First flight

My first flight...I was 4 or 5 years old and I flew from Southern California to Tucson, Az. Back then they gave kids lots of goodies and I was excited to show off all of my loot!! 🙂

My WORSE flight was on a Continental flight to LAX from Houston. After being stranded at the airport for hours due to a huge storm (with only summer clothes!), I finally was able to board the plane. Then we sat for another 1½ hours ON the plane before we left. Well, soon as we got into the clouds, the plane started shaking and making funny noises. I had a feeling something was not right, and then the guy across from me motioned for a crew member to peek out his window. I then heard the crew lady whisper to the guy "Sir, PLEASE do not tell anyone about this. You will cause a mass panic on the plane. We need to keep people calm." (Too late, I already saw and heard what was happening!!!)

Then the crew was running back and forth, frantic. Then we came out of the clouds and I could see we obviously were not going to be flying too far...then the captain announced the plane was having "mechanical problems" and they were turning back to the airport. Then I could see the runway, all foamed up, tons of emergency vehicles waiting for us...Then we landed got off the plane and got ushered into 1 of their "private" areas. Before they let us go free, they had a "talk" with us about what happened being "confidential", and we weren't suppose to "discuss" it with any media outlets. As soon as they let us out of that area, I ran to the nearest phone and called my mom and she said I was talking so fast and she could sense the fear in my voice...she told me to go calm down and have a glass of wine.

Since there were no more flights that night (and the storm had gotten worse), Continental put me up for the night in a fancy hotel. Too bad I couldn't enjoy it because my nerves were shot and I had no warm clothes!!

So...what happened ya ask?????

ONE OF THE PLANE ENGINES CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!! :-O

Continental was nice enough to reimburse me for my ticket and give me another free round trip ticket to anywhere they went. I gave it to a friend!! No way was I flying again on Continental. (sans my flight back to LAX/moms.) 😐

“My first flight was in a DC-3 (or C47 Gooney Bird, I was too young at the time to know the difference) in about 1959. It only lasted about an hour, but I remember it VERY WELL, considering that it is now over half a century later.”

The first flight I can remember was on a Douglas DC-7, with Eastern Airlines. I was seven years old at the time (1957) and flew by myself from Daytona Beach to LaGuardia to visit my Nanny who had taken care of me from birth. My parents were too busy working to be inconvenienced with parenting.

I had more fun on that flight, free peanuts, sandwiches, Coke’s (all sodas in the South are called Coke’s) and the plane was bouncing all over the place! I thought it was fun but some of the other passengers didn’t. Actually I think some were praying or something. Although I vividly remember the flight to NY, I can’t remember the return flight (three months later) Oh well, memories are fun.

Have a great weekend!

I think I was 8 or 9. Dad, the pilot, took us all up. I think maybe a Cessna 150 or something similar. Some years later we were up flying and I happened to be in the front seat - co-pilot I guess. Dad was determined to teach me. I wouldn't have anything to do with it so Dad just let go of the controls until I would at least grab the yoke. I remember him folding his arms and the plane started to pitch around some. Scared to death, I finally grabbed hold and righted it somewhat. I couldn't reach foot pedals so he took care of that while I was steering the plane and then he starts telling me what all the gauges are all about. Then some 10 years later and I'm in college and he just shows up now and then: "let's go flying, I got a plane rented for a few hours". I think my roomates thought I/we were bs'ing them until I brought back pics of me at the stick flying along happily. Why I never got my pilot's license.. money. I did pursue a helicopter/rotary license for a short while but it costed about 4 times than fixed wing.

In a Piper Cub or equivalent, at the National Plowing Contest held that year on Hershey Farms, Hershey, PA. Yes, the candy bar Hershey. Around 1955 or so. My father was a Massey-Harris-Ferguson dealer and he had trucked out one of his new tractors and plow, an MHF TO 35, to be used by the Arkansas or Tennessee state champion who could not afford to bring his own. My older brother took me along on the flight, but I do not know if he paid for me or my parents. We spent almost a week there.

I had another small plane flight in high school with a buddy who was considering taking pilot training.

I did not fly commercial until 1985 in a DC 10 to Tampa. Took the family to visit my wife's parents and then Disney World. Since then flown to Denver, San Diego, Detroit, Detroit, Denver and Orlando. Those first two flights were the most fun.

