Originally posted by robtcorl I've only flown a hand full of times, it's not my favorite thing to do, especially nowadays.
Used to be fun...used to be exciting. That was in my youth, and before we had the gigantic crowds and the TSA.
I've told this before....when I was 7 we bought a home about a mile from Love Field in Dallas.Our next door neighbor was a pilot for Braniff and a really nice guy too. He used to play football with me and my friends and taught us the rules of the game. He had two kids...a girl almost my age (She was the one I got in trouble with for "playing doctor"- but that's another story) and a boy that was just a toddler.
Braniff headquartered in Houston, and in summer months or whenever school was out, he would ask my Mom if I could fly with him to take a plane to Houston for service. Even way back then, my Mom jumped at a chance to get rid of me for a while so she was always thrilled to see me go. I just thought she was a great Mom...only years later did she tell me it wasn't quite like I thought....
Anyhow, I got to fly in all sorts of Braniff planes. In those days there was the pilot, co-pilot, and engineer. I got to sit right up front, often in the engineer or co-pilot seat. I learned a lot about how the planes operated and could see a lot of scenery below. This would all be unimaginable today, but back then it was no big deal. Rusty had a small private plane too, and it was fun but not like the big commercial planes.
Into the 60s and early 70s flying was not too bad....but afterward, it got crowded and started to be a real pain. Nowadays, nightmare is a better word.
Regards!