When and What Started our hobby with aviation?

[moose135]

It was a thrill for me at 7 or 8 years old to watch the display.

They were flying Jennys back then, right Art? :D

Like many of you, I got my start at a young age. My father was a mechanic for TWA at JFK, and every summer, during his vacation, he would take me along when he went in to Hangar 12 to pick up his check (no direct deposit back then). He would always give me a tour of the hangar, and up into whatever aircraft happened to be there. I still remember the first time I saw a 747 up close, probably 1970 or '71. It was immense! Climbing up the stairs, sitting in the cockpit, and looking all the way down to the ground was incredible. I had already had my first aircraft flight by then - it must have been around 1968, as an 8-year-old. He got passes for the family, and we enjoyed a day trip, non-stop service from JFK to Hartford, on a Convair 880.

Around that same time, I think when I was about 9, I got my first camera, a Kodak 126 Instamatic (my father is also a photographer, although not so much these days). Along with all the usual family and vacation photos, I did shoot some aviation stuff, and one of these days I'm going to go through the stuff at my parents' house and find those pictures. Growing up, we would take one or two vacations a year, flying to the West Coast, Arizona, Colorado, and other places. In college, I started taking flying lessons at FRG, and bought my first SLR, a Yashica that I used to shoot slides for 25 years. I was also working as a security guard at JFK, at the Pan Am hangars, and would bring the camera along from time to time - I always joke that if I had the kind of equipment I have now back then, I would have been fired after about two weeks...

After college, it was the Air Force and flying KC-135s. Although it's been years since I've done any serious piloting, I still love it, and not many things beat a sunny spring day, hanging around the old air patch, watching the the guys and gals defy gravity.

[AAGold]

Jennys????? I thought it was the Wright Bros. original :D

LOL

Art

[LGA777]

My dads first flight was in a Jenny, probably around 1924-1925. Barnstormer landed on the beach at Melbourne, Florida. I think he paid 5cents for a 15 min flight. Sadly that aircraft and pilot crashed around 2 weeks later killing the same pilot and an unfortunate passenger. My dads last flight was with me on a National DC-10 in 1975, around 2 years before his death, quite a difference in aviation advances between those aircraft.

Regards

LGA777

[Speedbird1]

I showed an interest in aviation as a kid when we drove on the Belt Pkwy. and they were using the 13L Approach on summer days. I got a "rush" when I saw the aircraft passing over the car. I especially recall seeing a United B747 passing low overhead. I suppressed my interest for decades until I saw the Concorde departing over Brighton Beach. The following weekend, I went with my friend to see this "controversial" aircraft. After that, we went every weekend and I was hooked on plane spotting. My favorite place, the Pan Am Roof was closed after the bombing of PA 103 so we had to settle watching aircraft through glass at various terminals.We also spent several summers on Rockaway Blvd watching 22L arrivals. After the Concorde crash, my interest waned. After 9-11, most of those terminals were closed unless you had a boarding pass. Since I don't have a car, airline spotting is very difficult. I now only go spotting once in a while mostly to T1 to see the A380. My favorite aircraft, the B747 has very few passenger flights now anyway as it's not fuel-efficient.