What's your interest in civil aviation?

Both my parents worked for American Airlines in fact thats where they met.  Mind you they didnt have prestigious jobs as Bondomans father they were more rank and file.  Mom quit after a few years to have kids and dad went on to work there for 55 years before retiring.  We flew every where.  I cant recall a family vacation that we actually got in a car and drove to our destination.  Being around airliners/airports from a early age (my first flight was at the age of 2) sorta seeded my interest.  One of my favorite parts of the trips was going with dad to pick up his paycheck, we would always go out to the ramp and walk by the planes. 

Mine is simple I was in  and around the military most of my life and have been flying almost 30 years I always like airliners and large frame aircraft I fly 6-8 times a year to and from work Flying is no fun any more to me once you get on a airplane you start to look around at might be a bad guy so that makes for some long flights. It also helps that I'm a air base firefighter working crash rescue

   I have been an aircraft mechanic and inspector my entire adult life. I worked for Delta airlines for seventeen years before retiring. I am currently working as an inspector at Bell helicopter. Thought I might see what those whirlygig things were all about.

My dad was a Pilot for Midwest Airlines for 21 out of their 25 years, and he just got layed off last Wednesday. He flew DC-9's, MD-80's, and B-717's. He's also flown a million other planes, DC-3, Lierjet, Citation, etc.  So, yeah, that PROBABLY has SOMETHIGN to do with my interest in aviation. I've been staring at my MD-80 kit in the basement, but I'll get around to it...

My father flew B-25's in the war. When I was kid he was friends with a gentleman who ran a cropdusting operation out of our little small town airport. He would take me there at least once a week, and they'd let me crawl around the airplanes for hours. I was hooked... on general aviation aircraft in general, and agricultural aircraft in particular...  

    None of my family were involved in Aviation careers, save for an uncle who was a Private Pilot, and hanging around him spawnwd my interest in flying.       My first job was a bag boy at the grocery store across the road from our local airport... my second job (after six months of watching and listening to the airplanes from the grocery store) was washing, cleaning, refueling airplanes at the airport!      Because of my age, I wasn't allowed to work but so many hours a week, but the Instructor (my boss) needed me on weekends so he told me he'd pay me in "Flying Lessons" if I would work.    

    Lessons began in a Piper J-3, first solo was in a 1947 Aeronca 7AC late in the afternoon of August 27th 1964!      First solo Cross-Country was to Tri-Cities Airport just south of Bristol, Tn., and while waiting on thier instructor to sign my logbook, I was mesmerized by a Piedmont Airlines Martin 4-0-4 that landed and pulled up right outside the building I was in!     The pilots came in and while one was talking to the guy behind the desk, the other one came over and ask me if I was flying the pretty yellow & orange "Champ"; he said that's what he learned to fly in.       I took him out to see the Champ, and when the Captain came out, they talked a minute and asked if I'd like to ride with them as they taxied the 4-0-4 over to the Piedmont Aviation maintenence hanger!

I later walked back across the field to where the Champ was sitting, but it seemed like I was "FLOATING"!       All these years and a Military career in Army Aviation later, I'm still absolutely thrilled anytime I get the opportunity to fly commercially!

General Aviation is my livlihood and my passion.

I'm a professional pilot, primarily working as a flight instructor in a college flight program. I work with the local flying club, as well, and I also freelance on the side - ferry flights, short gigs in corporate jets here and there, etc. Most of my time is in Pipers - Warrior IIs, Archers, Arrow IVs, and a Seminole. I have a smattering of Cessna time, as well.

I'm hoping to move up into a Part 135 operation someday - either corporate, charter, or cargo flying. Right now there's nothing open in those areas, but that's okay since I'm still building time - sittting at about 700 hours currently. Hopefully the market will start thawing right around the time I get close to meeting Part 135 IFR PIC minimums.

I often get asked what my favorite aircraft is, among the ones I have actually flown. Here she is: N382EM, a 2002 Cessna Citation CJ1.

 

What can I say, jets are fun. I'll never forget the first takeoff in this airplane!

Kevi

bondoman wrote:

Much later that day, on a flight to Detroit, the Captain announces: we are now landing at Ypsilanti Field, and proceeds to taxi to the terminal, where the big neon sign says AKRON. Doesn't stop, turns around and takes off again.

In the old days the airline guys could get away with that, except for that one crew that landed one night at an airport that was too short to depart from.  Trapped, they were.  Never had that experience, myself.  

