Do you all still get that, "Feeling"?

[EGGD]

Hey all

I guess this should be in the Questions forum, as it does have a Question mark at the end. But it goes out to all Pilots and Wannabe's.

That "feeling" is the one i always get when i am sitting on my window seat looking over the wing as we are roaring down the runway at blistering speeds. When the whole cabin is shaking (maybe this only happens on Fokkers ;) ) and you feel the nosewheel lift the ground, the loud rumble of the concrete/tarmac runway beneath us stops, and we leave the ground.

And i just look out of my window as the familiar countryside disappears, and just feel so warm inside, like i want to leap with joy (with the seatbelt sign on!!! :eek: ) and think to myself "I love flying more than anything else in the world"... yes even more than s.e.x (what do i know about it anyway ;)).

Do you guys still get this as a pilot, even as a 60yr old pilot? Do you still get it as a passenger? What do you feel when you rotate? I guess its not as fun when your a Flight officer, although a little more for the captain.

Have a nice day!

I am off to play golf :D

Regards from sunny Bristol

Dan!
(i am not under the influence of any Narcotics)

[expedite_climb]

The best bit about roatation from the sharp end is how you just seem to rise vertically, when the back wheels are still on the ground!!! :p ;)

[captainowie]

CPL with 250+ hours. I fly Scenics in a C172. I still get it on almost every rotation, just like 1st solo....

[criticalmass]

I still get the feeling, every time, and I hope I always will!

When I fly I am released from the two-dimensional world of "the ground". The third dimension, - the sky - is mine to explore. The earth is laid out beneath me; patterns, colours of tilled earth, fallow ground, rocks, forests, seas, lakes, familiar roads now straightened and made clear, the distractions of corners and intersections removed. The canvas in which life is lived is suddenly wider, all-encompassing.

Then there is the sky itself and the atmosphere, that thin, dynamic envelope of mixed gases that sustains life and protects it. Invisible to the eye, but every subtle nuance of it, every perturbation is made apparent to me by the controls. Every flight is a constant reminder of how lucky we are to be able to leave the surface of the earth and see sights denied to the ground-bound.

I'm lucky - I don't fly for a living, I live for flying.

I've said it before but it bears repeating:- "Only pilots and skydivers know why the birds sing!"

[stator vane]

i am on the far side of 12500 hours, with a bit more than 4500 in the left seat of the B737 and when i am passengering in the back, i still like the rotation and watching the flaps and ailerons operate as well as the thin streams of condensation that almost always appear inboard of the engine on rotation.

when up front i still enjoy the circle rainbow around the shadow of my aircraft and try to call the cabin crew up to see it if possible.

the times we can skim along the top of a cloud layer are still moving.

and descending into a cloud still strikes me as a beautiful thing.


i am often frustrated with many parts of the job, but the airplane itself is a marvelous work of art in what it allows us to do.

[StressFree]

Stator,
Youve said it all, I ride up front in the left seat of a 737NG over Europe, it never fails to give me the 'buzz' that flying has always given me. I could never enjoy another job as much.

:D

[TowerDog]

No, unfortunately don't have that "feeling" anymore.
Did enjoy flying in the past, now it is just a meal ticket and if I had my free will, would have quit and gone sailing the islands.
(Wifey says, don't quit yet)

Perhaps mid-life crises or perhaps burned out pilot. 23 years of flying, 17 jobs, 50 types, many thou hours.
Enjoyed getting into the left seat of the classic B-747, but that soon got old after numerous trips being on duty 30 or 40 hours and no sleep.

Would do it over again if I was 18, but would have done some things a little different.

[ 01 September 2001: Message edited by: TowerDog ]

[Hang the Bandit]

It's just nice to see that the engines haven't gone bang on the take off run and rotate! :D

[Kiteflyer]

You ain't feeled the feel unless you have been on a BA Jo'burg to LHR flight in December when it is full....

Refueled at in Kenya...

Take off roll was 1 minute 10 seconds.

You knew when you were flying when you couldn't hear the wheels rumbling any more..

