessons with the gentleman who gave me my first flight (Keith Mackey, I at least for sure know he has a CFI). As soon as I can make some sales ( I won't go into details on that, I'll only say, and if I say something wrong, please let me know, I'm learning the rules on this forum. If someone is interested in helping me press towards my goal of flight... What I'm selling I think everyone in the US needs, especially us pilots [If I'm allowed to classify myself as one yet:P ] PM or email me for more details.) I'm planning to learn in a taildragger!

Barike

P.S. I hope that bit about sales isn't taken wrong, well, I hope I'm following the rules... I'm trying at least!! Oh, and I know my paragraph structure SUCKS, I've got a bad headache I'm trying to get rid of, so you'll hopefully excuse my grammatical errors, normally they aren't that bad!

[Harold Holiman]

My first plane ride was in a Sea Bee when I was about five years old. Someone there in Greenville, Mississippi had the Sea Bee and on Sunday afternoons would take people for a ride from the levy at Lake Ferguson. My Daddy and I went. The main thing I remember, being five or so, was the pilot pumping down the gear to leave the water and pull up onto the edge of the concrete landing. This was in either 46 or 47.

My first commercial airline flight was a return trip from New Orleans with my Grandmother on a Chicago and Southern DC-3. She had taken me to New Orleans on the train so I could ride in an overnight pullman and we retured by plane. She said that however fancy the New Orleans resturants were that she took me to, I would only order a hamburger. One thing I remember about the train trip was that I was disappointed because our train had a steam engine and not one of the "new" diesels. This was in 1947. Just a few years ago you could still read "Chicago & Southern" in faint faded letters on one of the old airport buildings in Memphis. Delta bought out Chicago & Southern sometime in the late 40's or early 50's. Chicago & Southern was headquartered in Memphis.

I think the prettiest flight I have ever made, from a scenery standpoint, was our trip flying along the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the Wilmington Convention in 2003

Harold

[GAHorn]

Here ya' go Harold! Not a "three".... but it's got three-tails!

[BVRAIR]

1951 when I was 10 years old in a Sea Bee. Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Once you look down, your hooked.
Gary

[russfarris]

Well, my first plane ride was in 1960 when I was five years old in a TWA Constellation. I still have the memory of being in the lavatory standing on the toilet seat, peering out at the giant triple tail with red stripes (I know now it was a 749 Connie, because it had a porthole in the lav!)

I got to fly a Piper Colt in 1965, the pilot let me handle the controls. Same thing happened in 1967 in a 182 ride-hopping over Pike's Peak. Went home that year on a Braniff Electra, just loved it. Built and flew model airplanes - I was hooked on aviation.

Then a funny thing happened - I read a paper back called "Airline Safety is a Myth", by Captain Vernon Lowell. It was filled with horrific descriptions of crashes
and things that could go wrong - I couldn't put it down.I was travelling with my mother in Colorado, who was a rodeo promoter in the summer, and she planned on sending me home to Florida a few weeks early, just like the year before, on the airlines.

I absolutely refused to fly! At 13 years of age, that book had me convinced if I flew I would become a flaming bundle in a wheat field in the middle of Kansas. She was very suprised, to say the least.

So...I took the Trailways BUS to Florida, all the the way from Colorado Springs to Ft. Myers; almost a three day marathon! THAT cured me of my fear of flying...forever. I soloed in 1972 and have enjoyed a 30 year airline pilot career since. And I still have that copy of "Airline Safety is a Myth" on my aviation bookshelf.

My kids love this story...Russ Farris

[jrenwick]

A few years ago my brother, his 12-year-old son, and a friend of his son's came to Oshkosh while I was there, and I treated us all to a ride in the EAA's Ford Trimotor. That was my first ride in one, but it was my nephew's friend's first ride in any airplane. I hope someday he'll know he has a story to tell!

I fly Young Eagle flights in the warmer months, and I hope we're giving lots of kids good stories to tell too!

[DaveF]

John, I saw your name on the EAA list of Young Eagles pilots. Thanks for doing that!

I was a typical airplane nut as a kid but didn't get a ride until I was about 20. It was in a Piper Arrow in about 1978. I was in college and answered an ad from a guy looking for passengers for a weekend trip from Rochester to White Plains NY. The pilot was a law student and had us sign some kind of release form that I didn't read. Amusing to think about that now! I remember being fascinated by the view of the Finger Lakes. I also remember that one of the passengers didn't use the bathroom before departure. I'm sure her memory of the flight is less pleasant than mine.

My mother wasn't happy that I'd risked my life in one of those deadly small airplanes. Her fear didn't ease until years later when she did the Hudson River scenic flight with me. Now she laughs and asks when we're going to do that again, but this time *under* the George Washington Bridge.

Dave

[GAHorn]

... The pilot was a law student and had us sign some kind of release form that I didn't read. Amusing to think about that now! ...

I once signed such a form on behalf of my family in order to gain approval for them to accompany me in a state of TX airplane on a trip. My lawyer told me it was unenforceable and to go ahead and sign it if that got me what I wanted.

(How can you "PRE"-disregard a negligent action that may/may-not occur and that could not have been foreseen?) If my wife had slipped and cut her head on the trailing edge of the wing.... how could I have known that might have been a hazard? How could I have predicted an engine-failure? The point is, one cannot truly obtain release from liability for future actions except for highly-specified actions and their expected outcome. The expected outcome of the TX flight was a successful landing somewhere. If anything else had occured, the state was liable for not performing as promised/expected.)

[blueldr]

The Army, and later The Air Force, had a standard "Release of Liability " form that used to be required of all other than military passengers when flying on military airplanes. My next door neighbor on Guam was the Air Dvision TJA, the head lawyer for the division. He once told me that the release was useless since you "could not release liability before the fact". We still had to have the releases signed.

[170C]

I recall being required to sign a form releasing the Air Force from liability when I flew in a C-5A from Davis Monthan to Carswell with the TB-58 tucked away in the belly and also on a C-130 flight from Carswell to Wright-Pat & back to Carswell for an Air Force Museum meeting & dinner under the B-36. Heck, I didn't mind signing the form, I wanted to make the trips & enjoy a bit of my tax dollars being spent

[GAHorn]

I think perhaps the main value of such "releases" is that it places in the mind of the signer, the idea that he/she has no claim should an injury later occur, so it may have only the effect of diminishing any chance of claims.

[DaveF]

I wonder if signed releases were just as useless back in those days or whether that aspect of law has been, uh, "developed" since then.

Knowing what I know now about flying, I will say it was a somewhat risky undertaking. Being upstate NY, the weather wasn't CAVU , and I have no idea if we went VFR or IFR. I had no idea if the pilot had 20 hours or 20000. Four people and full fuel must have put us at gross, but I knew nothing about that. All I know is we drove to the airport, fueled, preheated, climbed in, and took off. My parents were horrified that I'd put my life in a stranger's hands like that, but I was young and invulnerable. Sure glad I did it!

[johneeb]

Some more Connie pictures these of a 1049 model.
http://www.rbogash.com/Connie/connie_done.html