I suppose most of us, especially those who wore service uniforms, were lucky enough to discover our 'line'. That point at which we knew it would be suicidal or stupid to continue aviating. Military pilots were given the opportunity to find their break even point on many occasions, the loss of friends and colleagues may have tempered our enthusiasm, but not for long; the dreaded attitude of
Get the job done, usually won.
I assume many of us sat in front of our PCs have at one time driven on, while feeling the nerves jangle in the pit of the stomach.
Which is why, if I may be presumptious, I'd like to ask a pilot a question.
If you were flying a Robinson, dark plum coloured, along the top of the cliffs west of Portreath this morning at 1100ish, were you entirely happy with your situation? Lurching along 50' above the deck, torrential rain and a cloudbase at an estimated 150-200' (generous assessment), admittedly the vis was about 600m.
Was it worth it? At 1400 I heard a small helicopter leaping around the western side of our village. Once again the weather had clagged in, the rain was bucketing down. I hope the aircraft was put down safely. Look down the other threads in this forum, how many commence, '(Aircraft type) crashes.... lost'. Sometimes it's worth sitting down and watching the world go by, rather than becoming a statistic.
Boring old phart? Moi?