My dad and uncle flew, so I started when I was 11 or so, when we bought a Piper J-3.  I soloed that off a crop duster strip when I was 15.  I guess in those days you didn't need no stinking instructor, right?  I did get a little official dual later, and an A&P (much harder than any flight test, I might say), Glider and SEL Commercial, and Air Transport Rating.  I was lucky enough to be current at one time or another in probably 80 different general aviation airplanes, and have type ratings in the Citation 500/550 with single pilot endorsement, Hawker/DH-125, and Embraer 110 Bandeirante (one of my least liked airplanes).  My favorite airplanes to fly are the J-3 Cub, the Stearman, and the King Air 200 series, though any King Air is a Good King Air.  The Sabre 65 was a very impressive airplane.  My least favorite airplane is any Cessna 421. 

It was a great experience, with a lot of running around the country by myself or with a copilot on sales flights, and charter or corporate trips always to a different airport.  How do those airline guys stand the boredom of always going to the same airport (assuming they actually GET to the one they were aimed at?)   Just humor, I flew with a lot of airline types and most were fine guys with more than the common dose of smarts.  

My first model was a crop duster made out of tinker toys, but then I discovered there were kits for that sort of thing. 

 

jeaton01 wrote:

bondoman wrote: Much later that day, on a flight to Detroit, the Captain announces: we are now landing at Ypsilanti Field, and proceeds to taxi to the terminal, where the big neon sign says AKRON. Doesn't stop, turns around and takes off again. In the old days the airline guys could get away with that, except for that one crew that landed one night at an airport that was too short to depart from.  Trapped, they were.  Never had that experience, myself.

Musta been the old days. It was their honeymoon and I was born two years later....

He did go out to Troutdale Oregon where a UAL crew landed a DC-8 bound for Portland (10 miles short). He was supposed to calculate a safe takeoff weight, etc. for a 5000 foot runway. When he got his slipstick calc.s done and pronounced it ok, the crew said,"great, you're coming with us".

 My dad flew Hueys, and all his friends were also pilots, so, as a kid, I thought that, that is what happened when you grew up. All my friends dads were pilots also. You grow up and become a pilot!!! I had my eyes on the F-4, then I found out they were being fazed out, I switched to A-10s, then at 14, I decided to buy a guitar and screwed everything up!!! I can be a rockstar and buy my own plane!!!! The band was doing quite well with a couple labels showing some interest, then our drummer quite(what a dope). We couldn't find a replacement and I fell into quite a depression. I had never had an interest in general aviation, but one day on my way home from breaking my back, laying 75lb. block, I stopped by the local airport just to relax and watch some planes. The fire was lit. I took my first flight in Nov. of 98, soloed on Dec 8th with just under 12 hrs under my belt. After getting my ticket, life got in the way. I went back in 07 and got my instrument rating(at Ypsilanti Field, now it's Willow Run) and my commercail/multi at the airport that I now work at. Had a pretty good "in" at Mesaba(northwest airlink) but, as is my luck, the bottom dropped out. Now I'm stuck with a $40K debt and a haircut.

Airliners. My dad worked for TWA from about '57 to 94 or so. Like Bondo I travelled alot as a kid. Back in the days when jetliner travel meant dressing up with a coat and tie (even for a small kid like me). Then there were the bi weekly trips to the TWA hangar at LAX where he worked while he picked up his paycheck. I got to see and go inside the big birds as they went thru maintenence. Got to see alot of the behind the scenes workings of LAX in general and TWA in particular. Good memories. My last ones there are of me stopping by his work as a rookie cop in my one man patrol car telling the security there I need to see him...

I flew C-141s and T-1s (Beech 400A) in the Air Force for 20 and a half years.  Now I fly 767/757s  internationaly for Delta Air Lines.

To the firefighter above, let me buy you a virtual beer.  The arse that you pull out of a burning airplane someday may be mine!  I always buy crash/rescue guys a round.

To all you guys that grew up with parents in the airlines, I envy your experience.  Non Rev travel today is well nigh impossible.  Planes are so full that our benefits are almost worthless, especially for us junior people.

To Bobba, that's a crappy deal for your dad.  That whole sorry saga is too common.  I hope he had a good plan B.

satch_ip wrote:

To Bobba, that's a crappy deal for your dad.  That whole sorry saga is too common.  I hope he had a good plan B.

Thanks. He's looking for jobs right now, and he's doing pretty good. He thinks he'll have a job with another airline within a year, but nothings certain.

 

There was 1 story my dad told me with some firefighters. He was the FO on a DC-9-10 taking off from Denver. Got in the air, and a T3 blade seperated in the engine, chopping off most of his thrust reverser, among other things. They managed to get it back around and stopped, but it just so happened that the senior member of the fire squad was giving the newer guys orientation. He saw the smoke, and flying metal, then said, "There's one boys! LEt's get to it!" Ah, it's amazing the stories dad has. Then there was the time he went into the lav and...

Airliners and general aviation. My first airline flight was on a Braniff Convair from Wichita Falls, Texas, to Dallas in 1968. My first airplane ride was in a Ryan Navion at Pearland, Texas, in 1959. The favorite model kits of my childhood were the Comet Cessna 310, Aero Commander, Piper Apache, and Beech 18, all available for 29¢ from the local T.G. & Y.

