As Heliport was good enough to send me an email to join in the conversation, I guess I better.
After reading the adventures of Biggles ( don't laugh ), I decided I had to become a pilot. As a nervous young teenage cadet, I had my first flight in June 1952 in a fairly new Tiger Moth! In 1954 I blew my medical for the Royal Navy when I stupidly admitted getting sea sick! After that I managed to get some private flying while chasing various other career paths but none really satisfied. In 1962, older and wiser I had another RN interview and denied ever getting sea sick! It worked and I have flown helicopters ever since with a 5 year break as an ATC at Sydney airport.
Some jobs were great, some lousy but if I was unhappy, I simply moved on to another company in any part of the world. I confess jobs were easier to come by then, but there is still a huge shortage of experienced pilots now. Giving up flying was easy, I did it many times! Now that I am semi retired, I still find that there are jobs out there for us oldies. At least in Australia they don't stop you flying on reaching 60 as in most countries.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, maybe differently but I would always want to fly. 4 sons and not one of them wants to fly!
