Tell us your Fly It Forward Story

[MooneyMitch]

Fly It Forward . Our new Mooney Ambassador campaign for 2013.  We all had someone who inspired us to follow our dreams of aviation.  Now it is your turn to Fly it Forward..  Tell us your story of who inspired you!

I would love to compile the stories into one place. If you would please

copy and paste your post into our guestbook labeled ...........Fly it Forward: http://mooneyambassadors.com/136532.html

We can all do something to inspire the love of flight!

[mooneygirl]

Want some good reading about who inspired us to be pilots?  Have Kleenex ready for a few:  http://mooneyambassadors.com/136532.html?autoAdd=true&cc=0.8269558524164643

 

Add your own story if you like.

[fantom]

My father, who flew B-25's, my uncle who flew B-24's and this guy, in no particular order.

Rocky the flying squirrel

My brother assures me I'm the reincarnation of a pilot killed in the Battle of Briton. If so, I hope I was a Brit

 

[mooneygirl]

That is a good one Gary!

This one came in first, it really touched me.

When I was growing up, my dad was a controller at a Class D airport- Camarillo, to be exact. If you've been there awhile (1988-2004), you'd recognize Andy Z. At first, the tower was a 5th wheel with large windows (link), mounted on two SeaLand trailers, and with lots of radio equipment that the controllers would hang out in and call traffic, before they built what they have now. I hung out there a lot when I was 11-15 years old, and knew the make and model of planes by sight. The controllers even had a computer that had on it the newest Microsoft Flight Sim, FS 3.0- I played it there A LOT!

One day when I was 12, a pilot offered rides to the controllers, and my dad talked him into taking up our family. I got to the airport and there was a beautiful yellow PT-17 Stearman, done in the Navy trainer scheme. I waited anxiously for my turn to go up- watching him take off and land from the base of the tower with my other family members. Finally, it was my turn.

The ride was unbelievable! Wearing a leather cap, we flew around Saticoy and over by Santa Paula. Early on in the flight, he showed me how to control the plane with the control stick, and let me fly just about everywhere! I was speechless during the whole flight! When we were back on the ground, I looked up at him and offered him the $6 I had in my pocket for gas. I looked at him like he was a god.

He just smiled, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Keep your money, but if you ever have the chance to pass this along, do it."

To this day, I still do!

Thank you, Dave