What finally prompted you to take flying lessons?

EDR wrote:
Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.

I turned 42 and realized that I had the disposable income available
thanks to my websites, and since the kids were fairly well grown I had
the time.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

"Cartoons with a Touch of Magic"
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

A 15 minute ride in an old radial engined airplane on Cape Cod on my 16th
birthday back in 1990. I loved every single second of it. A contributing
factor was one of my best friends getting his ticket. With lots of
part-time jobs, I was able to start lessons three years later, and by 20,
was a private pilot.

"Wizard of Draws" wrote in message
...
EDR wrote:
Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.

I turned 42 and realized that I had the disposable income available
thanks to my websites, and since the kids were fairly well grown I had
the time.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

"Cartoons with a Touch of Magic"
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

"Brad Z" wrote in message news:VnhXb.307548

A 15 minute ride in an old radial engined airplane on Cape Cod on my 16th
birthday back in 1990. I loved every single second of it.

Excellent! The bright yellow one, right? That aircraft is a 1931 Stinson
Detroiter, with a Lycoming engine. Owned (when I flew her) by PBA.
Affectionately known by all who flew her then as Willie. A real wooden
steering wheel (yes, not a yoke), leather seats, and crank-down windows,
just like in your car. A marvelous plane, and great fun, although by the
time you've finished your 30th trip around Ptown on a hot August day, it's
Miller Time. I've got several hundred hours in Willie, and wouldn't trade
one of them.

Willie was purchased some years ago by a former PBA pilot (current shuttle
pilot, I think -- who owns the BOS-NYC shuttle these days?) and moved to the
Marstons Mills airport. As of a few years ago, she was back in Ptown, back
doing the sightseeing flights. I'm not sure of the exact chronology. I
think it is coming up on about forty years that that craft has been gracing
the skies of the outer Cape.

Thanks for the memories.

That's it, John! All these years I had been wondering what kind of bird she
was. The roll down windows and wooden wheel with chain drive stuck out in
my mind as "really neat". I can attest that this plane resulted in the
creation of at least one pilot.

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Brad Z" wrote in message news:VnhXb.307548

A 15 minute ride in an old radial engined airplane on Cape Cod on my
16th
birthday back in 1990. I loved every single second of it.

Excellent! The bright yellow one, right? That aircraft is a 1931 Stinson
Detroiter, with a Lycoming engine. Owned (when I flew her) by PBA.
Affectionately known by all who flew her then as Willie. A real wooden
steering wheel (yes, not a yoke), leather seats, and crank-down windows,
just like in your car. A marvelous plane, and great fun, although by the
time you've finished your 30th trip around Ptown on a hot August day, it's
Miller Time. I've got several hundred hours in Willie, and wouldn't trade
one of them.

Willie was purchased some years ago by a former PBA pilot (current shuttle
pilot, I think -- who owns the BOS-NYC shuttle these days?) and moved to
the
Marstons Mills airport. As of a few years ago, she was back in Ptown,
back
doing the sightseeing flights. I'm not sure of the exact chronology. I
think it is coming up on about forty years that that craft has been
gracing
the skies of the outer Cape.

Thanks for the memories.

"Brad Z" wrote in message news:doyYb.340879

That's it, John! All these years I had been wondering what kind of bird
she
was. The roll down windows and wooden wheel with chain drive stuck out in
my mind as "really neat". I can attest that this plane resulted in the
creation of at least one pilot.

That's neat -- I suspect the list of pilots created by those sightseeing
flights is long and distinguished! Our conversation got my interest going,
and I had to dig out the logbook from the attic. We used to run Willie and
a Cherokee Six, and there would be literally hundreds of folks in line.
That Cherokee Six was a sweetheart, but when you'd get down to the last
couple of rounds in the tank, Tony (the guy running the booth), would always
find someone weighing about 325 to go in the third row seat, and your CG
would be somewhere out on the elevator! When it got untenable, we'd grab a
Douglas between flights, and do a couple of rounds with that, knocking off
32 pax at a whack. Helped keep the lines cut down. But having said all
that, I now have to offer a couple of corrections. Turns out Willie was a
model SM-8A, [which is not the same as a Detroiter], with a Lycoming R-680
engine. All my time is logged as an SM-8A, but I recall a lot of
discussions about that back then. Some folks said she was a Detroiter but
SM-8A was just the model number, others said different things, but the basic
problem was that no one really knew, and back then there was no internet to
quick check the info [Al hadn't thought it up yet!! :-)] The current
registration database for N205W lists the type as SM-8A, and also lists the
year of manufacture as 1930.

JG

In 1968, I was a 24-year-old single engineer. One day at work, I was
invited to go flying with two co-workers and another young engineer
who was going up to maintain his night currency in a 182.
Originally, there had been somebody else scheduled, but he dropped out
at the last minute and the other guys happened to think of me. I was
thrilled. I even broke an engagement with my old college roommate,
who was in town for that night only.

It turned out that the pilot had an instructor's rating from
Switzerland and was thinking about getting his US rating -- but he
only wanted to teach engineers because he didn't want to have to
explain basic physics.

How much would a license cost, I wanted to know. I was surprised by
how reasonable it was and jumped at the chance. (C150s were $14/hr
wet. I don't remember what Jean-Francois' hourly rate was, but I
wound up getting my private for $800. I had my first lesson on April
13, soloed on June 13 and passed my checkride on September 13.)

Prior to that, I had always figured that flying was for people with
lots more disposable income than I had.

Don

"Don Tuite" wrote:
Prior to that, I had always figured that flying was for
people with lots more disposable income than I had.

I still think that, but it doesn't stop me.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

I was that mediocre athlete who played right field in grade school
baseball. I sucked at it because every time a bird or airplane flew
over, I'd be watching it instead of the line drive ball zinging toward
me. Oh the humility! I spent a zillion hours going around in circles
plowing the same fields that turned to dust and drove many people from
the southern plains during the 30's. But, out of those dust clouds
arose a family that included a cousin who became WWII B-17 pilot who
died winning the congressional medal of honor and an uncle who taught
hundreds of servicemen to fly. Then he watched as Uncle Sam sent them
on to the flak filled skies of Europe to defend our freedom and secure
my future. That same uncle was still an active cfi and airplane owner
well into his 90's. At one time he was the oldest active pilot in the
U.S.A. With a family background like that, I had to learn fly, (even
though my dad discouraged me because it was too dangerous).


"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"Don Tuite" wrote:
Prior to that, I had always figured that flying was for
people with lots more disposable income than I had.

I still think that, but it doesn't stop me.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

I grew up around airplanes and airports - Dad is an A&P. Got a few rides
from friends. Pretty much wanted to be a pilot as long as I can remember.
Money kept it out of reach. Went thru AFROTC to pay for college. Got a
degree in aero eng. Either money or work kept me away for years. Then in
'88, I was listening to Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly" and thought to
myself, "why not." So I did.

Gerry