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My first flight was in 1961 on a Derby Airways Dakota flight to Guernsey for our family holiday. Trent bus from Huntingdon Street to the airport - check in the luggage in a wooden hut then wait in the concrete ‘terminal’ before embarking. Bumpy grass runway. When we came back it was dark and the grass landing strip was illuminated by burning oil rags in inverted dustbin lids! 

 

My my dad used to take my brother and I there - you could wander into the hangars and the engineers would take you up to the flight deck of the Dakotas and DC4s. I remember them telling us very sternly not to touch the levers that raised the undercarriage! 

 

Security has had got a bit tighter.....

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  • 5 months later...

The first flight for me was at Hucknall air display in 1964 it to was Dakota or C47 it cost 10 shillings for about a 15 minute over nottm and Bulwell and back to Hucknall very exciting times no red tape in those days.

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I first flew when I was a few months old in 1950 from Manchester Ringway to Belfast Aldergrove to be introduced to my grand parents. My mum said we flew on a Bristol Brittania?

I wonder how much it cost then? I bet it was a pretty penny!

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My first flight was on a Skyways Dakota from Lympne in Kent to Beauvais in France in the 50’s. We had to board a coach at Victoria Coach Station in London to take us to the airfield and at the other end another coach took us into the heart of Paris. On a Dakota, being a taildragger, it was a strange sensation walking downhill to your seat. The flight took about 55 minutes but both coach journeys were considerable longer. There were still relics of the war in rural France with many bombed and bullet riddled buildings. It only flew at about 10,000 feet so it was a very bumpy ride.

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First flight was on a BOAC 707 to Toronto.  Nice smooth flight.  Lots of legroom and real food complete with knives and forks.  Getting through security seems to be the most annoying experience today.

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Back in the 80's I was at Heathrow airport waiting for a flight to OZ and going through security the baggage was scanned by a rather bored looking operative whilst those people taking an El Al flight had every bag opened and physically searched by the airline security staff, despite the obvious delays no one seemed upset and understood why it was happening.

4 hours ago, loppylugs said:

First flight was on a BOAC

Given that many of its' flights were to the increasingly important "Middle East" the industry joke was that BOAC stood for Better On A Camel

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My first flight was from Luton to Palma in May 1969.  I was 19 years old and travelling with a bunch of people who’d all flown before.  I was with folk who were all involved in the water-skiing club on the Trent,        ( Gunthorpe, Hoveringham and Holme Pierrepont gravel pits ..... before it was developed into the National Watersports Centre) all successful business people, I was just a friend of one of the big players.  

It was in the days of a restriction on how much money could be taken out of the country, I think it was about £30 per person but could be wrong ...... one particular man asked me to ‘carry’ some of his money for him and I hid it in my false eyelashes case!  

I remember I sat on the plane with Joy Rowbotham of Rowbotham Butchers in Arnold, she was very sweet and making sure I was OK and then once we took off she was honking throughout the flight ...... I was perfectly ok! 

I’ve always loved air travel, sooner fly than drive, it’s just the hanging around at airports that’s time-consuming and boring. 

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Far from being my first flight, I was on a 737 aircraft from the same order and delivery from Boeing as the one that crashed at Castle Donington in January 1989. The crew were very proud in tell us passengers that it was a brand new plane and that it was on only its third commercial flight. 

 

I was disturbed to find during the flight that the dropdown tray in front of my seat was too weak to hold almost anything and one of its hinges snapped off. There were several other little incidents but not anything that I thought worth remembering at the time.

 

This was in December 1988. I was due to fly back a couple of days after the Castle Donington incident and I was somewhat apprehensive until I was reassured that all aircraft of that delivery had been grounded pending "repairs". I flew back on a doddery old Tristar and felt a lot safer.

 

I have to say it puts me in mind of the recent Boeing scandal involving the 737 MAX aircraft.

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26 minutes ago, jonab said:

 

I have to say it puts me in mind of the recent Boeing scandal involving the 737 MAX aircraft.

 

Agree.

