aeroplanes

When i was a kid, my family flew to florida from virginia every summer. When we got above the clouds, I would always look out the window. I thought the clouds were snow, and wondered why we always flew over antarctica to get to florida.

Joe

I and my sisters believed that every airplane that we saw overhead, my grandma was on it, traveling, and so we would wave at her.

Megan

Because, when I was six, I travelled by aeroplane from Rochester to Jersey, changing planes at Southend, I used to believe that Southend was in the sky.

vervegirl

I used to think that 'lost luggage' meant it had fallen out of the luggage compartment while flying and landed in the ocean.

Aretia

When travelling by plane, my older brother used to tell me that you didn't actually go anywhere, they just got a load of blokes to change the people, scenery etc on the ground!

Roger

i used to belive that the cloud trails left by jets were tunnels to get on a plane for the people who missed their flight.

Jilliane

I had a friend who told me that he used to think that the conveyor belt from which you collected your luggage at your destination was the same one that you put it on when you checked in. So presumably there must be an international network of conveyor belts either under the sea or up in the sky!

Alan

When I would see ads for "non-stop" flights on TV, I thought that meant the planes did not stop anywhere once they took off. When you got over your stop, you had to parachute to the ground. I really didn't get why this was a such a great thing. I'd rather be on a plane that was going to stop before I had to get off!

Anon

When I had just turned 4, I was on my first plane flight. When I asked what the paper bags were for, my dad told me that when you're very high up in a plane, you ears pop.

He then explain that the bag was for catching your ears, so they don't float away.

I had images of all these ears popping off, and all the passengers trying to catch them!

Rebekah

I used to think that at some point during every plane flight, the plane would crash, but people only died if they didn't successfully land in clouds. Cirrus clouds were adequate, but the best cloud to land in would be a cumulus. Halfway through my first plane flight, I got really nervous because there were no clouds, and my mom asked me what was wrong. She laughed and explained. I was six.

David

When a family that my parents know was moving to a new city, they went on an airplane. The parents explained to their son what an airplane was, how it flew through the air. Then during the flight, the kid fell asleep, so his parents carried him off the plane and to their new home. A few weeks passed by, they settled into their house, he went to a new school and made friends, then eventually he asked his parents when they were going to get off the plane! He didn't know they had gotten off and thought all this was happening up in the air!

Evilrabbit

I pointed out a smoke trail to my older brother and asked him what it was. He told me it was an airplane. From then on, I refused to sit in the back of a plane, thinking that the plane would slowly evaporate into the air working from the back forward. I thought my best bet to arrive in one piece was to sit in the front. I still do!

Anon

When I first traveled in an airplane at about five years, it seemed to take forever to take off once we had taxied to the runway. I was sure the long wait was because the pilot had to wind up the rubber bands that would run the propellers much like the toy wooden planes we would put together. . Thinking that made me more patient. After all, I didn't want the rubber band to be played out before we were back on the ground.

Ann

My family travels alot, espically when I was litte. At that point in time I thought that communter (prop planes and small jets) grew up into adult planes! I still think it is a cute idea, but I know better.....I saw the boeing plant.

Amanda Leigh

All through my childhood years my dad used to travel from the US to the UK for three week trips three times a year. We always went on the trips to and from the airport to drop him off and pick him up. My little sister for many years never realised he actually went somewhere. She thought he just climbed on the plane and stayed there for three weeks. So she played "Going to England" and would pack up all her stuffed animals in suitcases, go get on the "plane" (sofa), stay there a bit, and then "come home" again. It was quite a shock to her when she realised he did things other than just sit on the plane for the entire trip.

Ace

One day we were at an air show, and my dad was explaining to me how the planes lived in hangers when they were not flying. I was intrigued how you could put something as big as a plane on a clothes hanger.

g&t

I used to believe that when they said that you lost your luggage, that it actually fell out of the plane and landed in someones back yard. So i was always amazed when they found it.

Michal

I used to think that when people went on plane rides, they could open the windows and collect some clouds and bring them back for others to touch.

Anon

Here's a really funny one: I used to think that when you got up on a plane to go to the loo, the pilot would stop the plane in mid-air until you're out again.

Natasha

I used to believe that Concorde's nose was used to drink water with when it was thirsty.
This 'factoid' remained uncorrected in my 'mental fact archive' until the age of 20 when watching an airshow on the TV.
I remember seeing Concorde coming in to land with it's nose bent down and thinking "Ah - it'll be having a drink after it's landed.... EHHH???? WTF???"
Thanks Dad for telling me that when watching an airshow on the TV when I was 4......

odysseysounds