onwards
Pattern Altitude
... just how incredible the privilege of flying is, and how much secret pride I carry in relation to having attained it last year at the tender age of 39, against all odds (being insulin-dependent).
I still grin like an idiot every time I get in that left seat. I still get the adrenaline rush with every takeoff, even in a calm and sunny day. My breath still stops momentarily whenever I get out of the pattern at my home airport, just because it's so hard to believe that I am, in fact, behind this amazing experience.
I still look outside from 2000 ft and am mesmerized by the views. I still love being on the radio, listening to the ATC calls, and actually understanding all of them, including the instrument ones now that I'm working on my IR. I am astounded by being able to think in 3D, being able to work out where planes are even if they are covered by clouds, just by listening to those calls. I still love every moment of a maneuver, when all I need to do is think about where I want to be and the plane sort of does it. That sense of wearing the plane keeps blowing me away.
And then the landing. Oh, landings. I still get a sort of nervous tingle when I get close to the pattern, visualizing an invisible square ending on the runway. Identifying the runway. Seeing the numbers. Talking to other folks when in echo or golf, and coordinating our approach so that we are all safe. If only drivers were as courteous as the vast, vast majority of pilots out there, we'd have a lot fewer accidents. I still love - absolutely love - the moment where I turn final, and see the white-on-red, and have the plane just slowly losing altitude, tracking that center line on the glideslope, and remembering just how impossible that simple feat was... what, a year ago? was I ever going to be able to land a plane by myself? but now the question is, can I make it so I can't feel the wheels touching the ground? and I still feel a great rush of accomplishment on the occasions when precisely that happens, even if these days it happens more often than not.
It had not yet grown old at all, not one bit.
I hope it never does.
[OK, return to your regular programming. No point to this post]
I still grin like an idiot every time I get in that left seat. I still get the adrenaline rush with every takeoff, even in a calm and sunny day. My breath still stops momentarily whenever I get out of the pattern at my home airport, just because it's so hard to believe that I am, in fact, behind this amazing experience.
I still look outside from 2000 ft and am mesmerized by the views. I still love being on the radio, listening to the ATC calls, and actually understanding all of them, including the instrument ones now that I'm working on my IR. I am astounded by being able to think in 3D, being able to work out where planes are even if they are covered by clouds, just by listening to those calls. I still love every moment of a maneuver, when all I need to do is think about where I want to be and the plane sort of does it. That sense of wearing the plane keeps blowing me away.
And then the landing. Oh, landings. I still get a sort of nervous tingle when I get close to the pattern, visualizing an invisible square ending on the runway. Identifying the runway. Seeing the numbers. Talking to other folks when in echo or golf, and coordinating our approach so that we are all safe. If only drivers were as courteous as the vast, vast majority of pilots out there, we'd have a lot fewer accidents. I still love - absolutely love - the moment where I turn final, and see the white-on-red, and have the plane just slowly losing altitude, tracking that center line on the glideslope, and remembering just how impossible that simple feat was... what, a year ago? was I ever going to be able to land a plane by myself? but now the question is, can I make it so I can't feel the wheels touching the ground? and I still feel a great rush of accomplishment on the occasions when precisely that happens, even if these days it happens more often than not.
It had not yet grown old at all, not one bit.
I hope it never does.
[OK, return to your regular programming. No point to this post]
