Why do we love flying? [Archive]

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corkscrew

4th Jun 2006, 17:11

Simple question,

Why do we love flying? What keeps you ticking even after many years in this game? Or has it just become a way to make money and nothing else.
It just seems all too easy to just think about the negative aspects of aviation and forget about all the positive ones.

So, let's hear some thoughts...

Updraught

4th Jun 2006, 20:09

I will stop flying the day it becomes work!!!!:)

ReportReady

5th Jun 2006, 07:09

Son, your going to be working for 40 years.............pick something that you enjoy.

Best office in the world! We get to see things some people would only dream of. :)

TownshipDog

6th Jun 2006, 14:39

I'm in flying for the great pay, the cool central african countries I get to live in, the fantastic schedule that really helps my family life, oh, and of course i'm also in it for the chicks :E

Wouldn't change my career for anything though...what a way to earn a living, doing something you love and still getting paid for it :ok:

Vertical_Reference

7th Jun 2006, 16:02

Come and see the countries I fly over everyday and you'll understand why I love flying. African jungles is probably the most beautiful places to fly over.

And even better... it's in a helicopter! I think helicopter flying is the ultimate.

I can't wait to get in my helicopter and start it. Even if it's just an hour ferry flight with pax, it doens't matter.

But the best is when you get to do hardcore slinging work and you have a really good day of flying. It's that same feeling you get opening a beer after a really hard days work.
:ok:

kobus

8th Jun 2006, 10:11

TownshipDog

8th Jun 2006, 10:44

kobus

8th Jun 2006, 17:40

I hate flying, thats why I paid over R200k for my comm, go on contract for 2 or 3 months at a time and all for meager starvation pay...
They say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit so therefore I wouldn't expect you to understand this kobus, so I'll draw it for you in crayon...
I probably love my job and my profession just as much or even more than the next guy.Actually, I think being a pilot is more of a vocation than a job or a profession, we all as pilots share the same passion for this game, thats why we do it. We wouldn't do it otherwise...

Corkscrew,

It's all about passion. This is a tough career. You need passion, determination and hard-work to succeed! I don't think you would find many pilots who DON'T have a passion for flying.

@Smarty pants:

Of course I knew what you meant at first, that's why I replied with "Are you serious?". :ugh: Nevermind...

PS. I thought that the pun was the lowest form of wit?? Any "insight" you could offer on this?? You might want to brush up on your use of apostrophes as well. ;-)

Xshongololo

8th Jun 2006, 23:27

To Kobus
What is passion and what is succssess..(this spelling looks flawed)

TO Corkscrew.

Eventually every pilot who chooses aviation for a career requires a monetary reward to sustain an existence, a family and a home.
Aviation is a serious profession and every pilot has a choice to what level of aviation he\she aspires to....
Most pilots I have met enjoy their work and have a passion for aviation.
The pilots who I have met who have found their un-love for flying is the senior airline Captain jaded by long haul ops and arse splitting boredom who looks punch drunk and reminisces (sp) about his\her younger days in aviation.
To love aviation after 40 years of flying one would have to be very thick skinned.

TownshipDog

9th Jun 2006, 07:58

Let me get my crayons out again for the benefit of my ignorant friend.
A pun is a rather clever play on words, far from the lowest form of wit. Afterall is it not an integral part of most of Shakespeare's (please note the apostrophe) works? I really hope this ends this silly discussion as arguing with you about this is like having a battle of wits with an unarmed man.

Now back to the origional topic please...

james ozzie

9th Jun 2006, 22:30

Richard Bach (author of not-so-great Johnathon Seagull but also author of other much better flying books) put it rather well, when describing his days in West Germany in the early 60's as an F84 jockey with the US National Air Guard.
He said that he was actually paid a salary to sit around doing nothing, as when he was working, he did not need to be paid for doing something he so enjoyed.
His book A Gift of Wings is great aviation reading, from the F84 through to biplanes.
Glad Township & Kobus have put away their handbags...

dav99sod

10th Jun 2006, 21:15

Hi

for those of you who are starting out dont get discouraged I started out in Zim at 500 zim dollars a month flying a PA32 20 years later i am a captain with ba on 12 000 UK pounds a month take home flying long haul .
Enjoy and go for it

transmitforDF

10th Jun 2006, 21:22

lucky u!:ugh:

Flying beats everything that i do its my no. 1 prority in life:)

kobus

11th Jun 2006, 15:42

Glad Township & Kobus have put away their handbags...

Well, you know what they say..."Never argue with an :). They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience."

Glad TD put his crayolas away :}

FlingWingKing

13th Jun 2006, 09:45

"We did not begin to fly because we might make more money with an airplane than we might have if otherwise employed.

We are, almost without exception, in love. It is more than love at this stage; we are bewitched, gripped solidly in a passion few other callings could generate. Unconsciously or consciously, depending upon our individual courage for acknowledgement, we are slaves to the art of flying."

This is probably the most accurate "reason" why we fly....because we ARE in love with our calling. For some of us that love might have faded a bit, but its still there. I have just under 7000 hrs and fly the "boring" line (far from the excitement of low level heli flying) but are thrilled everytime I strap this beast to my back. Every single time i start the approach, my heart beats in my throat with pure excitement and horror and love and bewilderment and enjoyment....

