AN2 - just goes to show, size IS important :}

He's lucky; he got away lightly. Others might have married her :)

No doubt, one day, some male mug will. There is an endless supply of them (under 40).

Like me, there speaks another (over 40) mugged man....

;)

just as I expected good comments. Appears the lucky fellow does read here and made the right connections, got his per mail :)


yea, sometimes it is better to have people one thinks one knows out for a test drive so to speak, to prevent ugly surprises later.

But regarding the original topic, it is sometimes perverse to see what rep our kind of aviation has achieved over the years.... I had my own sense of responsibility questioned repeatedly by folks who later turned out to do things I do consider a sight more dangerous then my flying... It is a bit absurd to have the dangers of private aviation pointed out to me by people like motorbike addicts (that one drove a Harley which regularly wakes the whole quarter up when she's out for early shift), a repeat Himalaya climber, several divers and least of all one gal who used to work in foreign aid projects in places like Afghanistan during the Taliban rule.... :eek:

What was that line again? Nothing is so difficult to kill than a prejudice.

Some years ago, my wife was very aware of my longing for a ppl. She bought me the first 6 lessons for Xmas. However, one day, having achieved my license, I went into the lounge to find her quietly crying. She was petrified of what the kids and rest of family would say if I managed to kill myself, feeling she would be blamed for kickstarting the proceedure!!

A few years on, she accepts that it is unlikely that I will come to any harm, but still worries, and insists on a phone call the moment I land! Being claustrophobic, she will not fly in a small aircraft (she suffers, even in a 737) so I cannot take her with me to help put her mind at rest (or otherwise!!).

My wife appreciates I'm more likely to come to harm driving to and from the airfield than in the air. Less nutters up there!

I don't want anybody to take this comment the wrong way... it is just a straight observation in human nature.

If you meet a girl, and the relationship progresses, in general (I would think, in these modern times) you will go on a holiday abroad with her before marrying her or before making any major commitment like buying a house together.

So, off you do to the airport, and she has a major problem getting into a 737.

So the holiday is probably off, but more to the point you realise that holidays in general are going to be a problem.

I would suggest that if the boot was on the other foot i.e. it was the bloke who would not get into a 737, most women (being on a very sharp lookout for the strange tendencies which men are supposedly susceptible to, like train/plane spotting) would leg it at that point. Unless you had the looks and charm of G Clooney, you wouldn't see her for dust.

Yet most blokes (under about 40) would not see this as a problem. They think they can "help her", but of course this isn't so easy.

I once went out with a girl (she was about 30) who was almost sick at the mere thought of getting into a plane. I thought (probably correctly) that this would be a huge can of worms, but I don't think she had any problem finding boyfriends...

I see loads of blokes giving up flying (and probably other relatively time-consuming hobbies which I wouldn't know about) under pressure from disinterested women, and I have to ask myself what led them to shack up with her in the first place.

More likely, they are more spread out :)

I met my other half at a gliding rally. Thirty years on, we are still flying together and separately, with a cub and two gliders between us. It hasn't always been an easy relationship, and I think sometimes it's the flying that has kept us together. Don't underestimate the force of a shared pleasure! On the other hand, he doesn't like knitting and I don't like woodworking. So we do have time apart from each other.

If you are referring to a 15 y.o. posting and reading here, of which I am perfectly aware, that is fine. If you come from a prudish background you are perfectly welcome to use whichever euphemisms and circumlocutions you do find appropriate.

In the meanwhile, there are other cultures and schools of opinion which favour clarity of expression and have altogether different perceptions of what is obscene and what is not, and how to treat each case. As you may guess, I belong to this latter group.

"She marched off on her high heels with surprising speed and vanished, probably never to be seen again. "

...........nothing like a lucky escape. I've seen a few of my mates suffer really badly in the hands of "high maintenance". :sad:

It is so refreshing to see such cynicism in fellow man...;)

My whole flying training and career aspirations have been totally ruined by neurotic females. I think it is initially due to having so much fun and interest without them. Then as you het closer to ATPL jealousy kicks in as they imagine you with your gold braid trapped in a metal tube with the hosties. Trust me, many females cannot bear the thought of you on an overnight with a bunch of flying mattresses.

I now play a lot of golf basically every minute I have free, and the partners get pissed off with that as well ie having fun with the boys. They usually say "I thought we could do something together this weekend" I say "like what", they say "we could go shopping at TESCO". FFS do you really think I would give up a round of golf to go to the shops!!!!

