Is Flying in your blood

[doctordoom]

Just starting this thread to see if anybody else out there thinks that flying is in your blood. I myself have alway's wanted to be a pilot from an early age and have alway's had dream's about flying. Chuck Yeager once said that pilot's are born not made could this be true.

[Pugilistic Animus]

It's not in the blood it's in the heart!!

you need love heart and courage--this is no place for cowards and sissies

sorry I didn't flower it up with flowery cute talk---but flying is a rough business!



PA

[FirstOfficer]

Could be...

My earliest flying memory, which is registered on a photo as well at home was when my parents took me to the Airport and I was holding the fence so hard looking at the planes that they briefly took their hands off me... for the photo shot.

I was one year old then...

[doctordoom]

Well said you just left out 1 thing you alsoo need a big bank account

[nick14]

I totally agree,

For me my whole family are medics or bank managers or child nurses and then there is me....always wanted to be a pilot ever since I could say plane ( which admittedly wasnt that long ago )

From about the age of 10 I started flying model aircraft, then joined the cadets and now im getting close to my CPL/ME flight test and Iv never looked back!

I was born to fly, and that is what I shall do.

Nick

[bajadj]

I'm on the other side of the fence.

Flying is a career (hopefully) for me. My first love was music but last year i made the decision that 20 years of playing music was more than enough and decided to jack it in and follow my second career as a pilot. For many years i had wonderred what the hell i was going to do after i got too old / stopped enjoying the entertainment business and about three years ago i thought i'd have a trial lesson and give this flying business a whirl.

Personally i don't think it matters one jot whether you were "born to fly" or think of it as a career choice. However some people do and i have been looked down on and been asked "How can you be a pilot and not love flying?". My answer is "Do you think charterred accountants LOVE their job?? probably not...Do dentists love dentistry?? some do some don't...Do plumbers love to plumb???...etc etc..." I like flying...I enjoy flying....but I don't love it.

The question is whether a career as a pilot should be treated differently to other highly paid or skilled professions and my answer is no. It is ones ability to do the job that counts in a professional and qualified manner.

I seem to have taken all the romance out of the thread! for which i apologise!!! sorry.

My point is there may be people reading these forums who think that it is an absolute neccesity to eat, sleep and think aviation 24/7 to become a pilot and i just don't think this is the case. In is my opinion that it's the eat drink sleep brigade that give pilots the reputation for being one dimensional and dull...so stop it!!! get out more and talk to girls!!!! rant over!

[Pugilistic Animus]

Bajadj,

I agree it's not in the blood [although I make an exception in the case of C. Yeager].

but flying is a jealous lover--and there about a million ways to die---choose one---

a little slip of the lip from a controller
a little in attention on an instrument approach
a hasty grab at the prop controls---

In order to fly well you must understand your ship -- quiet unlike a stupid slow limited car---and doing so because of the vast number of operational pitfalls ----obsession is the only way to be on guard against them--


yes, I'm very sterotypical but people in my life have learned to accept my obsession with planes[and take advantage of it ]--and although overwhelming at times for some I do have many other interests--


For Aviation has no love for you--- it has no care--- no forgiveness in its heart ---and for the unfaithful it will eventually kill you---I've seen it---I'm not lying

You don't fly with one hand on your Pr**K and the other on the master switch

It loves no-one---in fact it's probably the MOST limiting thing in my life---


PA

[doctordoom]

Some very deep thaught's, but as for looking at flying as just a job I feel you have to have a pasion for wot you do, I was a carpenter who had dreams to be a pilot and I used my job to fund my pasion but to be paid for something you love doing I think you cant beat that. Bajadj I think by the sound's of it that you are a pilot that dreams of music everybody has a pasion if you dont you mite aswell be dead, but you are makin out that pilot's are some kind of freak's I think you mite be in the wrong game or did you just hear that pilot's make great money. Quote (Do dentists love dentistry?? some do some don't...Do plumbers love to plumb???...etc etc..." I like flying...I enjoy flying....but I don't love it) the reason why people do these job's all boil's down to one thing, money. It's better to do a job you enjoy and get little money than do a job you dont and get paid loads just my view on it . PA me thinks you should look into becoming a poet.

