What do you love about flying?
Join Date: Jan 2007
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My feelings exactly. It's a bummer my sectors are super short <1hr and have to get back to the bull**** sooner.
Knox.
Join Date: Jun 2008
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These days I like to share.
Have carried plenty of punters in the back in the past, and flown by myself privately a bit, but a flight like todays, when I took the son and his visiting Canadian friend to help reciprocate for past kindnesses to him, by showing them (him again, and the friend for the first time) the local sights and overview of our patch from the Cessna, then following it up by a car tour of the river, the town, and parks and sights from ground level.
Sort of makes us all feel good when the air component is included (and I've put a little back for my other joy-of-flight times)
Have carried plenty of punters in the back in the past, and flown by myself privately a bit, but a flight like todays, when I took the son and his visiting Canadian friend to help reciprocate for past kindnesses to him, by showing them (him again, and the friend for the first time) the local sights and overview of our patch from the Cessna, then following it up by a car tour of the river, the town, and parks and sights from ground level.
Sort of makes us all feel good when the air component is included (and I've put a little back for my other joy-of-flight times)
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Or being out at the Aero Club, watching the Air Ambo doing an NDB approach from the Foxbat with a new student & explaining the procedures involved from a great vantage point. Gotta love it!
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Having just come back from a $100 hamburger at Mudgee (at the Blue Wren - I recommend it, easy walk from the airport) and afterwards some time at the Mudgee Nags with three friends, I can say that flying makes me feel like I am not an ant.
Ants crawl in traffic or get bussed or trained in long lines. They pour up escalators and into ant hives where they beaver for hours. Their destinies are completely set for them. This is drudgery.
Now I do some of that for some of my days. But, on the days I fly, I always smile and say "I am NOT an ant".
Today opened my friends' eyes to reveal this sensation. And I find being a part of this revelation a great joy.
I do believe there are other things that can create the same feeling - motorbikes is another one - but nothing that I have tried beats flying.
Ants crawl in traffic or get bussed or trained in long lines. They pour up escalators and into ant hives where they beaver for hours. Their destinies are completely set for them. This is drudgery.
Now I do some of that for some of my days. But, on the days I fly, I always smile and say "I am NOT an ant".
Today opened my friends' eyes to reveal this sensation. And I find being a part of this revelation a great joy.
I do believe there are other things that can create the same feeling - motorbikes is another one - but nothing that I have tried beats flying.
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Brisbane
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*Departing a cold wet foggy runway,punching up through the clouds and popping out into thousands of square kilometres of clear blue sundrenched sky....and you feel you are the only one there.
*A full moon night and your cruising level is 10 feet about overcast. The incredible rush of 'cloud surfing' at night.
* A very long wet night,no ground visual for hours,just the rain hammering on the windscreen. Down the ILS,heart rate increasing,just reach the minima and there's the lights.
There are many times when a pilot thinks 'and I get paid for this'
*A full moon night and your cruising level is 10 feet about overcast. The incredible rush of 'cloud surfing' at night.
* A very long wet night,no ground visual for hours,just the rain hammering on the windscreen. Down the ILS,heart rate increasing,just reach the minima and there's the lights.
There are many times when a pilot thinks 'and I get paid for this'
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: lapbandland
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I love the crap
The one whole month of each year spent doing ever
increasing regulatory bullsh!t
Safety days,CRM,medicals,simulators,amendments etc etc
The main challenge in aviation nowadays is sorting through
the layers of dross and regulation inflicted by pretty much
every aspect of the industry.
Whats really amazing is how we still manage to get airborne
in spite of it all. There will never be a ground career as interesting.
The one whole month of each year spent doing ever
increasing regulatory bullsh!t
Safety days,CRM,medicals,simulators,amendments etc etc
The main challenge in aviation nowadays is sorting through
the layers of dross and regulation inflicted by pretty much
every aspect of the industry.
Whats really amazing is how we still manage to get airborne
in spite of it all. There will never be a ground career as interesting.
'boof' I have to 2nd that
It's out of control!!!! They don't want pilots anymore they want circus monkeys!
