When was your first flight ?

[QF029]

1980 MEL-xAKL-SFO on Pan Am. Sat upstairs in Y on a 747.

 

[clifford]

When I was much younger, I used to fly to work MAN-LHR-MAN (youth standby GBP 5) on BEA's BAC-1-11's (rearmost seats were reserved for me).

I thought this was wonderful in 1969.

Still hard to beat...

 

[coyote25]

1986 Melb to Syd on TAA as a 12 year old to watch a footy match at the SCG (demons vs swans).

As a family member worked for the airline I was invited up to the coughpit and stayed for the landing - brilliant introduction to flying.

This was a test flight before a family trip to the USA on QF to Honolulu & LA. Great start

 

[Balwyn3103]

1962, Melbourne to Launceston to begin an 8 day Pioneer tour of Tasmania with my recently widowed sister. Some sort of plane with propellers, scared s**tless

First OS: 1972, MEL to LHR with SQ via Perth, Singapore, Bombay, Bahrain, Rome. At Bombay upgraded to first because (presumably) I was flying solo and they needed the room in economy. Good way to start.

 

[alieninperth]

First flight was a Manx airways flight from Belfast to Liverpool in the mid to late 80's.

A shorts 360/330 in a 1-2 configuration and I had the 1. Flight time of just over an hour and we got tea and sandwiches as refreshments. The best bit though was as we were coming in to land the hostess (as she was called back then) brings around a bowl of hard boiled sweets for us to suck on as we descend. Brillant for a youngster.

First international was a chartered Aer Lingus 747 from Belfast international to JFK in 1990. I had the emergency exit row and I was blown away that it had TV's. In the air! The things that impress 10 year olds. I also remember getting nuts constantly throughout the flight.

Having flown on EI since then, the quality of the catering has only dropped.

 

[codash1099]

First was circa 1946/47 in a Catalina doing short flights from the Swan River for VIP's (my father, not me). First commercial flight was in 1962 in an ANA (the Australian one) PER-MEL in a DC6B and my first International in 1969 flying out of Sydney on Malaysia Singapore Airlines.

 

[macka42]

1977 - Orange NSW to Sydney, too young to remember the plane type, but as a 7 y/o, it was awsome to do & came with bragging rights at school.

 

[777]

Circa late 1974 (year I was born) or early 1975. Rutherford aerodrome (home of Newcastle aero club). My dad was a pilot and took me flying in the cessnas from when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Sadly I don't remember the details and my dad's long gone but he let me sit in the passenger seat and "fly" (I think he had the other set of controls) from the time I was about 4. One of my earliest memories is doing aerobatics and zero G maneuvers with my dad.

I assume we got some commercial flights when I was too young to remember but dad used to mostly fly everywhere. My first flight as grown up was Ansett SYD-ADL for work in about '96. I totally thought I'd made it when I got a job that paid me to travel... Novelty has kinda worn off now.

 

[drron]

Circa late 1974 (year I was born) or early 1975. Rutherford aerodrome (home of Newcastle aero club). My dad was a pilot and took me flying in the cessnas from when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Sadly I don't remember the details and my dad's long gone but he let me sit in the passenger seat and "fly" (I think he had the other set of controls) from the time I was about 4. One of my earliest memories is doing aerobatics and zero G maneuvers with my dad.

I assume we got some commercial flights when I was too young to remember but dad used to mostly fly everywhere. My first flight as grown up was Ansett SYD-ADL for work in about '96. I totally thought I'd made it when I got a job that paid me to travel... Novelty has kinda worn off now.

A small world indeed.We moved to Maitland Jan 1975 with our son born 1974.I had a few flights from "rudderfed" as a lot of the locals called it,some commercial,some just fun.I was going to learn to fly and went up with an instructor I knew well.As we flew down over the Hunter River he told me to take the controls and get us to the aerodrome.As we lined up for the runway he took over again.After landing he came clean saying Doc i have a problem.I cant see.And he literally was as blind as a bat from glaucoma.Ended my flying career!

