Author Topic: What I Miss About Flying  (Read 8209 times)

Offline switchtech

  • Cockerel
  • ***
  • Posts: 119
  • Climb, Communicate, Confess, Comply
    • SwitchTech's home page
What I Miss About Flying
« on: January 20, 2007, 05:05:04 AM »
 ::wave::

OK, I don't know why I haven't previously put this online.  It's an essay I wrote for a writing club in November of 2005.  I've also placed it on my web site in PDF form: http://switchtech.us/TextFiles/What_I_Miss_About_Flying.pdf

John B. Sandlin

What I Miss About Flying

Everyone experiences it (so I’m told); the dream of flying, arms outstretched, soaring.  You look around, not even the birds fly this high.  This creates joyous exhilaration for some, stark terror for others.  The dream is about power, freedom, or control.  I flew like this for real.  Of course I had a small airplane wrapped around me at the time.

Flying always interested me.  I took lessons when I was in my teens, but didn’t get many hours before I stopped for financial reasons.  Flying small airplanes costs real money.  I enjoyed flying immensely and I’ll describe why in a moment.

Many years passed.  I grew up, moved away, got married and started a family.  The passion to fly resurfaced and, again, I took lessons.  Due to financial pressure, however, I stopped before becoming certified.  Twenty years didn’t do anything to make flying less expensive!

Flying small aircraft  - during nice weather, anyway – gives a sense of freedom.  Size matters in Texas; bigger is better.  The open airspace here follows suit, delivering plenty of flying space.  I enjoyed flying from small airport to small airport; we call it Cross Country Flying, the most.  Take off is anti-climatic; the aircraft gently lifts from the ground and begins flying.  The sense of freedom begins immediately, within the limits of airport etiquette.  Flying must be approached and managed with deliberate seriousness, yet I never found it dull.  Next the plane and I depart the pattern.  We point our nose, with allowances for the wind, where we want to go.  I was flying from the Castroville Airport, which the Feds call T89 (Tango Eight Niner) and headed toward Fredericksburg.  As the reward for flying two thousand feet above the ground I saw many hidden things: ponds, small private lakes, private airfields and airparks, and thousands of acres of the Texas Hill Country.

I placed my trust in a paper map, the compass, and landmarks I’d picked from the map.  Major highways reveal themselves with bright ribbons stretching from horizon to horizon in gently sweeping curves, where highways meet I marked my map.  Checked against my watch, these landmarks revealed my progress, the corrections I needed, and a sense of my position – most of the time.  On another flight I did misplace myself by a few miles after missing two landmarks in a row.  But that’s another story.

I approached the field in Fredericksburg (we pilots call it Tango Eight Two) calling on the radio to let anyone listening I intended to land.  I circled the field, checked the windsock, and made another few radio calls.  No one answered my calls, the operations closed on weekends, making the airport unattended.  I flew the pattern, left turns always, each leg at the right power and speed, adjusting the altitude (we pilots call this flying by the numbers, airspeed, power, altitude).  With no one watching, I made a great landing – at least I don’t remember bouncing!

I got out of the plane to stretch my legs and find a phone.  Airports usually have a public use phone available, somewhere.  I found a pay phone near the close office and called the Flight Service Station to report my safe landing and schedule my flight back.  Technically I didn’t legally need to use the Flight Service Station, but my instructor wanted me to use them, in case I got lost or went down.  With nothing to do but stare at the closed sign on the FBO (Fixed Based Operator) office door, I got back in my plane and prepared to take off.  I listened in amusement as a pilot with the advanced navigation tools in his aircraft tried to find the airport.  I tried to respond on the radio that I saw him flying overhead.  With the airport immediately below, this pilot dependent on technology couldn’t find the field.  I checked my paper map and the indications of the windsock, planned my flight, and flew home.

Planning your flight and flying your plan reward you in so many ways.  The ego gets a boost for a job well done.  The emotions soar along with the plane, banking, sweeping, gliding and climbing – even when the plane flies straight and level.  The memory gains another story, embellishing here and there for proper effect (though I swear I really made a sweet landing, honest!).  We pilots call those Hanger Tales.

I keep using “we” with “pilots” though I never did get that license.  The feeling of flying stays with you.  I’m a pilot, grounded by technicalities, law, and finance.  In my dreams I fly.

