Your first ever flight
Discussion
mikeswagon said:
Those of you quoting the exact model of plane, from a flight when you were very young, did your folks work in the industry? Just curious....
It my case it was simply that I was interested in aircraft. Also back in the 70s aircraft were designed in different configurations to assist plane mad schoolboys who wanted to identify them.The one I flew on had two engines at the back, it didn't have tailplanes half way up the tail like a Caravelle, and it didn't look weirdly skinny like a DC9, so clearly a BAC111.
If it had three engines at the back then it would have been a 727 unless the nosewheel was off centre, in which case Trident, or an Eastern bloc colour scheme, in which case TU154.
Four engines at the back then either a VC10 or IL62, the cockpit area looked different but the colour scheme was sufficient to tell since only the Eastern bloc used the IL62.
Four engines hanging off the wings. then if it was huge with a hump it was a 747, otherwise a 707 or a DC8 if it looked skinny and elongated.
Four engines buried in the wings, Comet.
One engine on each wing, 737. Could have been an obscure French thing of which only 10 were made but you never saw those anyway.
Four engines in pairs at the rear and looked like a paper dart, Concorde unless it was in brief a film clip at an Air Training Corps recognition competition in which case the fact that the pairs of engines were close together showed some of us
it was a TU144.Now that practically everything has one engine on each wing, and even the 737 has engines that only stick out in front of the wing like every other twin instead of in front and behind. It's a lot more tricky.
Eric Mc said:
If it had two engines at the rear, it could also have been a Fokker F-28 - but that had split air brakes in the tail cone (like a Buccaneer).
Four engines under the wing could also be a Convair 880 or 990. 880s were rare in Europe but 990s were used by Swissair and Spantax. Noisy, smokey things they were too.
There was also the Boeing 720 - which was related to the 707, but had some substantial differences.
Must admit I'd forgotten about the F28, but I always counted a 720 (usually Monarch airlines) as a 707, just as now I don't feel guilty about mistaking an A318 or 319 for a 320. Four engines under the wing could also be a Convair 880 or 990. 880s were rare in Europe but 990s were used by Swissair and Spantax. Noisy, smokey things they were too.
There was also the Boeing 720 - which was related to the 707, but had some substantial differences.
I'm pretty sure I would have identified a Convair 990 from the things sticking out of the trailing edge of the wings, but I never saw one.
Benni said:
Must have been the mid-to late 60s, Frankfurt to Berlin with BEA, aged 6 to 8, I had numerous flights alone.
I think Lufthansa were not allowed to fly over DDR territory.
Flying as an unaccompanied child was fun : I got all my papers in a plastic bag hanging around my neck,
was treated well by staff and always got a visit to the cockpit, with the pilots explaining their work.
I think the airplane was a Boenig 737, did BEA have these in operation ?
No. Could have been a BAC111, a Trident, maybe even a Comet.I think Lufthansa were not allowed to fly over DDR territory.
Flying as an unaccompanied child was fun : I got all my papers in a plastic bag hanging around my neck,
was treated well by staff and always got a visit to the cockpit, with the pilots explaining their work.
I think the airplane was a Boenig 737, did BEA have these in operation ?
SeeFive said:
Britten Norman Islander. Out of Chobham and back to Chobham, geography field trip from school somewhere around 1974.
Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
Wasn't Peter Cadbury by any chance? Well known character at Fairoaks, owned several aircraft including an Islander at one point. His father had shot down a couple of Zeppelins in WW1 before running the family chocolate firm. Peter was in that grey area between 'real character, takes no nonsense from anybody' and 'high functioning lunatic'.Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/151599...
Speed 3 said:
That must have been the outfit that provided my first - a 15 minute sightseeing out & back on a Rapide from somewhere in Cornwall, mid 70's - could well have been Lands End. Looks like there's one preserved down there, not sure if this was the same one:
First jet was a Britannia 737-200 MAN-IBZ in 1978. The smell of burnt Jet A-1 on the apron had me hooked and that was a career in aviation decided for me at the age of 11.
G AIYR did sightseeing trips from Lands End in the mid 70s. It's now operating from Duxford.First jet was a Britannia 737-200 MAN-IBZ in 1978. The smell of burnt Jet A-1 on the apron had me hooked and that was a career in aviation decided for me at the age of 11.
Then
Now
JuniorD said:
I have to say that sharing experiences of our respective first ever flights is really interesting, but giving a long list of all types of aircraft flown in that includes the mundane and unremarkable Boeing and Airbus types is pure w@nk, particularly in the context of this thread.
Must admit I'll be interested to see if anyone has a full set of Boeing 7NNs or Airbuses.Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff