Of all the amazing, memorable, soul-enriching experiences I’ve had in the general aviation industry, none has come close to the satisfaction I have gotten from helping someone get started. Those smiling faces fill my memory and tug at my heartstrings.
Politics for Pilots
We don’t know what we don’t know
If we can’t or won’t acknowledge our own ignorance, we can’t learn. And since we can all be sure we truly don’t know what we don’t know, we can proudly stand up and say, “I know a lot, but I’m still learning.”
The conflict within
After canceling a flight I’d planned due to weather, a friend commented to me as I tucked my airplane back into the hangar, “A lot of pilots have been buried on a sunny day because they flew when they shouldn’t have.”
Disappointment along the way
Setbacks are going to happen. A lot, unfortunately. How we handle the challenges we face is a big part of what defines us as individuals. And as anyone involved in aviation on any level knows, delays are part of the deal. Eventually we manage to get where we’re going anyway.
Michael Jordan on the diamond
I often talk to men and women who tell me how badly they’d wanted to learn to fly, but they never did. And now, they tell me, it’s too late. They’re pushing 40, or perhaps they’re even older. That ship has sailed, they moan. The opportunity is gone for good. What a load of horse hockey.
The ignorance is deep and wide
In aviation, that comforting belief that our thoughts and actions are just as they should be, regardless of widely disseminated information to the contrary, can be truly dangerous.
Maybe just stay home
Maybe some people should just stay home. And maybe those of us who love to fly should let them. No shame. No animosity. Aviation isn’t for everyone. That sounds like blasphemy, I know. But it’s true — very much so.
The tenacity of why
Never lose the childlike innocence that allows us to ask why so often when we were young. Cherish it as a gift. Too many of us push it out of our minds in an attempt to cast off childish things in favor of adulthood. It’s the dreamers who do big things. That has always been the case.
It’s a numbers game
The general public sees driving as relatively safe and flying as generally risky. But the numbers tell the real story.