Help! When is the “right time” to quit flying?
Flying is what I do…..or have done?
40 years and 11,200 hours as Flt Eng & Pilot on big jets big pistons, and little ones.
RAF colleagues died on mountaintops and in the sea, and after engines exploded, but I never even thought of giving up.
In BOAC / BA hijackings, bomb scares, taking control from a captain, nearly being shot down by the US Navy, and a few other incidents failed to dent my enthusiasm for flying.
Scud running, diversions for really bad weather, carb icing over a city, crossing the channel in 30 knt headwinds, having friends drown in that same channel. Still the joy & privilege of flying on little aeroplanes had me hooked.
But now things have changed. I fly much less, and when I do it’s not relaxed. The things that could go wrong are uppermost in my mind. I do not trust anyone other than me to service my aeroplane. I no longer feel confident enough to take people up to share the joys of flying. Above all, the horrible accident at Kemble has really got to me.
Just an attack of the “vapours” or time to give up… anyone else feel this way sometimes?
MG
