Hardath Laloo sent in this photo titled “The Anticipation of Flying Jets.”
“Every student pilot anxiously awaits that step forward from our training in Piper Warriors or Diamond DA-20s to one of those beautiful jets parked next to us while we do our preflight checks!”
Once upon a time I thought it would be great to fly corporate jets but not the airlines. As veteran I used some of my education money to explore flying but found that there were to many people willing to take less for what they were worth just to say they are Commercial Pilots. A Boeing engineer who has since gone West told me to get an education and fly for the fun of it. Let the others battle it out for position in
the pilot market.
My older brother flew for a large oil company, but he paid his dues along the way, too. As a flight instructor, ag-pilot, charter pilot, ambulance pilot and several other positions. And, only to by noticed by a husband an wife team for a major oil company did he land the best job of all which lasted 28 years. He retired reasonably happy with the outcome.
I enjoyed the manufacturing world and ferried light planes I could never afford and had fun meeting the owners and the dealer network in the industry. I guess I am categorically classified an aviation bum.
I admit that I have an extreme bias but, far as I’m concerned, the ONLY time jets prove useful is when they are dispensing armament upon the enemy. At all other time they are seriously obnoxious.
Especially the AV8 Harrier.
BUT, those kerosene burners can provide real 3D flight without ‘going’ anywhere. Just too expensive.
I’ve never had even a remote interest in jets. The two types of flying I enjoy most are backcountry, off-airport operations and aerobatics. Jets can’t do either. Yeah, the Blue Angles have an airshow act, but all they can do is fly close to each other and roll. You’ll never see a jet doing a snap roll, a lomcovak, or a tailslide. Their limited aerobatic repertoire, and their complete inability to operate off of short gravel bars in the backcountry relegates jets to boring, long distance transportation (they’re OK at warfare too, but that’s not a civilian activity). Nobody ever submits a video of cruising along at 38,000′ to YouTube as an example of how cool flying is. I’ll stick with the most exciting and entertaining aspects of aviation, and those are exclusively the realm of small, piston powered, propeller driven aircraft.
Not EVERY student pilot.
Now I’m not knocking those who do, but I’ve never had any desire to fly for any other reason that the pure joy of it. Sure it’s nice to be able to “go” somewhere. But, in the words of the late, great Harry Chapin*; “It’s got to be the ‘going’, not the ‘getting there’, that’s good.” And to me, that means meandering about, at a relatively slow pace, enjoying the view from a couple thousand feet AGL.
(*Yes, I know Harry was referring to bus travel, in that song. But couldn’t the same be said about “the not-so friendly skies”?)