 

Donnington;

Actual cause, Pilot(s) error in shutting off the "Wrong", working engine.

Real cause, Boeing making undeclared design changes leading to the pilots making an incorrect diagnosis.

 

737 Max, (x2)

Boeing making undeclared design changes leaving the pilots unable to make a correct diagnosis.

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My first flight was in 1969 to Barcelona from castle donington, absolutely hated it, don't know what the plane was but i was seated at the side of the propellers!. I still don't like flying, but tolerate it to get anywhere in a reasonable time. Sooner go by boat, if then there's a problem, at least I can swim further than i can fly!!

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Loved my first time flying,,,Luton to Palma,,Dec 1971,,,my mates wife had to drop out due to illness,,,so for £40 had a long weekend in Majorja with a ladies Dart team from Arnold,,,

Also first time i rode a horse and drank wine in the Bath......:rolleyes:

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The ladies pierced your heart with their arrows, eh? 

 

Wine in the bath?  Hope it wasn't carbolic soap...ruins the bouquet :blink:

 

Flying has always posed problems for me because of my ears. It ranges from extremely uncomfortable to excruciating. I go deaf driving over the North York Moors!

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Never really been a Wine drinker.........but that day after horse riding''  i had two very large blisters,,,so took the wine in the bath with me,,,it eased my pain a little,,and later even the slow dancing was painful..........:wacko:

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2 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

Loved my first time flying,,,Luton to Palma,,Dec 1971,,,my mates wife had to drop out due to illness,,,so for £40 had a long weekend in Majorja with a ladies Dart team from Arnold,,,

Also first time i rode a horse and drank wine in the Bath......:rolleyes:

 

Drinking wine with the ladies darts team in the bath while contemplating riding a hoss.  Ben you never cease to amaze me.:biggrin:

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My first flight was in a Bristol Britannia, (Whispering Giant ) in September 1965. Aged 18, with 3 other girls for 2 weeks in Lloret. Flight, hotel and meals for 18 guineas each. This was a Martin Rooks holiday package. I was the first in my family to fly.

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You know, maybe with working at Rolls Royce, he did go up in a plane from there, before I did, never thought to ask him.  But my flight was the first commercial flight.

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Not a ‘first time’ experience but a memorable one was my first solo flight in a light aircraft at night. This was back in the 70’s. I’d had a few training flights with instructors but on this occasion he got out of the aircraft with the reassuring words “I’m too bloody scared to fly with you, fly the bastard yourself!” I climbed out into the night sky with the lights of Nottingham in the distance and climbed to the circuit height of 800 feet. As I turned onto the downwind leg of the circuit I heard a loud bang and the engine sounded like a bag of nails. I wasn’t sure whether to put out a Mayday call or just look for a dark area where I could land without hitting a house. As the noise got no louder and the oil pressure hadn’t fallen I decided to complete the circuit and land. In a night landing you can’t see the runway, only the marker lights along the edges and to make a correct descent you have to observe the VASI lights which show whether you’re too high, too low or on the correct glide scope. I landed safely with the engine still sounding like a tractor. Investigation next day by the engineers revealed a blown exhaust gasket. It was a bit scary at the time but a couple of pints in the bar soothed my nerves!

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Flying and very painful ears must be a JILL thing my wifes name is JILL has the same problem takes a few days to get rid of it the doctor says its because she has small ear passages thats probably why she never listens to me.

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Not my first time flying but the first time flying in a light aircraft. Two weeks after my grandson gained his pilots licence on his 17th birthday he took me up for a flight for an hour, I had to pay hire fee. Was I worried, you bet I was ,  squashed up in a noisy uncomfortable space with a very thin floor between me and fresh air, him all happy and telling me what to do if the engine failed and gleefully pointing out places of interest. Was this the small little boy I used to carry about and now my life depended on him. We landed and as I had been bumped and banged about so much I couldn't move and he  had to pull me up out of the seat and help me back to the ground, the youngest grandson had to run across and bring me my walking stick as I couldn't walk. Would I do it again NO NO NO.

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