Back to the jealousy bit, think of an aircraft as your ideal mistress. You have to tie them down EVERY night, they don't get jealous if you look at other aircraft, they don't get jealous when you look at aircraft magazines and the whining stops when you turn the engines off!!!!!:D

Sometimes when I read all these things and also out of experience I wonder whatever happened to becoming friends before lovers? It is amazing to me how many people out there use the cockney term for their partners in earnest and wonder why the hell they ever got into this mess they are in?

Would friends do the things we mention here to each other? I guess not, otherwise, with such friends who needs enemies.

that does nail it rather well :} :)

Especcially after bad experiences before, a lot of males will put on the pink filter over their Ray Bans before realizing that there is no free lunch, especcially in that regard. By the time brains take over from the nether regions, your finger might well set of the metal detector. I do reckon that lots of relationships which break do so out of the initial misconception that compatibility in bed means compatibility elsewhere plus the even worse idea that the partner, of course always the other, will "change" to accomodate what one looks for outside the sack. Wrong.

Sometimes it does help to bring it down to this basic question. If you see that your partner treats his/her friends with more coutesy and manner than yourself, it is sometimes sobering but effective to bring up the question of friendship in a relationship. The distinct lack of which might well be a reason to pull the plug even if things are still good to brilliant in other aspects. It is crude but true that skilled lovers are easier to find than true friends.

I know you're joking, as are those which think beer is the best mistress with as compelling reasons. Again, that is not it. I for one have to say that travelling and flying alone without anyone to share the experience with is half if any fun.

She is right, of course.

Have you read Air Babylon?

It's all true :)
Actually I really enjoy going shopping at TESCO with my GF. We treat it as a social research project...

It cuts both ways. First husband was afraid of flying! I rather enjoyed it, as a passenger, first as a kid over Tampa Bay, paid for it by dishwashing! still remember the marvelous turquoise clear waters, seeing manatees from above looking like slugs cuddling up together near the shores....

Then later, after we had four children, our first holiday he was so nervous he insisted we fly in separate planes -not a bad idea in those days.
We did fly together once, in Mexico in a Dakota flown by a Native American, walking down a center aisle that sloped; then well banked turns on the approach to Casas Grandes, husband slumped in his seat with his eyes shut fast and muttering prayers..

But it wasn't until he dumped me for a younger model that I decided to do something reckless; had my ears pierced and went for a ride in a glider at High Wycombe. Recognised at once this is what I really wanted.

After ten years of flying, and realising that most pilots preferred a serious relationship to their gliders rather than the opposite sex, I put an ad in the Times, and found dear Henry, who had been in the British Army, and I taught him to fly! We had many happy years together.

That side of things has got a lot easier in the last 10 years, which is why there is a lot less of an excuse nowadays for ending up with somebody who you have little in common with.

@IO540 "Actually I really enjoy going shopping at TESCO with my GF. We treat it as a social research project..."


That comment brought a smile to my face. I love "people watching" at shopping centres, cheap entertainment.

Apologies for off topic.

I think part of the problem is that flying is not just another hobby. For me it’s more of an obsession and I really can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with a man who doesn’t have at least some interest.
I only got my license this year. I'm looking for someone to share the experience (and hopefully the flying itself) with, who will enjoy fly-ins at weekends in the summer, and maybe flying up to Scotland or to over to France for a few day's holiday.

I’m not interested in tagging along to some ground based hobby at weekends. If it was evenings, then fine but there are few enough beautiful flying days at the weekends as it is to risk loosing even one of then. If I’m not flying myself then I’d still much rather be at the airfield than anywhere else on a nice day. Airfields are magical places and worthy destinations in their own right in my opinion.
I could choose someone who goes off and does his own thing every weekend, I don’t had any problem with that but I can’t see there ever being any real sparkle in such a relationship.

-Katie

Doing your own thing every weekend (i.e. Sat and Sun) is going to finish any relationship eventually.

That is the problem, as far as I can see, with gliding, or "serious" sailing. Power flying you can just do part-time, and if you have flexibility on weekdays you can do it then.

I think the best relationships are ones where each of you has their own "projects" but you spend time together in the evenings and say on Sunday. In too many relationships one person is "hanging onto" the other.

Some couples end up with a "ground based hobby" called "children". Which doesn't just take up weekends of course, it's 24/7.

That's true but kids should not "ground" both of you, unless you are broke (which many are) but then you won't be doing much flying anyway.