I LOVE THIS GAME.................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patches O'Houlihan

13th Jun 2006, 21:36

for the view my friends. the view

SAT_BOSS

14th Jun 2006, 12:57

Aviation, its an overpriced disease, how I mis the Cubby and the Champ. The 185 and .... Hey when I did it for freee I loved it now ..... I don't have a family life, still full of debt and .... aahhhh Listen found the solution: I am goint to join the Priesthood Ha

Woof etc

14th Jun 2006, 14:09

Hello everyone, my name is Woof, and I'm a recovering aviator.

I'm here to tell you about a vicious class A drug known on the street as "AVIATION". Forget about cocaine, cannabis, extacy - this is the one to keep your kids away from.

Like all drugs it starts with curiousity - harmless experimentation. "I can control it, I can quit any time I like", you say.

But from that first fix you know you want more. Slowly it takes over your life; you spend more and more time thinking about your next hit. You spend all your money on your addiction - some kids even take money from their parents to finance their habit. Financial ruin and poverty is the inevitable outcome.

Friends and family can only look on in despair as they see your life destroyed. At first, exposure to substances like 'C150' give you the rush you need, but with time you move on to more dangerous and expensive substances with street names like 'Twin' and 'Turbine' to get the same effect. The most hard core, down and out, desperate addicts get addicted to 'Jet'. These cases usually spend their days locked up in metal boxes where they exist in a zombie like state, staring into space, immobilised, for hours on end. Once the addiction has reached this stage, there is usually no possibility of rehabilitation.

Some addicts quit their jobs to pursue their addiction. Many are known to disappear from home for weeks, sometimes months - some never return. The more desperate turn to dangerous substances of dubious origin with names like 'Microlight' and 'AN24'. Other have been known to wander into Africa and turn into prostitutes working for pimps known as 'contract bosses' to fuel their addiction. Many of them become victims of AIDS (Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome).

Once you're in you can't quit. Slowly it destroys you....

The only hope is a support group called Aviators Annonomous. However, very few ever make it back from the brink. Those that do, will always be recovering aviators, continually in danger of relapse from the slightest exposure to AVIATION.

You have been warned..

corkscrew

15th Jun 2006, 17:45

Woof etc, that's brilliant! Never thought about it that way but it makes perfect sense!!! In that case I'm well and truly f*%#ed... :}

To far down the road I'm afraid.

Stayinalive

17th Jun 2006, 12:28

So we can hear bank managers say...
"Thats cool...ur a pilot. How much did you say u needed to borrow?"
And Insurance agents say...
"Risky profession. Can u please fill out and aviation questionair?....We wont load yur insurance by much"
Or your Auntie tell her friends...
"My nephew Johnnie is a pilot"...to which they reply..."Oooh Johnny you must be a clever boy then?"
Or most important of all the chicks say...
"Do you fly a Jumbo with SAA?"...and when you say no they answer "Oh...so why can't you carry passengers?"

Just kidding...the best job in the world....Thank God we don't sit in a bank, scam insurance from people, dont know how clever we are and know we dont have to fly Jumbo's for SAA to enjoy what we are doing.:ok:

kobus

19th Jun 2006, 13:34

Hello everyone, my name is Woof, and I'm a recovering aviator.
I'm here to tell you about a vicious class A drug known on the street as "AVIATION". Forget about cocaine, cannabis, extacy - this is the one to keep your kids away from.
Like all drugs it starts with curiousity - harmless experimentation. "I can control it, I can quit any time I like", you say.
But from that first fix you know you want more. Slowly it takes over your life; you spend more and more time thinking about your next hit. You spend all your money on your addiction - some kids even take money from their parents to finance their habit. Financial ruin and poverty is the inevitable outcome.
Friends and family can only look on in despair as they see your life destroyed. At first, exposure to substances like 'C150' give you the rush you need, but with time you move on to more dangerous and expensive substances with street names like 'Twin' and 'Turbine' to get the same effect. The most hard core, down and out, desperate addicts get addicted to 'Jet'. These cases usually spend their days locked up in metal boxes where they exist in a zombie like state, staring into space, immobilised, for hours on end. Once the addiction has reached this stage, there is usually no possibility of rehabilitation.
Some addicts quit their jobs to pursue their addiction. Many are known to disappear from home for weeks, sometimes months - some never return. The more desperate turn to dangerous substances of dubious origin with names like 'Microlight' and 'AN24'. Other have been known to wander into Africa and turn into prostitutes working for pimps known as 'contract bosses' to fuel their addiction. Many of them become victims of AIDS (Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome).
Once you're in you can't quit. Slowly it destroys you....
The only hope is a support group called Aviators Annonomous. However, very few ever make it back from the brink. Those that do, will always be recovering aviators, continually in danger of relapse from the slightest exposure to AVIATION.
You have been warned..

Too late for me :(

Is there no cure for this? :confused: :uhoh:

hyenacackle

20th Jun 2006, 02:52

Piet Retief? Ok that explains it. :E