My top 3 + top 5
* arriving on top of the clouds after climbing through dreary weather
* being able to visit places that you would otherwise never get to for lack of time
* sharing the experience with friends and family; and putting them at ease with proper flight planning, positive control and good landing skills.
Unforgettable kicks :
- first solo cross country (the realization that I was going to be able to get from A to B in an unbeatable time from then on).
- first water crossing (recall Fuji's pictures over the Irish sea; the fact that the sky is clear and the sun is setting helps)
- first take-off in an high performance airplane (who needs a bloody expensive sportscar when you can have this ?)
- first controlled shutdown of an engine in flight (hey, I can do this and we're not crashing - hey we're even holding altitude and direction !)
- systematically greasing the aircraft in a (relatively) significant crosswind (difficult to remove the grin on my face whenever I recall that particular fact)