(copyright 2005 by John B. Sandlin)
« Last Edit: January 20, 2007, 09:26:51 PM by switchtech »
The sky and land joined for one brief moment, then we flew - the ground a receding memory for just a little while.

Offline Turbomallard

  • Rooster
  • ****
  • Posts: 418
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2007, 05:23:56 AM »
A wonderful essay! And you are a pilot, and always will be. I always tell people that the dedication required to get through those first 10 hours or so is noteworthy... many folks take a few lessons and then quit when they realize how much work it is. But to me, somebody is a "pilot" when they've soloed. Period. The amount of training and dedication required to get to that point-- no matter how many or how few hours it takes you to get there-- is the mark of a special person, made moreso by the mental discipline it takes to get in an airplane and go fly it on your own. Taking that responsibility for your own actions is quite impressive. At the flight school where I work part time, I always make a point to congratulate a pilot after their first solo or their private (or other) checkrides. And I'm not going through motions-- I really mean it. It is, in my book, a huge deal.

I love instructing part time for that reason-- you help people attain that dream. Being part time allows me the luxury of being able to pick my students-- I'll pass on those who "don't get it" and/or want to learn to fly just because it will get them from point A to B faster than driving. Often these are people with too much money to spend on too much airplane (e.g., a Malibu) to begin training in. Similarly, if I know somebody who has the passion for flying is running a little low on funds, I'll work with them on the ground on my own time and do whatever else I can to help them attain their dream.

Speaking of which, I went straight from my day job and did three hours of ground instruction and just got home, I'm dead tired and incoherent, so it's time for this duck to waddle off to bed.

Aflac!

TM
« Last Edit: January 20, 2007, 05:28:12 AM by Turbomallard »
"Do not read this signature under penalty of law."

Offline Frank N. O.

  • Alpha Rooster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2446
  • Spin It!
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2007, 07:15:00 PM »
Ok I finally got concentration to read the essay and man does it really sound amazing, and I think I can remember a little of that freedom in my Cardinal-flight even though I for the most time just looked out the window and just did a few small turns. Fantastic writting about a fantastic experience/world.  ::bow:: ::angel:: |:)\

Frank
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
— Leonardo da Vinci

fireflyr

  • Guest
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2007, 12:28:44 AM »
Nicely written S.T. and I concur with the Frank and the Mallard. |:)\

Offline switchtech

  • Cockerel
  • ***
  • Posts: 119
  • Climb, Communicate, Confess, Comply
    • SwitchTech's home page
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2007, 02:07:18 AM »
Thanks for the compliments.  I had fun writing it, remembering that too short a time in 1995 and 1996 when I was taking flight lessons and putting it in words.

jbs
The sky and land joined for one brief moment, then we flew - the ground a receding memory for just a little while.

Offline TheSoccerMom

  • Chicken Farmer
  • Alpha Rooster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2590
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2007, 02:15:53 AM »
Hello John,
You have a wonderful way with words!  Thank you for sharing your flight with us.  I felt as if I was there!  Very nice.
I hope you get back to it soon..... 
 |:)\
Don't make me come back there!!!!

Offline happylanding

  • Alpha Rooster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1079
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2007, 11:11:17 PM »
I just read your article and yes, it's impressive. I just hope that technicalities, law and finance will soon be a forgotten problem.  |:)\
I give that landing a 9 . . . on the Richter scale.

Offline switchtech

  • Cockerel
  • ***
  • Posts: 119
  • Climb, Communicate, Confess, Comply
    • SwitchTech's home page
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2007, 04:46:24 AM »
I just read your article and yes, it's impressive. I just hope that technicalities, law and finance will soon be a forgotten problem.  |:)\

I'm working on it!  Starting with a visit to Mexico, Missouri.  VeloJym should know what I'm talking about!

jbs
The sky and land joined for one brief moment, then we flew - the ground a receding memory for just a little while.

Offline switchtech

  • Cockerel
  • ***
  • Posts: 119
  • Climb, Communicate, Confess, Comply
    • SwitchTech's home page
Re: What I Miss About Flying
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2007, 10:11:29 PM »
I just read your article and yes, it's impressive. I just hope that technicalities, law and finance will soon be a forgotten problem.  |:)\

I'm working on it!  Starting with a visit to Mexico, Missouri.  VeloJym should know what I'm talking about!

jbs

Here's a big clue to what I'm talking about:

The sky and land joined for one brief moment, then we flew - the ground a receding memory for just a little while.