[bajadj]

Doctor Doom. I do enjoy flying. I enjoy it very much, however I could live without it. It isn't my be all and end all. That was the point I'm trying to make. I stopped enjoying playing music so now I'm doing something else I enjoy. I'm not just doing it for the money, if that was the case i would still be a dj (it pays about the same and i wouldn't have to fork out for the training costs). Please don't think I'm disillusioned in any way with aviation, I like it very much. I just don't wake up in the middle of the night after dreaming of a seneca. I think there's more than a few who think like me but don't want to admit it. But each to their own...

[Tootles the Taxi]

At a recent airline interview, the Chief Pilot addressed the interviewees collectively & asked " How many of you look up when you hear the sound of an aircraft flying overhead? ". Many were reluctant to acknowledge & after surveying the audience, the guy said this - " Having spent as much time & money training to fly them the least you should do is look up when one passes. ".

Another interview, TP fleet manager asks candidate to identify aircraft in picture hanging on wall of his office. Candidate unable to leading to questions of a more technical nature. Not doing very well, FM says " you really aren't interested in flying at all are you? " Result, no job offer.

[bajadj]

second interview: fair enough, not being able to answer technical questions isn't going to endear yourself to the interviewer!!

first interview: the interviewer is a pompous arse.

[BerksFlyer]

Or maybe the first interviewer feels that the best candidate would be one most passionate about the job?

Perhaps he was looking for someone who really wanted it rather than someone who went in on a whim?

Just playing devil's advocate

[bajadj]

it would make it a bloody dangerous drive to the airport if you happened to have a convertible though.

[doctordoom]

Bajadj could you live without music of course you could but life mite just be that bit more boring without it thats the way I feel about flying. I dont go around thinking of planes and talking about them at every moment I am not a complete aerosexual but I do always look up when I hear a plane its like music to my ears and I just love the smell of burnt jet A1, ok maybe I am a bit of an aerosexual but is there anyting wrong with having a pasion for someting. I know my life would be boring with out flying I get such a buzz from it.

[preduk]

I always wanted to become a military pilot rather than a civi pilot as a child. Almost every male in my fathers side joined the armed forces, mostly the same regiment as well (Scots Guards).

Although over the next couple of years it will be the civi route for me.

I am addicted to flying these days and yes I enjoy looking up in the sky for every passing aircraft.


I sometimes randomly drive down to the airport and just sit about watching the aircraft depart/arrive just for the fun of it, pretty sad to some but I really don't care.

[bajadj]

Of course there is nothing wrong with it. I never suggested that there is anything wrong with it. My life would be more boring without flying, and music. I suggest most peoples would!!!!

My original point was in answer to your question asking if flying was in the blood, and as many people have pointed out, including your good self, yes it can be!!!

i seem to be in the minority (no shock as it's a flying forum!!) in saying that for me, it wasn't in my blood. It is a career choice. I don't mean anybody any malice or disrespect, I'm just participating in the debate.

[doctordoom]

I agree with wot you say and it's good to get point's of view from every perspective that's wot pprune is for and that's why I started this thread to see wot people have to say on the matter. Come on you must have a great passion for flying other wise you would not be doing it or you would have givin up when times get hard as it does so many times in this Industry and I think its the love of flying that keeps us going when times get tuff and thats why so many Airline's are killing us makin us pay for TR's cause they know every pilot has a passion for flying, I think they all will have us paying them to work for them, I know alot of guy's that would.

[Whirlygig]

My parents met and married whilst working in aircraft research in the 60s. I had very little interest in flying even after being dragged round RAE Farnborough and various air shows but now ...??

I suspect it was because they didn't get involved with helicopters!!!

Cheers

Whirls

[doctordoom]

Well I guess it was in your blood Whirls but it just lay dorment for a bit.

[Tootles the Taxi]

first interview: the interviewer is a pompous arse.

Perhaps, but as the interviewer he was entitled to ask the question.

Flight training is hard work, expensive & antisocial. Airline flying is demanding, not overly rewarding financially & antisocial. It's good to have a little motivation when you're struggling to pay back the 70 odd grand you borrowed to undertake the training.