What does flying do for you?

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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FloridaStudentPilot
I woke up early this morning excited to go flying again. So the question is what does flying do for you? I'll start:

"Every time I get ready to fly fear and excitement is merged together inside of me which rarely happens to this middle aged man, it's the feeling of uncertainty that gets me every time"

Plus I can upload some more photos in Daliy Pic which is awesome!


What does flying do for you?
 
Same here. It pays the bills.


But...

When it's not paying the bills, I still like to fly for fun. Typically going from point A to point B. As an example, just to make things more fun since I live in a dry county, I like to take the plane on a 20-30 minute hop to a nearby field that has a liquor store across the street and do a booze run. They also have a Lowes there too. Otherwise, it's an hour drive to the nearest Lowes/Home Depot and about an hour twenty to a decent liquor store.
 
Flying to me is everything that is great in this world. The best therapy you could ask for. Flying is one of the greatest examples of what makes our country the best in the world. We can build an aircraft in our garage and go fly it with very little questions asked.

I have my build at the college where I work, I took over the unused classroom next to my office and the back room behind the classroom for my workshop. When I get a break from teaching I can work on the plane. The one added bonus is that I can always just walk by it and look through the window, gives me a nice boost and a renewed sense of everything that is right in my world.
 
Probably nearing the end of my flying days, I've lost a lot of enthusiasm for flying like i used to have. I actually enjoy encouraging newbies in their pursuit of flying more than actual flying. Offering a little advice and encouragement. I do enjoy taking my 6 year old grandson up and watch the amazement and joy he gets from it though. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to teach him to fly. Instructed my son for his PPC and we fly together once in awhile too. Says his 1 year old looks up when a plane flys over. I still do too, especially when a Yak or even a T6 flys over, usually one of the Team Aeroshell T6s, who are based here in BHM I think. But I had a long career flying, went further than I ever expected (airlines), and even when I was learning to fly at the aero club at Osan Air Base in Korea it made me want to change jobs in the Air Force, and I went into ATC. Met a lot of wonderful, knowledgeable, and definitely crazy people thru flying. I don't know if there's anything else like it.
 
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Antoine de Saint Exupery probably had the best description of what I feel every time I temporarily leave my normal earthbound state:

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things"

My wife says no matter what is going on in life, every time I come back from a flight, any flight, I am always in a better state of mind; she really notices the change.
 
Anymouse said:
....As an example, just to make things more fun since I live in a dry county, I like to take the plane on a 20-30 minute hop to a nearby field that has a liquor store across the street and do a booze run. They also have a Lowes there too. Otherwise, it's an hour drive to the nearest Lowes/Home Depot and about an hour twenty to a decent liquor store.
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that's both funny and sad at the same time. I mean that there are still "dry counties". america was built on booze, c'mon, people!
 
eman1200 said:
that's both funny and sad at the same time. I mean that there are still "dry counties". america was built on booze, c'mon, people!
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Just like the lottery, Alabama doesn't have one but TN, GA, and FL do, and the busiest sales are near the Bama state line in all those states. People are gonna get what they want one way or another.
 
It simply makes me happy. For me it is the ultimate feeling of freedom. It also offers challenges and a learning experience every flight.

Going for my ifr will be a whole new chapter.
 
It frees my mind. It challenges me, excites me, and scares me. Every time I take off, all my troubles get left on the ground, and every time I land, I come back feeling stronger, happier and intensely satisfied. It's the best damn therapy in the world. And, let's be honest, it's sexy as hell. Nothing is more erotic than turning onto the runway, lining it up with the centerline, going full throttle and lifting into the air.

Despite the temptation to, I fear making a career out of it. Flying is something magical and precious to me - I don't want that magic to ever fade. Seems like the joy of other things always wanes with time - I hope that never happens to me with flying.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
Despite the temptation to, I fear making a career out of it. Flying is something magical and precious to me - I don't want that magic to ever fade. Seems like the joy of other things always wanes with time - I hope that never happens to me with flying.
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There's quite a bit of difference between flying for your bread and butter, and flying for just yourself.
 
I suspect it increases the level of serotonin and / or Dopamine in my brain.
 
It relieves my mind of petty stuff, I call it head time.
 
As of late I have been doing ridge soaring, sometimes at tree height. There is nothing more exhilarating in flying. The nearest competition would be from breaking out at minimums on a tough IFR approach (with appreciative pax, like Angel Flight), or from autorotating and setting down into a tiny spot in a helicopter. But from my current perspective, there is simply no comparison.
 
