In fact it was on one of these early trips that I had my first experience at the controls of the plane he was flying at the time, which was a V35 Bonanza (V-tail aircraft). I had to fly by instruments as I was only a little kid and too short to see over the instrument panel. The V35 is a high performance aircraft and not considered a starter plane. In fact the V-tail Bonanza got the reputation as a doctor and lawyer killer. They would take lessons and then because they could afford it and it is a fantastic plane, they would buy a V-tail. The problem was they did not have the experience needed, to be able to fly it safely and would get in over their heads real quick and many crashed. I feel the blame is misplaced on the plane as it is a high performance plane that you need extra ratings for normally after you get your license and are checked out in your first plane. The blame should have gone to the pilots and partially the instructors. The instructors should have stressed the point more and it wasn't a failure of the plane, it was a pilot error problem.
I continued to fly the simulator at home as much as possible (until he had to return it as he changed jobs) and flew with my father as much as possible. It got to the point where he would take off with the plane and then hand the controls over to me. Which when we were flying the V-tail this was a physical process, as it had a single control yoke which you could change over easily from one side to the other. So I would fly the plane and he would handle the radio communications and navigation. I would control the plane until we were ready to land and then he would take over again and land the plane. It got to be a regular site, of myself and my dad at various airports & avionics shops throughout New England, the East Coast and part of the Mid-West. We also went to as many air shows as possible also. There was one big air show that was like the event of the year in Reading Pennsylvania, but that is a story or stories for another time.
You can get a student license when you are 16 and then you go thru a process of a certain number of hours of dual training, in various disciplines and then when the instructor thought you were ready you did your solo flight. The regulations say you have to have a certain amount of training time in several different disciplines of flying, before you can do your solo. My instructor (who had a license signed off by one of the Wright Brothers) said I was a natural, well I already had way more time and experience behind the controls then most students do after years of training. Plus I was ahead of the game with the simulator flying and learning to fly by instruments. He felt I was ready to solo after just a few short hours but legally I couldn't, as I had to have more legally logged time. The time with my father I couldn't log as he wasn't an instructor, plus I was too young at the time. So we continued to fly the required time and as soon as I had logged the minimum amount of time he let me solo.
My first solo flight was April 21, 1973, there is no other experience as the first solo, when you take off the ground and you are up there all by yourself. The plane performs differently and climbs faster and so forth, as you have a much reduced weight load. The feeling is almost indescribable, but it's kind of euphoric and a feeling of total freedom, plus you don't want to come down, but you must. You have to do some touch and goes and pattern work to get signed off for solo flight. Once I had my signed off student certificate with solo endorsement, I flew as much as I could and my father further facilitated this by buying a Cessna 150 as a company plane. He gave me my own set of keys and we had an arrangement, where he used the plane during the week and I had it for the weekends. I had a blast flying all around New Jersey, up and down the coastline and around the general area of the East Coast. Here I was a teenager and I basically had my own airplane while everybody I knew were just wanting or getting their first car! The saga continues!
That gives you an insight into my experience learning to fly and getting the aviation "bug", it's a very contagious bug and there is no cure, only treatment by flying as much as possible! I have a bunch of stories of my experiences flying and my eventual entry into aviation as a professional, first in the USAF and then in General Aviation. If there are enough interested, I will post more adventures of my journey into aviation and the wild blue yonder!
Note: the picture attached is myself and my father alongside the V35 Bonanza on that first day I flew the plane.
