"Why do you like flying?" I'd often thought only a non-aviator could ask that question (no offence meant to anyone). T-M you have now committed aviation... well done
It is so hard to explain why I like flying, it's not the freedom (what? in classes A & C airspace !!!), it's not the view (although they can be breathtaking... see caribbeanburn in the gallery), I think it's more a state of mind, just being there. I believe it was Ernest Kellog Gann that wrote "pilot's record their time in the air as if it were the only time that was important to them"
I once had an arguement with a colleague at work (in a factory... well I have to pay for my flying somehow!) and he said "you think you're above me don't you?" to which my reply was "when I'm flying.... I am!"
I have been told by many people that I fly for the wrong reasons. I started my flying lessons in 1990 and by '92 had given up due to bad weather, lack of funds and bad friends who could not understand why I wanted to fly, because it didn't interest them they believed it shouldn't interest me either. I fly only three times in the next seven years. But it was after my brother's sudden death in a light aircraft accident in '99 that it dawned on me, time is important, it is finite, you only get a set amount and you can't stop it slipping away. I'll tell you now, getting into a light aircraft for the first time after the accident was the scariest thing I have every done, but I had to do it. Now my freinds and family think I am flying for my brother, which they believe is the wrong reason, but whatever the reason is... it is my reason and by definition cannot be right or wrong... it just is. I passed my skill test last month and I'm just waiting for the Jiffy bag to land on my doormat.
Sorry about the rambling. T-M please learn from my mistake, don't give up. You only get one life, live it your way
Fly safely and point the nose towards your dreams.
BOTR
p.s. Please don't dis Richard Bach, I've just finished "One" and I so want it to be true, it's the only way I'll see my brother again
