Well, I've no immediate plans to fly anyway however Captain Dale is organising a day out in the Yarra Valley and he'll be taking people up in a light plane. I shall certainly attend that as it will be an interesting and useful experience.
Yes, aviation is a fascinating area and I can see why pilots who have the nerve love to fly. When you get up above the storms and you are flying above the clouds its beautiful.
Actually that reminds me of something. Whilst flying to Sydney (in a 747-400) a smaller Qantas jet was slightly ahead of us and off to the right a bit. One could see the smoke trail dissipating behind it. At one point it slowed down, banked left quite quickly and pulled upwards, to the left (towards us) and slowed down at the same time. In other words it wound up behind us and a little up at the end of the manouvre. Watching from the the window it was graceful and beautifully executed.
cheers Peter