Flying: The most difficult thing you will ever do in life!

weirdjim said:
The slider I could handle. The hard one on the inside corner at the letters was the one that got me.

The most difficult thing in life? Understanding women. Even for just a little bit.

Jim
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I'll stick with difficult vs impossible.
 
Alexb2000 said:
Reading these posts over the years one could easily come to the conclusion that flying is the most difficult thing a person could ever endeavor to do.
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Nah, flying is pretty easy.

It's the landing part that's darn hard! :rofl:
 
Alexb2000 said:
Reading these posts over the years one could easily come to the conclusion that flying is the most difficult thing a person could ever endeavor to do.
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I thought getting married was the most difficult thing? :dunno:
 
Subsea said:
Perhaps I'm just figuring that out. In any event, I did not intend to offend anyone, although reading back, taking offence was warranted. Please accept my apology for speaking out of turn. I'll move along now.
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Don't sweat it dude. You're absolutely right, and I would venture to say that dang near everyone on this forum knows it. However, there is an a awful lot of good info here, and most of the time we have good fun. There are some on here that can make it difficult to enjoy yourself once the inevitable pizzing contests and pecker measuring begins, but it's pretty much the same cats that engage it that, and I'm sure you'll figure out who those are rather quickly. We all have our quirks, but overall, it's a good place to be. It's the only forum I actively participate in. I'm a one forum at a time kind of guy ;)

You DO NOT need to apologize anything in this thread.
 
Alexb2000 said:
considering turning in your ticket (sorry pedantics, certificate)
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"Ticket" is fine. However, "pedantic" is an adjective, not a noun. People who are pedantic are pedants, not pedantics.
 
I'm always saddened when I hear guys talking about how "hard" flying a GA plane is. This is a myth that has been propagated forever, and it has NOT served aviation well.

They rarely come out and say it's hard, but that's only because they are just so damned good, right? We all know the type, and the older I get the funnier I find them.

The bottom line, and everyone who has flown more than a few years knows this, is that driving in rush hour traffic through the heart of any American big city at night is harder than flying a spam can VFR. Period.

Yet millions of Americans do that every day. How is this possible?

We do ourselves and GA a huge disservice by continuing this myth that we are all World War I I fighter aces, with cat-like reflexes and the wisdom of Obi-Wan. This scares potential pilots off before they get a chance to pursue their dream of flying, and the end result has been more empty airports.

Face it, most of us are regular guys and gals, businessmen and lawyers, fathers and mothers. We may be a smidgen smarter than average, and I like to think we are an honorable bunch -- but I've gotten to the point where I simply skip threads where people blather on and on about the FARs, or the intricacies of talking on the radio. It's mostly insignificant malarkey that simply does not matter (who CARES if someone says "with you" when talking to ATC, really?), and newbies reading this kind of tripe can easily end up thinking that we are a nasty bunch of picky old ladies who will rat them out for the slightest mistake. And that's unfortunate.

Flying is easy. Cheap flying is still possible. Flying is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Spread the word, and maybe we can start filling our airports with young pilots again!
 
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Brilliant post Jay! I completely agree.

I'm on the younger end of the pilot group( 31) and I have to say, every time I take someone flying I always give them a shot at taking the controls. I always tell them " the plane basically flies itself. You can do it." Sure enough, after about 5 minutes, nearly everyone can keep the plane flying straight and level. The truth is, with training, anyone can learn to land a plane( I've read where certain flight schools even let people on intro flights attemp to land the plane during the intro.)

I think some of what the OP is implying( some people make flying seem much harder than it is) come from the amount of judgement it takes to be successful as a pilot and, to a large extent, how impactfull making a poor judgement call has on the outcome of a successful flight. So, in a sense, a pilot's mindset should be to limit the amount of risk for any one flight. In order to do that, he or she must consider many parameters, thus by the nature of considering all those different parameters, the pilot does, in fact, need to be knowledgable in many different areas. Yet, total mastery in all areas is not required to fly VFR on a clear and a million day. If total mastery was required, than yes, flying would be really hard.

I fly for fun every time I go flying-- it's a blast and an experience I cherish each time I take to the sky. I don't need to feed my ego by blabbing to everyone around me how hard flying is and how great I am because I can do it. I'd much rather they come along with me and experience the amazing views and the thrill of flight. That's enough satisfaction for me.
 
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Jay Honeck said:
We do ourselves and GA a huge disservice by continuing this myth that we are all World War I I fighter aces, with cat-like reflexes and the wisdom of Obi-Wan.
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I'll bet most of those guys started off just like us and only got that good by flying those things every day. Whether any of us are that courageous is another story...
 
And to add to Gucci's comment, you should go look at the farming forum if you want to see some real douche baggies. Anyone who is a larger operator than them is a crook... Landlords are GREEDY. Old guys should turn over their ground to the young farmers just starting out. And on and on till you could just puke.
All in all this forum isn't too bad - though it could be better :D
 
jspilot said:
I think some of what the OP is implying (some people make flying seem much harder than it is) come from the amount of judgement it takes to be successful as a pilot and, to a large extent, how impactfull making a poor judgement call has on the outcome of a successful flight.
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While it is true that flying requires good judgement, I'm not sure it's any more taxing than, say, motorcycling.

Mary and I rode coast to coast, Canada to Mexico, for many years. In those many thousands of miles I was always keenly aware of the consequences of letting my attention wander for even a few seconds. Gaze too long at the scenery, and your front wheel goes off into the gravel. It's all over, then, at 60 miles per hour.

Compare this to flying, where I may spend many minutes circling a target, taking pictures. This is often done no-handed, and my attention is focused on getting the light and framing just right.