The best thing about flying these days is setting the park brake
Wmk2
It's out of control!!!! They don't want pilots anymore they want circus monkeys!The best thing about flying these days is setting the park brake
Wmk2
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Well said Boofta. The gloss goes off the career with all the paperwork,amendments,check flights,exams,simulator,upgrades,notams.
No matter how much you study,there is always "ah,BUT,what about when you....?"
I retired early at age 40 after 21 years in aviation. Have wonderful memories of the fun/exciting/rewarding times. If I start to get wistful I just think back to the
and then I'm satisfied with where I was and am now.
No matter how much you study,there is always "ah,BUT,what about when you....?"
I retired early at age 40 after 21 years in aviation. Have wonderful memories of the fun/exciting/rewarding times. If I start to get wistful I just think back to the
the layers of dross and regulation inflicted by pretty much
every aspect of the industry.
every aspect of the industry.
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: South Pacific
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Can identify with your #27 post Aye Ess, but don't you and Boof and Wally go and spoil things now..
Have been treated badly by 'colleagues' in the past who I can never forgive, and been sick of the b...s... at times, but NO WAY will those experiences be allowed to overwhelm memories of the good times similar to your 27 post and the true friendships....
Have been treated badly by 'colleagues' in the past who I can never forgive, and been sick of the b...s... at times, but NO WAY will those experiences be allowed to overwhelm memories of the good times similar to your 27 post and the true friendships....
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Flying? The best thing about flying came to me on my first solo. Up until then, I was a love of aeroplanes as a machine. For some kids, it was trucks or racing cars, for me aeroplanes. For me, this love affair started on a flight (not the first) in a Pan Am B707 when I was 12 y.o. The technology, raw power and the glam cabin crew had me sold-this was for me.
My first solo was in a Bocian glider at BCS just after I turned 16. It was 42 mins long and I remember every second of it. I had started gliding aged 14 and had 30 hours dual because the club's insurance was for pilot-in-command minimum age 16.For the first time, I was cut loose for the world and fully responsible for the success or failure of the flight: master of my own destiny, fully self-reliant as a human for the first time. First solo in a Citabria 6 months later was only 7 mins, but equally enjoyable.
Solo cross country in a glider gave an even deeper feeling of solitude and self reliance. When the 'mother' airport is out of gliding distance and several thermals away, you have truely cut the umbilicus of easy gliding distance. To complete a 500km cross-country after battling and scratching for lift for 7 1/2 hours gives a sense some thing beyond pride. More like self-knowledge. Others, more spiritual, might call it Zen.
In a similar was, single pilot IFR, flying across the Bass Straight from HB with ice, low cloud, drizzle and turbulence and into MB at 3am gives you a feeling where you know that you are a fully capable human being and that your potential as an individual is being fullfilled. As a Captain, again, the application of knowledge and experience to hold sole responsibility for the flight brings about a further depth of self-realisation. To hold it together on a dark stormy night and calm a panicing FO who is insisting to land, unannounced, at a remote Pacific Island just because the single HF radio has failed en-route reinforces that flying had contributed to my life-long individual development. This personal growth may have not come about had I choosen another profession.
The recognision of 'self' in flying is no longer present in what I do. Company bankruptcy and the Seniority concept have taken the self-satisfaction that comes from running the show. For the next X number of years, perhaps for the remainder of my career, I am now the side-kick for other Captains, some have my respect, others do not. I have always looked to these who were wiser and better than I as mentors. It is resonable to approach life this way. The seniority system has given commands to those who are younger, less experienced and often possessed of a sense of entitlement extending beyond their capabilities. Why else are so many failing their upgrades?
However, to suck up this unfairness and remove myself emotionally from the inherent injustice of the industry is also to be seen as a process of self-development. At the moment, I'm basically in it for the money, but in a few years, I will be able to retire and hang out at the gliding club again. On that day, I will extend my middle finger at airline 'managers' and other self-serving industry wan&ers and get back into real flying
My first solo was in a Bocian glider at BCS just after I turned 16. It was 42 mins long and I remember every second of it. I had started gliding aged 14 and had 30 hours dual because the club's insurance was for pilot-in-command minimum age 16.For the first time, I was cut loose for the world and fully responsible for the success or failure of the flight: master of my own destiny, fully self-reliant as a human for the first time. First solo in a Citabria 6 months later was only 7 mins, but equally enjoyable.
