Air minded

On Nov 29, 7:25*pm, Alex Potter wrote:
When did people become "air minded", and why?

I don't remember if it started with reading Biggles (really!) or when,
as a teenager, I would cycle out to RAF Locking and watch the air
cadets flying winch launches and the Auster giving rides over my home
town. I remember being fascinated that I could hear the glider
instructor talking to the student as they flew final over the airport
fence. First time in the air was in a helicopter to the Channel
Islands but all I remember of that was it was noisy. As a student at
Bangor I joined a small group for a trip to the Mynd hoping to get a
flight. No one checked the weather though and the field was closed
with snow. Then an intro ride in a Super Falke at Lasham followed by
several years not doing anything about flying except thinking I
couldn't afford it. Then I was given an intro ride in an L13 at
Thruxton by a friend of my future ex. That gave me the bug and I went
on a holiday course at Challock. I still didn't understand the sport
though as I insisted that I wasn't interested when one of the other
holiday students told me they found a thermal on their flight. All I
wanted to do was learn to land solo. A day or so later I was able to
climb Kermit in a thermal and finally understood where the magic was
to be found. A few months later I ran off to US where I have been
flying for most of the last 30 years. Tempus fugit.

Andy

I started building models when I was 9 and wanted to fly for as long
as I can remember. My father got a license in 1968 when I was 16 and
I got some lessons then. I crewed for him through the end of high
school. I actually got my own student license in 1985, private power
plane in 1987 and glider after I became an instructor in 1993. CFI-G
in 1996. A full-blown case of air-mind.

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:21:51 -0800, SoaringXCellence wrote:

I started building models when I was 9 and wanted to fly for as long as
I can remember.

I have a more of less parallel experience: I also started to build models
at the same age as you, eventually working up through C/L and sport FF to
single channel RC models. When I went to university I joined a proper
model club, discovered competitive Free Flight and never looked back.
I've flown mostly 1/2A power and F1A gliders since then.

Meanwhile, I'd had my first flights in the DC-3s and Fokker Friendships
used by NZ's internal airline while travelling to and from boarding
school. Along the way I had a flight in a Ka-4 and a couple of impromptu
flying lessons in a friend's Mooney.

I flew FF for the next 35 years, which took me all over Europe and to the
USA. Then I met an ASK-21 at Front Royal, VA in 1999. That set the hook
and I took up gliding in 2000, soloing later that year. I never seriously
considered learning to fly before that flight in 1999, being fully
occupied with the competition FF scene in the UK and Europe.


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