First flight experience
May 23, 2014 | 11:09 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,521
First flight experience
Mine was in the air cadet force at school; in a Chipmunk! I was sick and started to hate flying. On a school holiday cadet visit to an airbase somewhere in East Anglia I avoided a flight in a Hercules by pretending not to know the control tower clocks were on GMT while we were on BST (I'm quite smart).
Took years to enjoy flying again. In the late 1970s I flew regularly from EMA to GLA but hated it. Slowly relaxed and now it's wonderful.
I still can't get over the marvel of seeing clounds in bright sunlight from above!
Took years to enjoy flying again. In the late 1970s I flew regularly from EMA to GLA but hated it. Slowly relaxed and now it's wonderful.
I still can't get over the marvel of seeing clounds in bright sunlight from above!
May 23, 2014 | 2:37 pm
#2
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: SFO
Programs: United Premier Gold, Delta Silver Medallion
Posts: 703
My mom tells me that on a JetBlue flight, I was invited into the cockpit on boarding! I was confused on how the pilots maneuver the plane if the cockpit was sideways (I was 1), until I realized that people board the plane sideways.
May 23, 2014 | 3:15 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR- ish
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue
Posts: 4,295
BA LHR-MUC on a school trip around 1996. My best friend was an aviation enthusiast and explained various technical details to my delight but to the great discomfort of our scared to death of flying teacher who was sitting in the row in front. I think the plane was a 737.
May 23, 2014 | 3:48 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: DXB
Programs: EK Gold
Posts: 40
I remember on my first flight my ears were about to explode, and I thought that flying was terrible. Luckily the second flight it got better, and nowadays I barely notice the change of air pressure in my ears. It's one thing I always remember whenever a small kid starts crying during ascent or more often descent.
May 23, 2014 | 4:28 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: BWIADCA
Posts: 2,263
First flight experience
My first flight experience was on Antonov AN-2 sightseeing flight above my town. I was around 5 yo. They stuck 20 kids into the parachute configured plane and flew us for 30 minutes around the city. Since this plane was for parachute training there were benches along the walls. Your back was back to the windows. I was facing other kids vomiting on the floor for 30 minutes 
I was too small to reach to the window to see anything. And with the seatbelt on I couldn't move anyway
My first commercial flight was year later on LOT Antonov AN-24. Domestic flight in Poland from Baltic Sea to the Tatra mountains in the southern part of the country. Since then I am obsessed with flying.
I was too small to reach to the window to see anything. And with the seatbelt on I couldn't move anyway My first commercial flight was year later on LOT Antonov AN-24. Domestic flight in Poland from Baltic Sea to the Tatra mountains in the southern part of the country. Since then I am obsessed with flying.
May 23, 2014 | 4:30 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Sydney Australia
Programs: No programs & No Points!!!
Posts: 14,389
I was going from Melbourne to Tasmania when I was about 3 or 4. I have no recollection of it, except for the photos of mum dressing us up in our best outfit for the trip. We were probably on TAA.
May 23, 2014 | 5:56 pm
#7
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Programs: United, Delta, AA, southwest
Posts: 151
My dad took me to the 1962 or 63 Worlds Fair in NYC (can't remember which year). We went for a helicopter ride over New York to see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Loved flying ever since.
May 23, 2014 | 6:53 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: MR LT Titanium, AA LT PLT, UA SLV, Avis PreferredPlus, HH Gold, Hertz PC, National Executive, etc.
Posts: 31,670
Flying with Grandma back home, some summer in the early '70. It was PIT-EWR, so I suspect it was Allegheny Airlines and probably a DC-9. I still remember how cool I thought it was to have french toast for breakfast at my seat while flying.
May 23, 2014 | 8:32 pm
#11
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
1964 Charter - can't remember the company. 4-engine piston, Paris Le Bourget - Shannon (Ireland) - Gander (Newfoundland Canada) - Idlewild. Bulkhead seats. FA gave me a pillow to balance the dinner tray on because the bulkhead seats had no foldout trays. Watching the props start, spin up during the preflight, and deflect backwards when reversed was fantastic.
Last edited by ajGoes; May 24, 2014 at 8:56 am Reason: Fixed spelling for that NYC airport
May 23, 2014 | 11:32 pm
#12
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 309
It was a little 45min gate to gate puddle jump on a dash 8 300 in '96-ish. I was about 8 at the time travelling as an unaccompanied minor. I was invited up to the flight deck and even offered the jump seat for the approach and landing.
Looking back I realize what a privilege that was even at that time. AND I was "no one special"!
Looking back I realize what a privilege that was even at that time. AND I was "no one special"!