Ops-Normal.org

I'd always enjoyed flying as pax, but when I was a kid of 17 I was Opsboi for an air taxi company ex GCI
One day a lovely guy whose name escapes me brought over a brand-new Rockwell Commander for a demo flight
All our regular pilots (JJA Smith and Bob Addis) and management sat in the back, insisting I took the right-hand seat and headset
The rate of climb staggered me and in less than a minute I saw the right-angled triangle that is Guernsey apparently miles below me

That blew me away, and still does 51 years later

Father was in RAF in the war (ground crew) and I relished his tales of life in the RAF. I read loads of flying stories and I dreamed of flying in the forces or commercially. Unfortunately, at age 10, polio put an end to those dreams, and it wasn't until I was about 25 that I first took to the air, via a trial flight at Stoughton. That was when the bug really bit, but I had to wait about another 6/7 years before I had an income commensurate with the cost of training, and a job allowing me to get away to the airfield when it suited me to book a lesson. I haven't flown for a while now due to personal circumstances but at 78 I still feel the urge to get that wonderful feeling of freedom when the wheels leave the ground.

Father trained as an RAF pilot in WW2, mother was in the WAAF, so I got the bug from that. I joined the Air Training Corps at 13, went solo on gliders at 16. Went to RAF Hornchurch for aptitude and medical tests but failed the RAF medical for pilot as my eyesight was just out of limits. Found out that there was a lower eyesight limit for helicopter pilots in the Royal Navy so joined up at 17. Awarded Wings at 19 and never looked back. Whole career was flying helicopters until I took early retirement at 54.

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2024 3:42 pm

first flight.jpg

It was that pic that prompted this thread!

Don't know when it started, but probably soon after birth! Becoming a pilot was always my goal, which I achieved at 17 when I was awarded a Special Flying Award by the RAF. It all went pear shaped when a year later I was found to have a heart murmur, much later properly diagnosed as a bicuspid aortic valve, which stopped me ever having a flying career. It was a disappointment, to say the least, at the time.