Solo cross country in a glider gave an even deeper feeling of solitude and self reliance. When the 'mother' airport is out of gliding distance and several thermals away, you have truely cut the umbilicus of easy gliding distance. To complete a 500km cross-country after battling and scratching for lift for 7 1/2 hours gives a sense some thing beyond pride. More like self-knowledge. Others, more spiritual, might call it Zen.
In a similar was, single pilot IFR, flying across the Bass Straight from HB with ice, low cloud, drizzle and turbulence and into MB at 3am gives you a feeling where you know that you are a fully capable human being and that your potential as an individual is being fullfilled. As a Captain, again, the application of knowledge and experience to hold sole responsibility for the flight brings about a further depth of self-realisation. To hold it together on a dark stormy night and calm a panicing FO who is insisting to land, unannounced, at a remote Pacific Island just because the single HF radio has failed en-route reinforces that flying had contributed to my life-long individual development. This personal growth may have not come about had I choosen another profession.
The recognision of 'self' in flying is no longer present in what I do. Company bankruptcy and the Seniority concept have taken the self-satisfaction that comes from running the show. For the next X number of years, perhaps for the remainder of my career, I am now the side-kick for other Captains, some have my respect, others do not. I have always looked to these who were wiser and better than I as mentors. It is resonable to approach life this way. The seniority system has given commands to those who are younger, less experienced and often possessed of a sense of entitlement extending beyond their capabilities. Why else are so many failing their upgrades?
However, to suck up this unfairness and remove myself emotionally from the inherent injustice of the industry is also to be seen as a process of self-development. At the moment, I'm basically in it for the money, but in a few years, I will be able to retire and hang out at the gliding club again. On that day, I will extend my middle finger at airline 'managers' and other self-serving industry wan&ers and get back into real flying
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Frigate...no intention to spoil things. Just tried to put a bit of balance in the comments,otherwise any newby reading here will think that it's just pure joy with no hard work.
I guess many of us have sat in cruise and realised that even the worst of an aviation job,is WAY better than any earth bound job.
I guess many of us have sat in cruise and realised that even the worst of an aviation job,is WAY better than any earth bound job.
I enjoy flying my little bugsmasher - an AA5 Traveler - touring around and visiting the beaches, relishing the two hundred dollar hamburgers and good company away. I enjoy taking a few launches, towing gliders up in the Pawnee, dropping them in good thermals or in the wave lift. The fun of doing precision flying, getting it right, is so cool.
But the freedom is the thing. There is no better freedom than when flying the gliders. There are so many extraordinary sensations in soaring flight, lovely chapters of true freedom and enjoyment in a friendly sky. There a days that might feel thumpy and bumpy in the Traveler but a magnificent in a glider, particularly in my single seat sailplane which looks beautiful, feels even better and has lovely long thin flexible wings that give incredible feel for what the air is doing. You feel great sensations, excitement and pleasure as you hook into a lovely strong thermal that carries you and a few hundred kilograms of sailplane up at over ten knots towards cloudbase.
Lovely experiences abound. After flying a few hundred kays, climbing really high, setting up a safe final glide from say thirty to fifty nm out and then cruising home at speed, enjoying the fast panoramic ride. Or racing with friends in other gliders around a quick closed course. Or the joy of finding a really good seabreeze front or convergence line and just fanging along at high speed in the lift, watching the sunset and changing colours. There is a lovely magic feeling when you have flown through all the bumps and lumps and rotor, scratching upwards, then you push into wind and feel the incredible smoothness of laminar flow, the upwards surge of wave lift, the satisfaction of working out the right flightpath to stay in the wave, and the absolute majesty of getting up way into the flight levels, sustained by oxygen, set up with a view from heaven's best armchair. The freedom, the sense of perspective, is so intense and delicious! You know you are really flying!