Paul in PA

First flight I can remember was on the very first 747 put into service...it was the second commercial 747 flight but the very first transatlantic from East to West. Unfortunately this vehicle was involved in a very bad accident
and was destroyed years later. Here's a photo.

> First flight I can remember was on the very first 747 put into service...it was the second commercial 747 flight but the very first transatlantic from East to West. Unfortunately this vehicle was involved in a very bad accident
> and was destroyed years later. Here's a photo.

Aww...look at the little cutey Daryl!!!! 🙂

I remember that accident...very sad. 🙁 Ironic that was the same exact plane you flew on years before. 😐

My Father was a pilot and he owned a couple of C182s when I was small. My first flight was almost certainly in N5888B (Five triple-8 Bravo), a 1950s straight tail C182.

Tenerife was bad. The KLM Captain was 100% responsible for that accident. He took off or attempted to takeoff without a clearance. One of the crew members tried to tell him they didn't have a clearance but he essentially told the "kid" to be quiet. After that the airlines trained the crews to be more assertive and the Captains to listen to crew members.

> Tenerife was bad. The KLM Captain was 100% responsible for that accident. He took off or attempted to takeoff without a clearance. One of the crew members tried to tell him they didn't have a clearance but he essentially told the "kid" to be quiet. After that the airlines trained the crews to be more assertive and the Captains to listen to crew members.

That's right Dave...the whole chain of events started because of a terrorist groups bomb explosion in the Gran Canaria terminal ... here is a condensed version of the accident.

Cute? ... I dont think so Angel...I'm missing my front teeth.

> Cute? ... I dont think so Angel...I'm missing my front teeth.

Still cute!! That's why!!! 🙂

My first flight was probably a DC-4 under BOAC (British Overseas Air Corporation) or EAA (East African Aurways) livery in 1958. The flight would have been between Heathrow and Nairobi about six months after I was born. My Dad got a commission with the Kenya Police and we moved there until Kenya got independence in 1964.

BOAC used to give young fliers logbooks and wings. We would let the air hostess know we wanted our log signed. She would take us up to the cockpit to meet the Captain and get our books signed.

That plane is still out there Dave in Vistalia, CA

My first time up in the air was in a helicopter at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, Colorado on or about August 25, 1963. Lasted several minutes for something like $5 or $10.

First airpline flight was a small commercial plane to puddlejump to KC International when I was almost 22. Guessing the jet was a 737 or something similar to get me to Chicago on TWA. The connecting flight to my destination was a Convair something or other that held maybe 40-60 passengers at most. About a month later I was on a DC-10 from Chicago directly to Sacramento.

They moved it; last time I checked it was at Shafter (between Visalia and Bakersfield).

All the flying I do now a days is in the back of a Jet Plane. The deck angles really unnerve me; they look like steeper than a Cessna power on stall attitude. It's not so bad if I can have a window close to the wing. Tuesday I got stuck on an aisle seat in the next to last row; don't like it at all. The turbulence seems worse back there too.

The next leg I switched to a middle seat in the exit row which is way better although it is kind of cramped. I told the big guy next to me that I would rather be there than in the back. Southwest 737s have a right-side window seat in the exit row with no seat in front of it. I want that seat; I may pay the $10 for early boarding to have a better chance at it. My return flight on Saturday (changed from Tuesday) is one airplane that stops in Denver and Portland so if nothing else I will have a shot at that seat in Denver.

Concorde

Did anybody get a chance to fly on the Concorde?

I always planned on doing that "someday," but missed my chance(s). I seriously doubt that there will be another super-sonic airliner in my lifetime.

Loyal

First flight November 1975, Delta Airlines from Houston, TX to Oklahoma City. Went to bury my Grandpa. Other than an Orientation flight in a Bell 300, all others have been on commercial airlines. The smallest was a Piedmont puddle jumper twin engine turboprop out of Bridgeport, CT, to Baltimore, MD.

It's funny to me when people call a twin turbine 20 or 30 seat puddle jumper "small."

A C150 (2 seats) is small and a C206 or C210 (6 seats) is large. 🙂

I don't remember NOT flying

My father worked for Eastern Airlines for over 20 years and we got to fly "free" (had to pay taxes), so we flew all over the place. I can remember sitting in the pilots lap as we flew from Albany to Atlanta (+/- 200 miles). Things were a lot different in the 50's and 60's.

Andy