No dramatic "ROTATE"

:)

[Tiger_ Moth]

You see! I told everyone airliners werent fun! I told them they ruined flying! Did you notice that you often have people who have been flying in AIRLINERS for ages getting tired of it and wishing theyd never set eyes on a plane before whereas people who fly smaller things like Tiger Moths etc still want to fly forever. Did you notice that?

[PsychoDad]

Tiger my man, a rare few (if any at all) can make a living out of flying a Moth so one fine day when you too grow up you'll have to leave that piece of antiqued aviation history behind you. Do grow up a bit; may I suggest you moved on to something like a Stearman for starters :D

I too enjoy the take-offs, zooming in and out of clouds and the landings (not sure my pax does though). But I'm often finding myself wondering if this is it and whether I'll be able to last here for the duration of my working life. Somehow all the training they put into us seems wasted in the sense that I really do not want to test my skills in a "engine on fire, hyd gone, electricals bottoming out, landing to minima" situation. Sure it's great fun in the sim, but out in the real life ? Nope !

So I am quitely looking around to see if the world might have something better on offer. Something where I can apply all I've learned on a daily basis rather than on the biannual sim rides. But somehow I always come back to the cockpit because there is just something about flying you can't find anywhere else. And I'm not just talking of the money here; it's the aviation community, the sense of accomplishment after doing 4 sectors and still being on time, the warm feeling of being trusted with gazillions worth of hardware and much more.

Would I be able to live without it ?

[Yak Hunt]

Depends on the individual, I have always loved Airliners, love the airline life and the people. I often wonder how I have so much money - yet don't have a 'Job'!! Golden rule in life - don't chase money - do what you love and money will follow. Life is too short to do anything else!! If the money dosen't come - your happy! Enjoy, ladies and gentlemen - if you don't enjoy it, go do what makes you happy and let somebody else fill your place who want's to be there. It makes it a lot more pleasant for the rest of us!! So, grumpy old Captains (and some F/O's)who hate being there, please don't poison the rest of the crew, it really makes a difference. Why not go in with a smile on your face and try not to moan. You will be surprised what a good day you have!! You might even start to love it. When you stop moaning at people, have a look out of the window, not many people get to see that. ;)

[Dave Incognito]

Every time I roll inverted. The world looks so much better upside-down. :D

[PAXboy]

PAX with 35 years in the cabin and still counting ...

I love to fly. I mean, I LOVE TO FLY. I mean FLYING IS L.O.V.E.R.L.Y <pax next to me summons Purser and asks for me to be sedated>

OK, I have control!

At the start of the t/o roll, I lean forward in my seat and look out of the window. Then, as we accelerate, I enjoy feeling the machine push me back into my seat. Involuntarily, I smile. Every time. I smile. I enjoy watching the flaps and other bendy bits ;) and to listen to the sounds of the gear and marvel at the hysterical thought of all this deadweight (and I do not mean the Cabin Crew!) leaping off the earth! I smile.

In the cruise, short or long, I find my mind is released from so much and I can think and write and relax in a way that is impossible on the ground.

Sometimes, if you have been chatting with the neighbouring pax whilst waiting for push - they are still trying to talk to you as we are turning onto the r/way! Then I have to find a way to politely say, "SHUT UP, we are just about to have an orgasmic experience!!!"
:cool:

[BeauMan]

Some beautifully eloquent postings on this thread. Just thought I'd add my 2p's worth...

Do I still get 'the feeling'? Not any more, but that's only because my PPL expired a few years ago.

Do I miss 'the feeling'. Oh god yes, more than you can ever imagine.

Do I want to have 'the feeling' again? Of course, and that's why next year, I'm going to get requalified. And then I'm going to teach my kids to love 'the feeling' too.

[Davaar]

Those are good feelings.

But is there any feeling at all to match bringing in a big piston single with an in-line engine so long and high you can’t see down over the front, you must do wheelers (Ugh!) or a curved approach, and you do the curved approach looking out the side, and you ease it straight, flare, and cut the throttle, and the Merlin or Griffon goes crackle crackle crackle crackle, and you land on THREE POINTS? Ecstasy. Haven’t done it in 45 years, but it remains.

