First Flight

YOU feel old?? I must be Ancient!

Actually, my younger brother got his first flight in several years before mine. He flew Northeast LWM/LGA. I had to wait until college when I got to fly an Eastern shuttle BOS/LGA. This was before the jet era began. $28 RT.

For my 5th birthday my Dad hired a pilot and a C-172 and we flew from Chico, CA (KCIC) to the Nut Tree in Vacaville, CA (KVCB). My memories of it are only bits and pieces, but it made such an impression on me. I still get a giddy feeling when I think about it. We had lunch and flew home. That was 1976. The Nut Tree airport is still there, but the big restaurant and shops that were there are all closed.

Wouldn’t Sarnia have been more than a little bit out of the way on a Toronto to NYC flight?

July 1968 STL to SFO on a 707, age 12. I remember all the GIs going off to Vietnam and the music over the (free) headphones - Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert and Up Up and Away (forgot the artist).

My first flight I was about 3, my grandpa took me up in a Cessna (or something similar, I didn’t know back then) :smiley:

My first “real” flight on a jet was on Piedmont airlines, from BWI to MCO, in 1989. Later that year I flew Piedmont again, MDT to ERI.

i was about 4 years old and we flew ORD-RSW i believe it was on USairways

My first flight was 1985, MSP-SFO, Sun Country 727 when I was around 1.

The first flight I somewhat remember is 1989 from MSP-SFO on a Northwest DC-10 and the first flight round trip that I remember pretty well was 1992, MSP-DCA on a Northwest A320 and DCA-MSP on a 757.

What’s funny is that I’ve been flying with some regularity since age 14 and next month, 17 years later, is my first trip on a wide-body…767 to HNL from IAH. Other than that I’ve been on about every manner of narrow-body (except a 727 that I know of.)

My first flight was when I was probably 5. We flew Southwest Airlines from Oakland (OAK) to Los Angeles (LAX). We were going to Disneyland!!

The first flight I remember being on was when I was around 5, flying with my one cousin who was about my age and her sister who is a couple years older then us. Our parents put us on a plane from San Diego to somewhere up in the bay area to spend the week with our uncle. I want to say it was a PSA airlines flight (the ones with the “smiley face” painted on the nose). It was pretty exciting to be that young and on a plane without our parents. I remember the flight attendants letting my older cousin pass out mints just before our descent (any one remember when they used to do that?)

CLE - SFO on a Continental Tristar when I was 6 years old. We went out West to visit family.

CYYZ - KMCO I must have been about 4

MSP to DEN as a college junior on a Western Airlines (“The Only Way To Fly”) 727. Little old lady sitting next to me with big rings on her fingers and a couple of shots of liquor during the trip. I grabbed her arm upon reversing the jets during landing–“Is it always like that?” “There, there, sonny, it’s OK and yes it’s always like that.” :blush:

My flirst flight was with Swissair from GVA to ZRH on Saturday December 29th 1984, I was 6 months and 17days…then I flew from ZRH to JFK with PanAM…I lived a year in NYC…

You can have a look at all my flights (+ trip around the world…) here: geocities.com/swissair_man/flights.html

Regards, Patrick.

I think I was 5 years old… that would be 1971… flying NY to NC for my grandfather’s funeral. Don’t recall the airline, but I remember getting all dolled up in my fanciest Sunday dress for the flight.

DTW-FLL (I think) on Delta (I think) in December 1984 when I was 10 months old.

My first flight was a 1957 trip to Scotland to visit my maternal grandparents. I was 2 years old so I don’t remember a lot, but we have family movies to document the trip. The aircraft was a Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation – I wish I could remember flying on such an iconic plane. After taking off from New York (Idlewild then, still a few years until it became JFK), we stopped in Bangor, then Gander, and finally Prestwick in Scotland. I’m told it was a 19 hour flight. I can’t imagine trying that with a 2 year old!

DAY-ORD on a TWA 727, 1976 age 17.

My first flight (also my worst flight) was LAX-EWR in June 1985 on a United 762. I was 13 years old and remember feeling disappointed that we didn’t have a DC-10 for this transcon run (we would have one on the return flight, which was much better).

This was right around the time of the United pilot strike, and fares were low at the time. Takeoff and climb-out were uneventful, and we were served breakfast shortly thereafter. Captain announced a cruise altitude of 410, which is probably the highest I’ve ever flown. We flew over Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland before descending into the New York area.

This was where my stomach went crazy. I remember taking my head out of the bag just in time to see the skyline and the George Washington Bridge during our approach. The 767 slammed onto the runway in a hard landing, and my emptied stomach felt better. It was surely an exciting time for me nonetheless!

Age 9, Lockheed Electra from Burbank to SFO.
First flight in a cockpit, age 14 Schweizer 2-32 at Fremont.
First powered flight, age 16 C-150 SJC