Thanks, FSM, for this new forum!

My main interest is the firefighting aircraft. Most of the tankers are ex-military but the DC4/6/7 carried a large part of that workload for years. The Canadair CL215 and 415 haven't had much impact in the US but they have done quite well in Canada and Europe.

The civil aircraft are making a big push now with several commuter planes being evaluated the Dash-8 and Bae 146 are high on that list of potential "new" aircraft. Of course the DC-10 and 747 "super tankers" are being pushed by some (they are very photogenic even if not particularly cost effective). Crop dusters started the whole air tanker thing and in the past decade have been seeing a comeback. They don't carry a lot but they are accurate and even the most podunk airport can support them close to a fire.

Beach has had some good luck getting their Baron and King Air into the lead plane / air attack role. The various high wing Cessnas have traditionally been popular as flying fire patrols.

The smoke jumpers have almost always been carried by civil aircraft or military adaptions of civil aircraft, Twin Otter, DC-3, Ford Tri-Motor, Dornier 228, and Beech 18 being some of the more common ones. 

 

Then there are the helicopters... not quite sure where they will fit into all of this, with the new arrangement.

I have a small interest in GA, but it's limited to bug-smashers like Cessna 150s and 172s (I first flew a C-172 as a Boy Scout working on my Aviation Merit Badge), J-3 Cubs, and the "Golden Age" of  1930's GA birds...

I overhaul Rolls Royce RB211s for a living. Just allways loved planes and flying.

I've been skydiving for 16 years and modelling for many more. Sitting on an airport every weekend 6 months of the year watching planes and the weather roll by. I am slowly trying to find models of the planes I have jumped. Only finished a Twin Otter so far. A Shorts Skyvan and DC3 are waiting in their boxes. The DC3 will be done as Mr. Douglas and the Skyvan will be badged from Skydive Arizona.

I'm a retired A&P Maintenance Controller, and have been working for Transavia Airlines in the Netherlands for 40 years. Starting with working on the DC-6/Caravelle/B707-123/Airbus A-300/B737-200/300/700/800. I finished as Maintenance Controller. So that has been the reason for building Airliners/ Experimentale and Reconn aircraft.

Civil aircraft are what I ordinarily see around me. I was a hanger brat.  My dad's idea of quality time with me was taking me to the airport to hang around while he spent the day hanger flying with his buddies.  Only spent four years in AF, plus an occasional visit to an AFB or Air Station while on an AF or Navy contract.  All the flying I did after early stint in AF was on Commercial.  So while I catch a very ocassional airshow at a base, 99% of the planes I see are commercial or private.

 Plus, as an aviation history buff who likes golden age, I am aware that the real progress shown during the twenties and until mid-thirties was in civil aviation in US. Yeah, military put a few bucks into radials, but didn't buy much production.  That went into Fords, Stinsons, Lockheeds, Douglases etc. 

 As a hanger brat in the fifties there were still a lot of Wacos, Stinson Reliants, Howards, Beeches, and of course the airports were flooded with Pipers, Aeroncas, Luscomes and an occasional Cessna.  Oh, and the Stinson Voyagers and Station Wagons too.

 I grew up in Brooklyn  about 5 miles from LaGuardia Airport so airliners flew right over our house constantly.I think thats where my interest in old prop passenger planes comes from.Plus my uncle was killed in India in 1944 on a C-46 so there was plenty of stories about him.I was a Air Force firefighter for 4 years so I got to see the last of the Connies,KC-97s,C-119s,C-124 etc....... 

I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. From an aviation history standpoint it was known as "The Gateway to the North" as it was a hub of bush flying through the interwar years and beyond.

For many decades, and even today, a trip through Edmonton is required to reach some points in Canada's vast northern reaches that are still only accesible by aircraft.

Edmonton's aviaton history includes names like Whop May and Max Ward amoung several others.

The city centre airport (sadly a former shadow of itself as far as aviation activity is concerned) was Canada's bush flying Meca for years and is home to a small but quite good museum dedicated to aviation in Alberta and home to one of only six Fairchild 71Cs ever built and (last I heard) one of only two 71Cs left intact in the world.

I grew up watching 737-200, Dash 7, Dash 8, Jetstream 31 and BAe 146 coming in low to the city centre airport, sadly sights that ended in the mid 90s with the consolidation of all commercial traffic at the city's international airport.

I also got to see the occaisional water bomber from the Red Deer industrial airport ( a bit south of Edmonton) come in to the city centre airport, usually it was a Canadair CL-215 or an A-26 Invader.

WHen you grow up in a place that steeped in civil aviation history, you can't keep your intrests limited to the military side of things.