Do THAT on a motorcycle. lol

No, there is a bravery with launching oneself bodily through the sky, but it's largely psychological, and has little to do with exceptional skill. The sooner we acknowledge and publicize this, the better chance we will have repopulating our ever diminishing numbers.
 
Jay Honeck said:
While it is true that flying requires good judgement, I'm not sure it's any more taxing than, say, motorcycling.

Mary and I rode coast to coast, Canada to Mexico, for many years. In those many thousands of miles I was always keenly aware of the consequences of letting my attention wander for even a few seconds. Gaze too long at the scenery, and your front wheel goes off into the gravel. It's all over, then, at 60 miles per hour.

Compare this to flying, where I may spend many minutes circling a target, taking pictures. This is often done no-handed, and my attention is focused on getting the light and framing just right.

Do THAT on a motorcycle. lol

No, there is a bravery with launching oneself bodily through the sky, but it's largely psychological, and has little to do with exceptional skill. The sooner we acknowledge and publicize this, the better chance we will have repopulating our ever diminishing numbers.
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Jay, I'd officially like to appoint you to head of the common sense committee. Keep it up- I enjoy reading your posts.
 
Flying isn't that hard. Demonstrating every PTS item consistently and correctly on a hot gusty day in my CTSW was close to the hardest thing I've ever done.
 
Measure flying by decisions per second and it is the easiest mode of transportation yet invented. Walking is more complicated. And the flying decisions are rarely hard and never unique.
 
I have not finished my training yet, but my thoughts. Flying is not that hard, almost any normal person can learn to do it. The problem with flying is that it is not forgiving, and requires good judgement, situation awareness, and common sense. One small mistake is probably not an issue, but make three or four small mistakes at the wrong time, and it gets really serious really fast.
 
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weirdjim said:
The slider I could handle. The hard one on the inside corner at the letters was the one that got me.

The most difficult thing in life? Understanding women. Even for just a little bit.

Jim
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I'll drink to that
 
Not really hard. It can get challenging when you push the envelope, but you have the option not to do that.
 
Tell you what, it is not the most difficult endeavor I have done, but it is the most unforgiving.

Large offshore dynamic crane operating is likely the most difficult, and by far most $$$ at risk, I can do $10million dollars a second damage until I ether get it corrected or it goes total loss; but I have to seriously screw up to hurt someone. Putting platform structures on their pedestals with a 2200 ton crane can be really fun though too when you can just grease her right on pins in a quick smooth lift keeping 3 crane dimension and a couple tuggers doing what they need to do. Nothing is moving particularly fast (but offshore you can't waste time either) but even so, the energy in play is huge, and it's fun to play with.
 
Flying is like music:

You need a good teacher.
You need constant practice.
Within a framework, there is room for individualism.
No matter how good you are you are never perfect.
No matter how good you are there is always someone better.
Every performance is different.
There is a time for solo and there is a time for teamwork.
Lots of mistakes go unnoticed by everyone but yourself.
 
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Mason said:
Flying is like music:

You need a good teacher.
You need constant practice.
Within a framework, there is room for individualism.
No matter how good you are you are never perfect.
No matter how good you are there is always someone better.
Every performance is different.
There is a time for solo and there is a time for teamwork.
Lots of mistakes go unnoticed by everyone but yourself.
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Lots of good stuff on this thread, but this is is spot on!
 
Jay Honeck said:
While it is true that flying requires good judgement, I'm not sure it's any more taxing than, say, motorcycling.

Mary and I rode coast to coast, Canada to Mexico, for many years. In those many thousands of miles I was always keenly aware of the consequences of letting my attention wander for even a few seconds. Gaze too long at the scenery, and your front wheel goes off into the gravel. It's all over, then, at 60 miles per hour.

Compare this to flying, where I may spend many minutes circling a target, taking pictures. This is often done no-handed, and my attention is focused on getting the light and framing just right.

Do THAT on a motorcycle. lol

No, there is a bravery with launching oneself bodily through the sky, but it's largely psychological, and has little to do with exceptional skill. The sooner we acknowledge and publicize this, the better chance we will have repopulating our ever diminishing numbers.
Click to expand...

At least flying I can trim it out if I don't have auto pilot and let it go for a good few minutes. Still quite haven't figured out letting the motorcycle go for a few minutes without getting killed.
 
Mason said:
Flying is like music:

You need a good teacher.
You need constant practice.
Within a framework, there is room for individualism.
No matter how good you are you are never perfect.
No matter how good you are there is always someone better.
Every performance is different.
There is a time for solo and there is a time for teamwork.
Lots of mistakes go unnoticed by everyone but yourself.
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Quote of the Day, there. Thanks!
 
Well, I have gotten some great advice here on two different trips from SLC to Colorado. Both times I followed the various tidbits of advice and the outcome was perfect. You just need to learn to parse what is helpful and what is not.

And that other bit of forum advice: stick to page one on 90% of the multi-page threads. That goes for almost any forum.
 
Mason said:
Flying is like music:

You need a good teacher.
You need constant practice.
Within a framework, there is room for individualism.
No matter how good you are you are never perfect.
No matter how good you are there is always someone better.
Every performance is different.
There is a time for solo and there is a time for teamwork.
Lots of mistakes go unnoticed by everyone but yourself.
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Sure you are referring to flying and not f--king?
 
Mason said:
Flying is like music:

You need a good teacher.
You need constant practice.
Within a framework, there is room for individualism.
No matter how good you are you are never perfect.
No matter how good you are there is always someone better.
Every performance is different.
There is a time for solo and there is a time for teamwork.
Lots of mistakes go unnoticed by everyone but yourself.
Click to expand...

This is so true...
 
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