Which Airplane Type Did You Get Your First Ride In?

[Lightning]

Hi All,

I thought it might be fun to see how many types of airplanes were flown in for the first time by our members.

Remember: It's not the first type you flew as a student. It's the first type you flew in as a passenger.

I'll start it off: Ryan PT-22.

Regards,
Lightning

[Kutscha]

Stearman aka PT-13/17/18/27 (can't remember which one).

[Romantic Technofreak]

It was 1969 when me (aged 11 at that time), my brother and a friend were donated a sightseeing flight in a Cessna over Stuttgart.

Regards, RT

[Ricky]

Boeing 767 :p

Sadly I have yet to fly in anything more exciting than a passenger jet.

[GregP]

I was 2 years old when my dad, who was in the Army at the time, got transferred to Germany. We rode over in a Military Lockheed Constellation. According to mom, the pilot put me on his lap and let me play with the wheel. The rest of the passengers didn't like it much. I think she's having some fun with me because I don't think a 2-year old is strong enough to affect the flight path of a Constellation. Wish I could remember that ... but at two years old, I just don't.

My next ride was more than 9 years later in a DC-3. I recall that one.

First aicraft I ever flew solo was the ultra high performance Cessna 150. The LAST aircraft I flew solo was a Piper Dakota. The highest performance airceraft I ever rode in was a McDonnell-Douglas F-4. Got a passenger ride once.

It was WAY cool. If modern fighters accelerate better, they must be shot out of a cannon. No way I can justify the amount of fuel used, but I wouldn't trade the memory for anything.

[Double T]

First fixed-wing aircraft was a Piper Cub.
First rotary-wing was a Bell Jet Ranger. I've been in them twice and really enjoyed helicopters.

GregP--and the F4 Phantom.
Two summers ago I delivered a 113th FS Indiana ANG F-16C model to a crewmember on the base at Terre Haute, IN. I also had the opportunity to meet the Base Commander and show off my model and talk to him.
He commented that good as the F-16 was, he really had a soft spot for the F-4E Phantom. "The Smoker?" I said. He said the F-4 was his favorite thing with wings. The Indiana ANG was flying the F-4 prior to the arrival of their F-16 Falcons.

Tim

[Wuzak]

Boeing 767 :p

Sadly I have yet to fly in anything more exciting than a passenger jet.


Me neither, but in my case the Boeing was a 727.

[ChrisMcD]

Same as Gregg P, my first recollection is of a troop transport flight coming back from Cyprus in a Handley Page Hermes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Hermes

As I remember the pilot did not trust the engines and we stayed in sight of land as much as possible. So much so that we had to land at Naples.

I was about 7 and can remember wandering about the tarmac while the plane was refuelled and people had a meal almost underneath the planes.

Not sure whether this is selective memory or an Italian attitude to safety in the 50's.

[Nick Sumner]

1966, Vickers VC10 from Lagos to Heathrow.

[Double T]

I wish I'd been able to respond...
"A Beechcraft Staggerwing."
(big smile)
BEAU-ti-ful airplane.

Tim

[Burunduk]

Su-7U fighter-bomber when I was 3 years old and my father was a staff commander of Air division. It's first I remember.

Il-14 with my Mom when I was 11 month. But I don't remember this flight :)