a moving inspiring surprise
 

... is my reaction to this short film (19mins):
Some Strange Things Are Happening To Astronauts Returning To Earth

I was wondering whether my fellow aviators have ever found echoes of what these great pioneers have felt, based on their own experiences. One might well say St. Exupery was there first however...

I usually get the 'shock and awe' bit when breaking through an overcast. One of those days where it's miserable and grey on the ground and you break through into brilliant sunshine and a fairy tale cloudscape. Always gives me that other worldly experience.

Mind you, talking about pilots and astronauts you have to remember that most of us, especially the astronauts have striven for years to achieve their goals right from childhood so it's not surprising that we find the achievement of our goals awe inspiring. I have taken people flying and on being VMC on top and admiring the view have said something like 'What do you think of the view then?' to which I've had the occasional 'Where?' reply....:hmm:

Edit: I sometimes get one of those Richard Bach 'potential of aeroplanes' moments as well where I can look at a quite inocent looking aircraft sitting on the grass and think where that machine can take me and the things I can do that no one else can unless they are fellow aviators.

You have to be careful though, most aviators would think you were into flower arranging or something if you gave voice to too many thoughts like that....:)

HHobbit

Thanks for sharing that amazing piece of film!

When you think that it was 1968 when they first circled the moon without actually landing there where have the pioneering days gone today?

Very significant is the realization of how thin our atmosphere is which from space made the atmosphere appear so fragile and our planet so beautiful.

How do you connect the experience of Astronauts to us atmosphere locked pilots?

One thing that has often touched me is seeing a beggar in the streets, people going through suffering either through sickness or loss all with their worries or fears.

As you climb away from a City like say London you see those peoples houses in detail, as you climb those houses become smaller till they loose their individuality and become one mass.
As you climb further even the city starts to shrink and itself becomes part of a bigger picture.
You can almost sometimes think that you could put your arm out of the aircraft and sweep a whole city away.
Then you realize that in that small mass there are millions of people all struggling with their own individual problems yet how in the large picture we are so insignificant our worries so small compared to the world as a whole.

Great and moving film

Pace

I said something like this to a few friends before- "Don't you think it's amazing how those pilots can take that huge machine up to 35,000 ft and bring it back down on a tiny strip on earth?"

They said No.

Yes, you have to remember that your enthusiasm and love for something isn't shared by everyone else! I have a mate who races cars and he bores me to tears banging on about it; so bearing this in mind I only bang on about aviation to fellow aviators.

Great clip, thanks for posting.