On Nov 29, 9:25*pm, Alex Potter wrote:
When did people become "air minded", and why?


--
Alex

Dad was ex-US Navy Air Corps (ca. 1944-46), and he had me fiddling
around with various aircraft toys from as early as I can remember.
One of the first plastic models was of an F4-U Corsair, dad's favorite
and still one of the sexiest fighters ever built.

Fast forward to a vacation in Franconia, New Hampshire, around 1973.
A hang-gliding event was going on atop the local ski area at the same
time as the local glider operation was towing. I spent hours lying
in the grass taking it all in. Combine that with trips to visit the
cousins back in the Fatherland, where they all flew both model and
"real" gliders, and I was completely hooked on aviation.

Fast forward again to 1984, when I headed off to college to become an
aeronautical engineer. Well, turns out that required great math
skills and 40 hours of problem sets each week - who knew! So, while
I waffled between majors, I ran across a gliding club right on
campus. Cha-ching! For the next four years, I biked out to the
airport when I couldn't bum a ride and spent most of the money I
earned waiting tables (who needs to buy textbooks when you have
roommates) on tows.

25 years, a commercial and CFI-G rating, and about 2,000 hours later,
I still find gliding as enthralling as ever.

P3
Which, by the way comes from my Dad - Henry Mann III - who loaned me
$5K to buy 1/3 of a Grob back in 1988. Pappa III.