My youngest son Evan "flying"
by Chris Findley, CFI
“More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.” -Wilbur Wright
As a child many of us had dreams of flight. It seems to be built into the psyshe of humanity. From the earliest of times, we have look to the birds and wondered how they achieved what for us seemed impossible. From ancient times to current, many a child has run with their arms outstretched pretending to be soaring through the open sky, unhitched from our earthly reins.
For thousands of people each year, this dream becomes a reality. They seek out their local airport and a qualified instructor to help them earn their wings. With practice and experience they learn to soar past and above the birds that once enamored their forefathers. They learn the joy of flying and we often say that “The bug has bitten them!” That sense of freedom and adventure that once led the likes of The Wright Brothers, Jimmy Doolittle, Amelia Earhart, and Chuck Yeager begins to do its magic on the new, fledgling pilot. Once this “bug” gets them, seldom does it go away. It’s simply and profoundly contagious.
First flights are magic. As an instructor, I’ve had the privilege of taking people, young and old, on their first airplane rides. I’ve seen their face as we climbed away from the ground and winged our way over the city or countryside. I’ve listened with satisfaction to the observations and laughed with them as some become slightly giddy realizing that they are indeed, flying.
But what exactly continues to motivate new pilots to the expense and work of flying? Ask a dozen pilots and you may get a dozen answers, but most of them will center on freedom and joy and fun. From airline pilots, to fighter pilots, to the 18 year old buzzing around the pattern in a tired Cessna, they all can speak of the ways flying gives them immense satisfaction and a sense of real freedom and accomplishment. In fact almost to a person, they will articulate some sense of joy.
Flying is about rising above the hustle and bustle. It’s the idea that for an hour or so, you’re watching the world in a third dimension. Cars move like toys on roads below you. Clouds float by you and below you. You realize very quickly that you are in another world. For that hour, all other troubles and stressors fade into the background as all your energy and attention is wrapped up in this thing called flight.
To describe the wonder and joy of flight is almost to do it injustice. It is something to be experienced and, in the end, to be lived. When you become a pilot you are inaugurated into more than a hobby or profession, but into a community. Wherever you go you will share something with every pilot you meet- it is the intangible, contagious, joy of flight.