Yes there are days when you wonder why you are doing it, when you are tired of thumping around or administrivia and more jobs needing doing - but the freedom and magic is what sustains us, keeps us coming back for more.
But the freedom is the thing. There is no better freedom than when flying the gliders. There are so many extraordinary sensations in soaring flight, lovely chapters of true freedom and enjoyment in a friendly sky. There a days that might feel thumpy and bumpy in the Traveler but a magnificent in a glider, particularly in my single seat sailplane which looks beautiful, feels even better and has lovely long thin flexible wings that give incredible feel for what the air is doing. You feel great sensations, excitement and pleasure as you hook into a lovely strong thermal that carries you and a few hundred kilograms of sailplane up at over ten knots towards cloudbase.
Lovely experiences abound. After flying a few hundred kays, climbing really high, setting up a safe final glide from say thirty to fifty nm out and then cruising home at speed, enjoying the fast panoramic ride. Or racing with friends in other gliders around a quick closed course. Or the joy of finding a really good seabreeze front or convergence line and just fanging along at high speed in the lift, watching the sunset and changing colours. There is a lovely magic feeling when you have flown through all the bumps and lumps and rotor, scratching upwards, then you push into wind and feel the incredible smoothness of laminar flow, the upwards surge of wave lift, the satisfaction of working out the right flightpath to stay in the wave, and the absolute majesty of getting up way into the flight levels, sustained by oxygen, set up with a view from heaven's best armchair. The freedom, the sense of perspective, is so intense and delicious! You know you are really flying!
Yes there are days when you wonder why you are doing it, when you are tired of thumping around or administrivia and more jobs needing doing - but the freedom and magic is what sustains us, keeps us coming back for more.
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Australia
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Well said Bunyan Wingnut; it is often about those special experiences.
I recall late one afternoon after an air show at Caboolture taking one person after another for a slow, extended circuit in the Tiger Moth as the sun got lower in the sky. There wasn't a puff of breeze and the warm air just slipped past the open cockpit. There was no 'hire or reward', just taking some folks for a short hop and sharing what we're so lucky to be able to do.
Cheers,
Owen
Owen Zupp
I recall late one afternoon after an air show at Caboolture taking one person after another for a slow, extended circuit in the Tiger Moth as the sun got lower in the sky. There wasn't a puff of breeze and the warm air just slipped past the open cockpit. There was no 'hire or reward', just taking some folks for a short hop and sharing what we're so lucky to be able to do.
Cheers,
Owen
Owen Zupp
I love skmming along the top of Broken Cloud where you just left a drizzly grey day and you are in 8/8th of clear blue !!
Sunsets are another favourite as are 500 feet beach runs with the great unwashed waving madly at the plane.
And like I did yesterday instead of just going from A to B, calling up the great guys at ATC and asking for a BN CBD scenic. And getting it !!
Folk ask "how are you able to fly over the city like that"
Fortunately some common sense (repeat some) still exists in our ability to use the skies and see things that 99% of the population never gets to see.
Cheers
Sunsets are another favourite as are 500 feet beach runs with the great unwashed waving madly at the plane.
And like I did yesterday instead of just going from A to B, calling up the great guys at ATC and asking for a BN CBD scenic. And getting it !!
Folk ask "how are you able to fly over the city like that"
Fortunately some common sense (repeat some) still exists in our ability to use the skies and see things that 99% of the population never gets to see.
Cheers
Join Date: Feb 1998
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Freedom seems to be the common theme here.
For me it is the feeling that soon as the gear is up, all the crap, idiots, emails and superfluous bull**** at work just vanishes from your life till you land
For me it is the feeling that soon as the gear is up, all the crap, idiots, emails and superfluous bull**** at work just vanishes from your life till you land
I sometimes get it myself when I'm experiencing the joy
of flight. Looking down on God's green Earth, its cities, its
rural country towns, I quietly mutter "you can all go and
fcuk yerselves!"
....after I've checked the ATC mike isn't open of course!
To previous temp poster - sorry mate. Finger trouble!