[stator vane]

must be a function of my age and maybe even my reading, but to think that i sit on my arse and twist buttons for a living when not many years ago in the mines in Wales men and boys had to lay on their sides and pick coal and women and children worked down there too while some wicked coal barrons got rich, makes me appreciate the machine i fly, which is now the B737 CLASSIC???

i don't need two glasses of Padthaway (great stuff) to be amazed that the airplane can know where it is and even the marvel behind the HSI in color none the less!!!!

and to think that actual voice differences can be transmitted on the VHF? and those ATC'ers are smart enough to learn ENGLISH!! just the subject of languages amazes me.

at 46, life is really becoming so rich and when the car starts, i APPRECIATE it.

and to sit here and listen to Mark Kophner and now McCartney do what they do on the six strings is priceless.

and to read that those miners wanted their jobs and took pride in their work--we can too even in the midst of payscale struggles and missed slots.

life itself is such a treasure at times.

especially when it's almost all gone

[ 07 September 2001: Message edited by: stator vane ]

[Groundgripper]

Yes, I still love flying, even just as a passenger. I guess it comes from being brought up under the approach paths of both Heathrow (Stratocruisers, L-749 Connies and DC-4s right through to 747-100s) and Northolt (DC3/4/6s, Super DC3s, Spitfires, Ansons, Yorks, Varsitys, Shacks, etc, etc, I could go on for ages!). You either loved aviation or hated it - I loved it and still do.

I still time each take-off run, it's amazing how often people sitting nearby ask how long the take-off took.

Guess what - a DC3 (Air Atlantique?) has just flown over, honest!! Must be going to Blackpool for the Southport show.

Always fascinated looking down at the land as we fly over, don't you just hate it when the purser asks you to close your window blind 'cos they want you to go to sleep in the middle of the morning?

High point? Flying the classic approach into Kai Tak at night in the jump seat of a CX747-200, really makes you appreciate Kowloon!

When I win the lottery I'm definitely going to learn to fly, I've got plenty of time, I'm only 58!

[Nick Figaretto]

Someone told me, before I got into flying myself, that "Flying is the best thing you can do with your clothes on."

One day I will fly naked.

Nick.

[Mooney]

EGGD, Flying is still very fun- especially off BRI's 27 and landing on 09!! Had all the fun this week there!!

[flapsforty]

EGGD, after almost 20 years, that is an emphatic YES!

[Alf Aworna]

Fun Fun Fun with a capital F - But low and fast in the Scottish hills is truly the best.

[stator vane]

after watching the WTC hits, i got a strange feeling next time i entered into a cloud deck.

can you imagine the thoughts in their heads as they kept steering into the building and perhaps seeing their own reflection on the windows just before they hit?

had to be some serious anti-americanism to motivate that large of a group to sacrifice their lifes that way.

[Self Loading Freight]

I've no idea how many times I've flown, but each time I get an amazing thrill at rotation. There's a residual frisson from knowing that this is one of the more interesting times for things to go wrong, but mostly it's the sheer marvel of feeling the power of the engines, seeing the wing go through its metamorphosis, and the ground falling away beneath. I got the same feeling the first time I flew (when I was nine) and three weeks ago when I last got up there. Not sure my occasional shouts of glee when turbulence is announced always go down well with those around me, though...


Aviation is a great and wonderful gift. I'd be a pilot if I had better eyesight and the right aspects of character, but as it is I'm happy down the back.

R

[EGGD]

I agree with the Turbulence! Although its always at the wrong time when i need to use the bathroom..

WTC tradegy has not dented my love of flying, i don't think anyone should lose confidence over this.

We should all enjoy flying for what it is :)

[stator vane]

i still love it too.

but for every one who loves it, there is one that is still scared of it. so i try my very best to make the entire flight as smooth as possible, taxi, takeoff, plan ahead to avoid the use of speedbrake if possible, as to the landing, i try my best, but putting it down at the right place and right speed has priority over the actual landing texture.

i fly as if my father is in the back. someone i love who i know was scared of flying.

there is a large measure of art in flying.

[ 20 September 2001: Message edited by: stator vane ]