When was your first flight ?

[MartinMemo]

my mum went into labor on a qantas flight from bali, and i flew around meeting everyone a few weeks after that apparently. i do remember flying a lot around age 5 on qantas with mum while dad flew anset at the same time as us... i never asked why.

 

[gwilli1]

Whilst I dont remember the year , my first flight would have been on a Fokker F27 from SYD to CFS to visit my grandparents . I remember sitting near the wing and being mesmerised by the retraction and extension of the landing gear . I did the same trip again last October , this time on the QF Dash 8 Q400.

 

[jukebox333]

SYD-CHC
December 1976
Air New Zealand DC-10

(I remember being quite surprised at the time by the upward tilt of the cabin when the aircraft rotated.... )

 

[romney]

I was about 8 and flew from Adelaide to Kingscote - and since no one from my small farming community ever flew anywhere it was a huge thing!

 

[Boris spatsky]

First domestic 1985, Air NSW Fokker 27 Narrabri to Sydney.

First int'l 1987, Air NZ 767-200 SYD-AKL-Rarotonga.

 

[phily]

My first flight was in 1960 in a Cessna, piloted by my uncle, on a joy flight around Newcastle. My uncle was vice-president of the Newcastle Aero Club, which was then based at Broadmeadow, the site which is now the Sports Centre & Stadium, though the original hanger still exists.

 

[kelvedon]

My first flight was as a 6 week old from LHR to Tripoli, Libya, but the first one I can actually remember was LHR to Basle on a Swissair Metropolitan (hence the avatar).

Interestingly, the enduring memory is not of the flight itself, but rather the catastophic event that took place on take off. The Stewardess had given me a small bar of (naturally) swiss chocolate which I carefully placed on the small shelf in front of me, just out of my reach once I was firmly belted into my seat.
To a four year old boy, the excitement of the take off was no match for the anticipated delights of that chocolate bar, and my gaze didn't leave that small block of pleasure despite the scenery that flashed past the square windows of the Convair 240 as it rushed down the runway.

As we started to climb, the chocolate bar started to move towards the edge of the shelf, gradually increasing velocity, until, to my abject horror, it slid off the shelf, past my straining stretched out arms and onto the floor. Then, as the aircarft rose steeper, it elegantly slid under my seat, and probably several rows more, leaving me with my mouth and eyes wide open, the former emitting a banshee like wail and the latter rapidly welling with up with tears.

My Mother thought my calcophony was caused by the air pressure, and it wasn't until the stewadess brought me another chocolate bar that I was able to coherently relay to my parents the real reason for my distress.


I remember that event like it happened yesterday. It's a pity I cant store my PIN numbers in the same part of my brain.

 

[QF WP]

Mine must have been a BNE/SYD trip on TAA in the early to mid 70's - would have to ask my parents (I remember we went to visit my grandmother). Didn't keep a log of my flying until 1989

 

[jb747]

1 hour Joy flight ex Merimbula circa 1970 ...

Mine was around 1969 from the same place. But in a Cessna of some description. After that a ride in a TAA 727 and an F27....and I think that was it prior to actually joining the RAN as aircrew.

 

[Melburnian1]

ADL - MEL on a Tat-Tar B727 if I recall. My only recollection is that it was standby and I considered myself fortunate to secure a seat at the last moment, particularly since we were in a group of three (one of whom was much older and an experienced, though infrequent, flyer).

When not using first class sleepers on convenient overnight trains such as 'The Overland' (a great train with its pleasant Club Car and more comfortable than flying, even in first class seats which were a seat extender design way ahead of their time and far more roomy than many airline seats today), I soon switched to Chance-it and stayed loyal to the latter until its regrettable demise. 1978 was the days of APEX air fares (remember those?) requiring a Saturday night overnight stay to obtain the cheapest return fare. There were no cheap one way air tickets in the late 1970s.

 

[bachelorarbeit]

What a great thread!
I can't even remember when my first flight was.. What I do remember is that I had my first flight alone at the age of 10 or so. I flew Lufthansa and there was a flight attendant who took care of me all the time as it is the typical treatment for UM's.

 

[Isochronous]

Australian Airlines 1993, SYD-OOL. Anyone know what equipment that likely was? And was the IATA code TN or AO (which the 2003 Australian Airlines used from memory)?

First unaccompanied flight? Maybe a MEL-CBR at 17?

 

[blu]

Travelled regulary in mid 70's on QF F27.
But oldest plane was the Grumman Goose (from WW2?) in 1983.
I had a beach landing a bit similar to this, but we stopped at the waters edge:

Grumman goose crashing on landing - YouTube

 

[dougieboy]

The day before I was born my mother was flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service from Tennant Creek to Alice Springs in 1978. Itching to fly even before I was born - now I'm living the dream and have my own pilot's liscence. Awesome

 

[erkpod]

First airline flight would have been in my early 20's. I flew from Sydney - Melbourne on Ansett.

My first international flight was 4 years ago, SYD - LAX on QF on an A380.

 

[spudseamus]

Hhhmm that is hurting the old grey matter ! 1972 Dublin to London , Boeing 7?? , I would have been 21 . I was in transit to Australia by ship from Southampton.

would it have been a 737 ? Aer Lingus I think

 

[trentusjuventus]

My first flight would have been MEL-PER in about June 1992 on Australian Airlines, I was 10 years old so I'd be struggling to remember exactly which aircraft type it was, except that it was narrow-body. However I was most fascinated with the blue stethoscope-style headsets of the day!

 

[Cat207]

My first flight was in 1973 or 1974 SYD - CBR on small plane - maybe a Fokker Friendship (happy to be corrected if anyone knows what it may have been).

My next flight was SYD - xAKL - SFO on 1st July 1977 with Pan Am. I celebrated my 18th birthday in transit and again after I arrived, but then spent a couple of months in US states where the legal drinking age was 21!

 

[ShaneN]

Easter 1979. I was 21, and had just moved from Ipswich Qld to Canberra. CBR-SYD-BNE return with TAA. DC9s and/or 727s.

I have since made up for the lack of air travel in my first 21 years.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Re: My first commercial flight...

It was a F27 TAA, dad flew us to Sydney from Canberra. I still remember it, I was only 4 or 5 at the time.

i was both thrilled and nervous of flying in those days and in the 20 years since then....you picked your seat from a sticker at the airport. First come first serve.

now it's just transport