Why do some folks choose to become pilots?
it may also be the attraction of a three axis existence which appeals.
There are countless thousands of pilots now, past and pushing them up,
who have been able to say, hand over heart -
Had I not chosen the career path I did, I would not now be married
to .. . . .. . . . . . . . . (fill in blank)
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For many of us it started in childhood. A flight deck visit, the smell of jet fuel, that blast of heat as you stepped out of the fuselage onto aeroplane steps in some far flung hot climate.
Childhood continued with model aircraft, balsa wood, every free aviation magazine I could get my hands on. Just a knowledge that there was nothing else I ever wanted to do in life but fly aeroplanes. A fascination with the history and the advances of flight. I remember very well the first time I saw a 747 (Pan Am) and learnt to recognise the distinct engine note.I wondered if I would fly them and in later years I did.
The job has its dark sides, fatigue, too many nights out of bed, officious airport security, congested airspace. Sometimes can't get a word in on the frequency, several aeroplanes calling for start at the same time so noone gets a reply, a pause then 3 aircraft all try again, controllers marvellously patient, (in some countries anyway). Only a few years to go now until retirement but there are still some great parts of the job which still give me a kick and satisfaction like rotation and getting airborne, or manually flying and banking between low level cumulus clouds to give the passengers a smoother ride. Or a manually flown visual circuit that rolls out on finals exactly lined up on the inbound track despite the crosswind. The satisfaction and cameraderie when things have gone wrong yet you have coped with it all and managed to get the passengers safely to their destination blissfully unaware of any problems.
It saddens me when I fly with a copilot who has never had any enthusiasm for flying but applied aged 21 for sponsorship "because he didn't know what he wanted to do " and got it. He will happily taxi past an aircraft scrapheap with gems from yesteryear like a Britannia or Viscount with never a glance.
I am sure every pilot is different and had different motivation. This one never had any doubt about what he wanted to do and has always felt priviliged to be paid to fly someone else's aircraft. I would hate flying to become the preserve of those who have rich parents who pay for their son's licence even though he never had much enthusiasm for it. I would favour a "grammar school" system where those with enthusiasm and aptitude get selected rather than those with access to loans of £100 k or so. That is how it used to be.
It surprises me that colleagues say they would not recommend a career as an airline pilot to their sons or daughters. Granted the times are not as good as in the heyday, of the sixties and seventies and the prestige is not as high as it once was. But it is still a well paid job that is demanding and interesting
Childhood continued with model aircraft, balsa wood, every free aviation magazine I could get my hands on. Just a knowledge that there was nothing else I ever wanted to do in life but fly aeroplanes. A fascination with the history and the advances of flight. I remember very well the first time I saw a 747 (Pan Am) and learnt to recognise the distinct engine note.I wondered if I would fly them and in later years I did.
The job has its dark sides, fatigue, too many nights out of bed, officious airport security, congested airspace. Sometimes can't get a word in on the frequency, several aeroplanes calling for start at the same time so noone gets a reply, a pause then 3 aircraft all try again, controllers marvellously patient, (in some countries anyway). Only a few years to go now until retirement but there are still some great parts of the job which still give me a kick and satisfaction like rotation and getting airborne, or manually flying and banking between low level cumulus clouds to give the passengers a smoother ride. Or a manually flown visual circuit that rolls out on finals exactly lined up on the inbound track despite the crosswind. The satisfaction and cameraderie when things have gone wrong yet you have coped with it all and managed to get the passengers safely to their destination blissfully unaware of any problems.
It saddens me when I fly with a copilot who has never had any enthusiasm for flying but applied aged 21 for sponsorship "because he didn't know what he wanted to do " and got it. He will happily taxi past an aircraft scrapheap with gems from yesteryear like a Britannia or Viscount with never a glance.
I am sure every pilot is different and had different motivation. This one never had any doubt about what he wanted to do and has always felt priviliged to be paid to fly someone else's aircraft. I would hate flying to become the preserve of those who have rich parents who pay for their son's licence even though he never had much enthusiasm for it. I would favour a "grammar school" system where those with enthusiasm and aptitude get selected rather than those with access to loans of £100 k or so. That is how it used to be.
It surprises me that colleagues say they would not recommend a career as an airline pilot to their sons or daughters. Granted the times are not as good as in the heyday, of the sixties and seventies and the prestige is not as high as it once was. But it is still a well paid job that is demanding and interesting
Last edited by suninmyeyes; 10th Feb 2015 at 12:30. Reason: addition
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or manually flying and banking between low level cumulus clouds
I mostly enjoy going places with friends, that's what GA flying is all about to me; but just occasionally when the weather is glorious I will shoot off IFR for some general handling on my own and just play in the clouds, banking and diving around them and shooting through the middle. It's absolutely magic, just flying for the sheer joy of it; and everytime I do it I smile at the memory of that little kid who used to always look at the sky and I think 'Well, here we are old son, dreams do come true.'
Crikey I've come over all philosophic. Beer required I think.
play in the clouds, banking and diving around them and shooting through the middle. It's absolutely magic, just flying for the sheer joy of it;
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Not quite the same in a glider though (not knocking gliding at all, I have a silver). I guess I like the sound of the engine and the whole dynamic of flying a powered in and around clouds. Maybe I'm just weird...
This should be on the bucket lists of all who hanker for hours and hours of silky smooth phenomenal lift. (Go to Burketown on the Gulf of Carpentaria late in September. Get up in the dark. Daily your glider. And wait. Be prepared to be astonished.)
Spending holidays down the Natal South Coast at a beach front holiday cottage in the 70's. No cell phones in those days so when uncle and his best mate Dave Charlton would arrive from JoBurg they needed some way of letting the wives know they needed picking up at Margate Airport.
He would take his 400 Comanche out to sea and do a wide turn and come back in at full throttle just above the breakers heading straight for the cottage and then wing over and head off to land at Margate and wait to be fetched.
As a 6 year old boy this experience together with Margate, Virginia etc airshows aswell as older brthers mate who was a Puma pilot in the SAAF made flying one of the most attractive looking careers one could ever dream of.
He would take his 400 Comanche out to sea and do a wide turn and come back in at full throttle just above the breakers heading straight for the cottage and then wing over and head off to land at Margate and wait to be fetched.
As a 6 year old boy this experience together with Margate, Virginia etc airshows aswell as older brthers mate who was a Puma pilot in the SAAF made flying one of the most attractive looking careers one could ever dream of.
If you haven't had a trawl through here -
Military Aviation
Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW11
- you be missing a huge contribution from posters, some of whom
are gifted writers recounting their flying lives from the earliest times
of a child's enchantment, through extraordinary years of military and civil
service to reluctant retirement.
Military Aviation
Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW11 - you be missing a huge contribution from posters, some of whom
are gifted writers recounting their flying lives from the earliest times
of a child's enchantment, through extraordinary years of military and civil
service to reluctant retirement.
Thread Starter
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Thank you, Fantome for directing me to the wonderful reminiscing of WW 2 pilots. Absolutely fascinating reading! Cliffnemo is really a gifted writer. What a rich life he's led! I feel humbled.
Would anyone like to recommend some aviation titles and authors from the glory days? Besides St.Ex, Bach and Gann? (although I already have quite an aviation library at home, one can't get enough!)
Thanks!
Would anyone like to recommend some aviation titles and authors from the glory days? Besides St.Ex, Bach and Gann? (although I already have quite an aviation library at home, one can't get enough!)
Thanks!