My wife love's to go flying but as we have to boy's aged 11 and 6 she is always concerned about the fact that if anything goes wrong it's both of us in the plane together :uhoh:

Austerwobbler

Not exactly "broke", but for a number of years the childcare bill came to several times what I used to spend on flying. I have taken up flying again since we haven't had to pay nurseries.
Yes, I am allowed to take the children flying, but not all of them at once, and my wife won't come flying with me unless there's another pilot in the aircraft. (Which was useful on the most recent occasion, as the other pilot had more experience of sorting out an engine failure than I had.)

Well now, I am puzzled.....IO540, are you really that old? And Gertrude, the wombat, why Gertrude? I had assumed you were of the other gender....

Nice to hear from Fenland Flyer and Piper Classique: flying is an obsession akin to music, other people just don't understand what you are on about!
Gender, in these cases, is irrelevant.

Long story ... Once Upon A Time a mate of mine used to call pieces of software after his girlfriends, so to take the piss I called something Gertrude. Plus I rather like wombats (although they're not the brightest of animals).

So, when I came to sign up to PPRuNe nobody but nobody was using their real name, and to do so would have looked decidedly odd. In protest against this weird convention I made up the daftest name I could think of in my then current state of sobriety, and there we are.

Not that posting under other than one's real name actually hides who you are. I once asked in another place, nothing to do with aeroplanes, where I post under my real name, "so what's my PPRuNe handle then?" and someone (not a PPRuNe regluar) had worked out the correct answer in less than an hour.

A post like that from a 30 year old female obsessed with flying on a forum full of old male codgers, should bring forward no shortage of applications.

That's really funny :)

A couple of years ago there was a site for informal seat sharing / mentoring and such. I put my name on it, where I was based, and the sort of flying I did.

Most of the (few) replies I got were one-liners from women, and when I asked them for details of their background (i.e. what sort of trips were they interested in) I got some pretty vague answers. One claimed to have a CPL but could not read or write.

It was obviously being used as a sort of dating site, but I have not had any need for that since 2003 (15 Sep to be precise :) ).

Well, my wife hates flying and won't come, '' yesss result'':ok:

With that level of accuracy, it's about time you two got married...

10540

Sounds about right for a CPL? ;)

Pace

I have a PPL and try to fly regularly, I just love aeroplanes. I love being around them, they have so much character about them ... I can't be the only person on pprune who can see that all aeroplanes have character and spirit ... am I? :O Erm ... moving on ...

My better half flies commercially. I thought that he would think that it is great that I am interested in flying, so that we can share flying together, but it doesnt seem so. He helps me with advice, but doesn't get excited about flying anymore. He's lost the passion for flying that he once had when he was going through what I am now. This upsets me when I tell him about how my flying went and what I did, and times that I am proud of my flying, but he seems indifferent sometimes.

I have taken a few female friends flying, who have all enjoyed it (even one who was afraid of heights). If I tell people that I hold a PPL the response is variable. Some people think that it is impressive, but others don't seem that bothered. I think it just depends what you're in to. I like girly things, but I also like machines too.

I wonder if it is to do with the fact that sometimes people can't relate to flying 'little' aeroplanes. It amuses me when people find it hard to get their head around the idea that I can fly an aeroplane on my own. If I tell people about flying, and say I flew on my own to xyz, women, often say, "Was there an instructor with you"? ... "No, I was on my own"... "What, there was no-body with you"? ... Noooo!

My wife has zero interest in flying except as a mode of transport. So if we're going somewhere we'll fly whenever we can and that works fine :-)

Though she won't touch the controls she's a good P2, reminding me of clearances and reporting points and cross checking waypoints if we're VFR as well as spotting traffic.

We've been all over the place and for her it means trips to places we wouldn't otherwise get to and/or trips to places we regularly go (e.g. Channel Islands) with less hassle and/or making day trips feasible when they otherwise wouldn't be.

KandiFloss

I spoke recently to someone that left his career in accountancy a few years back. He wanted to follow his passion for flying and decided to start with his PPL and head straight to the airlines. He now pilots for Fedex. He reckons that the best part of his training was doing his PPL, after that it all got very serious and now there are times when he feels little more than a courier. He doesn't regret his chosen path, I think the point is no matter what your job there comes a time when it becomes just that....... "your job".

AOB9.

Oh yes i'm sure that it does. I know lots of airline pilots who also have shares in light aircraft, as they miss the fun of flying 'little ones' and being able to fly exactly how you want and not having to fly to company standards.

I wonder if some airline pilots feel a bit disenchanted having put in so much effort and money to get where they want to be and feel 'oh is this it, is this what i've put my whole heart into?' and feel a bit disappointed when the buzz has gone.