Release #: Vol. 84, No. 10
December 01, 2015

My First Flight

To help celebrate the 112th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight on Dec. 17, 1903, we asked ALPA members to share with Air Line Pilot memories of their first flying experiences to help inspire the next generation of airline pilots to take to the skies.

The following are just two of the submissions we received. We’ll share more in the coming months in the magazine and on www.alpa.org.

The Best Job in the World

By Capt. Thomas Bishop (Mesa)

Growing up in the 1960s, riding on an airline flight was a dream few kids got to experience. My dad traveled on Eastern Airlines every chance he could when on business trips, and I grew up idolizing Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, one of America’s greatest heroes. I didn’t get to fly until 1978, when I was in college heading to New York’s LaGuardia Airport on a nighttime flight. When the flight attendant checked on me and learned it was my first flight, I told her my only regret was that it was so dark I wouldn’t be able to see much outside.

I later heard the flight attendant returning from the cockpit and looked up. She was headed straight to me. She said, “Mr. Bishop, please follow me. Capt. Smith would like to have a word with you on the flight deck.” I wondered, “What did I do?”

She opened the flight deck door, and the captain introduced himself and the first officer. He then said, “Son, pull that jumpseat out and sit with us for a few minutes.” I was speechless for about 30 seconds. We talked about aircraft instruments, navigation, procedures, and aircraft specifics. I had the opportunity to watch these two confident professionals do their jobs and at the same time share a few moments with an interested young person. I felt so blessed. Before I left their office, I thanked them both and proclaimed, “You guys have the best job in the world.” The captain looked at the first officer, then at me, and smiled, saying, “Sshh, don’t tell anybody.”

Returning to my seat, I pondered quite a bit on his last statement, wondering what he meant. Did he mean, “Don’t tell anyone I let you up here” or was it, “Don’t let everybody know this is indeed the best job in the world”?

Those few moments I spent with them planted a “seed” within me. And, yes, being an airline pilot means you are blessed to have the best job in the world. Thank you captain. You and the legacy of Eastern Airlines will never be forgotten.

Thanks, Mom & Dad

By Capt. W.E. (Gene) McClure (Spirit)

I don’t recall my first flight on June 22, 1957, with my mom in my parents’ Tri-Pacer. I was just a little more than eight months old. I do, however, vividly remember my first solo. That was in our Cherokee 140 on my 16th birthday at 6:00 a.m. before I went to school. In all, I soloed eight airplanes that day.

My parents, who operated several mom-and-pop FBOs from 1951 to 1985, gave me the fantastic gift of flight. My mother was my flight instructor and the best pilot I knew. She was an original charter member of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the 99s and was accepted into the Women Airforce Service Pilots just before it was disbanded. She watched my first solo on that crisp October morning with, as she told me many years later, a tear in her eye.

It was awesome to share that experience, and my entire aviation career, with both her and my father, who was also a pilot and an inspection authority airframe and powerplant mechanic. When my mom passed away in 2007, she had 23,000 accident-, incident-, and violation-free hours. I am soon to start my 19th year at Spirit Airlines and have more than 20,000 flight hours—but am still trying to catch mom’s 23,000 before I retire.

I truly thank them both every day for their great gift of flight. Aviation was their lives and has been my life and my career, and I feel truly blessed.

Capt. Gene McClure on the nacelle of his parents’ Piper Apache in 1961.

This article is from the December issue of Air Line Pilot magazine, the Official Journal of the Air Line Pilots Association, International—a monthly publication for all ALPA members.

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