In 1979, I rode on a Delta L-101 from San Francisco to Atlanta, and I had a blast!! I remember sitting on my father's lap, asking him why those things on the wings were moving. Those are truly my earliest memories!!!
I was but a few years old then, and I never flew again until I was in the 9th grade. I rode a Navy C-9 from the Alameda Naval Air Station down to North Island, and bak a few weeks later. I didn't know much about flying (I was always asking my mother and father about airplanes, but I couldn't get much out of them...), but I thought that it was the coolest thing around! That flight was just incredible!!
After that, I flew again in my senior year of High School, on a Continental MD-80 from San Francisco to New Orleans (don't remember where we stopped). A few months later I flew a United 737 from San Francisco to San Diego (let's just say I remember NOTHING about that flight - I was on my way to recruit training...
).
While I was in the Marine Corps, I flew more than I care to remember, on pretty much every airline and type of aircraft around. But after about 4 years in the Marine Corps, I ran across a copy of flying magazine in the PX, and I realized that I might actually be able to fly airplanes!!!
The rest is history!!!!