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9 lives
25th Nov 2014, 23:23
Aviation is certainly a "team" pastime. Yes, many of us may fly by ourselves, but few do everything from own and maintain the plane, to cut the grass on the runway, and assure that the fuel and oil are well stocked at the airport. We rely on others from many walks of life to keep aviation going. Some of this reliance is to assure that general aviation has enough critical mass to continue economically for everyone in the long term.

To me, that means welcoming newcomers, and assuring that they feel included. Ideally, they are also gripped by the passion, and pursue the pastime with us. In doing so, they help to support an industry which us older fliers depend upon too. Other than a few NIMBY's, no one is happy when there is less aviation.

I easily remind myself that many, many pilots have welcomed and mentored me over the decades. Indeed a number of very nice pilots from this very website have welcomed me into their day, and their home, to my growth as a pilot, and person. In turn, I try to welcome the few PPRuNers I meet in Canada. I have never been disappointed meeting a PPRuNer in person.

So I hope to continue that spirit of inclusiveness, with the theme which makes newcomers feel welcomed and appreciated - a few stories, and some information which perhaps some find helpful. If nothing else, maybe just some inspiration. I was once a poor kid who looked to the skies... Aviation has been very good to me.

Newcomers, feel free to post a brief "hello"message, just so us old timers know that you're out there.... Tell us your aspirations, and maybe we'll have a story about how we did that back in the day, walking two miles in the snow, uphill both ways....;)

Heston
26th Nov 2014, 07:17
Hear hear! Good post Step Turn.

localflighteast
26th Nov 2014, 12:41
I second that sentiment.
I got some fantastic advice and support on here when I hit the inevitable plateaus.

I am now a freshly licensed pilot (just over a month).

The one thing I would say to any student is that..

All students hit pretty much the same roadblocks
We all think we are the only ones to have these problems
we are not alone. I can virtually guarantee that there is nothing you have messed up, done wrong or failed to get the point of , that someone else hasn't messed up in a much more spectacular fashion.

You will get there eventually.

If i can do it anyone can :)

Crash one
26th Nov 2014, 17:23
I have been pleased to experience the helpfulness of aviators going out of their way to help when not even asked. Landing at a closed airfield last year in a half gale short of fuel, finding two guys in the hangar who offered to drive me with two empty cans 10 miles to a filling station, help fill my tank and see me safely, though possibly not sensibly in view of the weather, on my way by ensuring that taxiing the length of the runway in a light taildragger didn't end in tears.
Much appreciated.

thing
26th Nov 2014, 17:55
Apart from one or two notable exceptions-and they are notable because they are exceptions- I've always found that for want of a better word that's not as corny that there is a kind of brotherhood between flyers. I guess it's the shared experience that only pilots have. It matter little whether you fly on a shoestring or you can afford a Starscraper Novablaster, there always seems to be a helping hand somewhere.

I must admit the first time I used my shiny new license to land out somewhere in a battered old rented 152 I wondered whether I would be asked to use the tradesman's entrance, but nothing could have been further from my expectations. I'm just a kid from a small mining town in Yorkshire who used to look up at the sky at every aircraft that went over, and never thought that someone from Cudworth could actually get to fly aeroplanes. They were for superheroes who came from places that had an inside toilet, hot water on tap and a proper bathroom instead of a tin bath once a week in front of the fire. Then I found out that anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together could fly so here I am...:)

Heston
26th Nov 2014, 18:42
Its very tempting to have a go at the "Yorkshiremen" Monty Python sketch (which apparently was actually done first pre-Python in one of the shows that they did, cant remember which one...) following that, but I will resist.


One thing I liked about my entry to aviation was meeting all these chaps (and Im afraid they all were chaps) in overalls and covered in oil, gripping spanners underneath their pride and joy, who would happily chat about anything aviation related and treat a newcomer as one of the gang... ...then to find out from somebody else that in their day job they were a Tornado F3 pilot, or a training captain for BA, or had flown solo the length of Africa in a biplane. (I may have borrowed some of this image from Richard Bach, but I really did feel priviledged to be accepted so readily).

thing
26th Nov 2014, 19:13
Its very tempting to have a go at the "Yorkshiremen" Monty Python sketch

I was hoping to lure someone into it actually...:). There's always this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPjJFv1NDBg

Heston
26th Nov 2014, 20:35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo


Oh go on then. "Shoebox in middle of t'road..." Priceless :)