Of interest the airline operating out of Rutherford was closed down by CASA in 2001 after a pilot asked a passenger to come forward and help fly the plane.Yanda airlines used to connect the Upper hunter and Maitland to Sydney.Old timetable here-
http://www.timetableimages.com/i-uz/yanda2.jpg

And I found a photo of the plane we used to catch to SYD when we set off OS.This is on airliners.net-
Photos: Piper PA-31-350 Chieftain Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

 

[Bolthead]

My first flight was back in 1967 on a QANTAS Viscount Electra(I think) - 4 engine turbo prop. from Sydney to Wellington (NZ) . My father had a job transfer and we lived there for 2 years. The return trip was on a ship.:-|

 

[straitman]

My first flight was back in 1967 on a QANTAS Viscount Electra(I think) - 4 engine turbo prop. from Sydney to Wellington (NZ) . My father had a job transfer and we lived there for 2 years. The return trip was on a ship.:-|

Lockeed Electra OR Vickers Viscount.

The Electa was the civil (passenger) version of the Military P3 Orion which is still used throughout the world today.

 

[Bolthead]

Lockeed Electra OR Vickers Viscount.

The Electa was the civil (passenger) version of the Military P3 Orion which is still used throughout the world today.

Thanks for this......long time ago now. Once upon a time I could tell you very flight (and airline) I have been on. I still actually remember getting QANTAS playing cards . I thought all my Christmas have come at once. I was only 8 at the time.

 

[1022]

First flight: 1976. Aged 5 weeks. Broken Hill to Sydney on an AN F27 - being picked up by my adoptive parents from the hospital where I was born.

First int'l flight ages 11 months Scandinavian DC10, multi stop trip to London. Apparently I cried all the way. Karma means I now seem to end up a row in front or behind the most vile children on 4 out of 5 flights. 9case in point, last week's hop down to CBR) :evil:.

First fluke upgrade from Y to J: 1987 Venice to Gatwick after only just making the flight thanks to Italian trains, buses and taxis all being on strike. (The upgrade goddess has been generally fairly kind to me ever since on various airlines despite never achieving anything approaching WP status).

First time in 1A: Approx 1989 as a UM SYD-ADL on a TAA 727. I dressed for the occasion in a cute bow tie...and threw up the olives and caviar soon after disembarking in Adelaide.

 

[Bundy Bear]

First one I can remember: Qantas 747 BNE-AKL January 1980, I have been to Auckland a fair bit since then, made everything I flew after that small in comparison.

I supposedly flew from Brisbane to Auckland in the early 70s but can't remember anything about that flight.

 

[Ewing]

My first flight would have been in November 1992 as an 8 year old on Ansett from SYD-MEL. I went to see Phantom of the Opera with my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother (both of whom are still with us).

I can't remember the aircraft type unfortunately. I also can't remember if it was a widebody or narrowbody, but the left side of the aircraft definitely had seats in a group of 3. I do remember going to the coughpit which was very exciting

My first economy flight on Qantas was on a 767-338 VH-OGM in 2001 and it didn't even count towards my lifetime status as I only joined frequent flyer in 2003. My first business class flight was on the same aircraft a few years later (that aircraft has 1-2-2 in J, and I was very pleased with my A seat as an NB).

My mum's first flight was nearly 8 years after mine - a few days after the concorde crash. I distinctly remember, because she came home so excited about being sent on a plane trip by work and immediately after the news of the crash came on TV.

 

[Scozzie]

Holiday charter from Glasgow to Alicante in June 1982, ultimate destination Benidorm. In my mid twenties at the time and probably best forgotten!!

 

[Duffa]

First Flight - Cambrian Airways Vickers Viscount from Belfast Aldergrove to Isle of Man. Around 1970.
First Solo Flight- Scottish aviation Bulldog T.1 from RAF West Raynham 1982
First Jet Fighter Flight- Sepecat T2 Jaguar RAF Coltishall 2003.
First crash - Cessna 152 Avalon East 2003 ( I wasn't at the controls!)
First F Class - QF29 to LHR - 2010

 

[adampenrith]

1967 QF were flying Lockheed Electra's Trans Tasman - so the AKL WLG would have been on that.

They were a beautiful plane to fly on ...... 5 hours to cross the Tasman, they were used until Tullamarine was the new airport for MEL - before that it was Essendon

 

[thewinchester]

First was Ansett MEL-PER when I was 3yrs, no idea of the plane but I remember walking down the air stairs myself - all whilst holding my then favourite stuffed toy (a small dog).

 

[mannej]

I remember parts of my first trip per-syd-hnl-sfo return. I remember the playground at Sydney airport, arriving at sfo, and going up to the coughpit coming home. I'd love to see how far back QF have records wise to piece together the trip, but I doubt they do.

It's a pity I haven't been on a 747 since:-(