Keeps me sharp on 1930's engine technology, 1970's airframe technology, and 1990's GPS technology and user interfaces, to the point where I might be able to figure out how to teach them?

:)
 
It makes me drive hours through the rain to hop in a plane I've never experienced and polish up on my tailwheel time.

And like jordane, it pays some of the bills.
 
For me, it's a mix of fun and transportation. I truly enjoy flying, even if it's a 15 minute flight to the maintenance shop, I don't like the bill part as much as the flying part. I am at a time in my flying where I normally fly to go somewhere as opposed to busting bugs for fun. We own a small place in Destin, it's a 5 1/2 hour or more drive and I honestly wouldn't go very often if I couldn't fly. I can leave work at 4 on Friday and be on the ground there in 1:45 or so and at the house in two hours total door to door, stay all weekend and be fly home Sunday night by 9:00 and only miss a couple hours work on Friday and all day Saturday. :D I love taking friends and family places that we wouldn't have time to drive for the weekends.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
It frees my mind. It challenges me, excites me, and scares me. Every time I take off, all my troubles get left on the ground, and every time I land, I come back feeling stronger, happier and intensely satisfied. It's the best damn therapy in the world. And, let's be honest, it's sexy as hell. Nothing is more erotic than turning onto the runway, lining it up with the centerline, going full throttle and lifting into the air.

Despite the temptation to, I fear making a career out of it. Flying is something magical and precious to me - I don't want that magic to ever fade. Seems like the joy of other things always wanes with time - I hope that never happens to me with flying.
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Exactly this for me, every word. Well said.
 
At my stage (student, with around ten hours) it's the right kind of stress.

But it's lots more. My father flew and I used to go up with him in his Cessna 172 as a kid. He could fly! I never fealt nervous with him, i was a kid and dad can do everything.

I last flew with him as an adult, around 1990-something, and loved it...felt good to go up again with him.
He has passed (2008) and I had always wanted to learn to fly, but lived far from my dad, never had enough money to pay for lessons. Eventually forgot about that dream. Then at 59 realized I did have the means if I wanted to do it. Kick myself for not realizing it earlier, but I started.

First flight with my CFI taking off, as soon as we were up in the air on climb out I was grinning from ear to ear and happy as I've been for a long time. I did pretty good also at basic level flight, some banks, etc.

There is just something so RIGHT about it, at the same time as it feels like we are doing something we really aren't supposed to be able to do, lacking actual wings on our bodies...yet we can do it. The sight from up in a plane never ceases to make me smile and feel wonderful. Even on a jet liner, I wonder about all those people ignoring that incredible view (if they were on a mountain looking down they'd all be oh'ing and ah'ing...but on a passenger plane just go right to to their iPads, totally ignoring all that out there, and when else do you get above clouds?? How cool is that?) but in a small plane it's somehow even more there.

Now it's stress, I think my current CFI wants to throw lots at me to keep me able to handle stress with a lot of maneuvers, but I notice when my hand is tight on the stick or yoke, and remember even though I'm up there to learn to be a pilot, if HAVE to get some "alone" look-at-that time, and that enjoyment. Less of it right now because of training.

I really don't know, but I don't need to know, why...just it feels so right, and so wrong at the same time. And the views. And being able to learn how to actually pilot, and navigate in a small plane...I don't know why everyone that could afford it isn't doing it.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
It frees my mind. It challenges me, excites me, and scares me. Every time I take off, all my troubles get left on the ground, and every time I land, I come back feeling stronger, happier and intensely satisfied. It's the best damn therapy in the world. And, let's be honest, it's sexy as hell. Nothing is more erotic than turning onto the runway, lining it up with the centerline, going full throttle and lifting into the air.

Despite the temptation to, I fear making a career out of it. Flying is something magical and precious to me - I don't want that magic to ever fade. Seems like the joy of other things always wanes with time - I hope that never happens to me with flying.
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I made a similar decision about music (a guitarist) in general. When I learned that even or stoically when you make it you get more and more limits on you, and I never wanted it to be a grind. Started when I was 14 and am now 60 and still playing in a band where we gig regularly but not too often. I made the right choice for me.

Though I am sure there are pro pilots that don't get tired of it (though I have heard of those that flying at work is a job, but they still good around in a small plane one weekends), and musicians that are able to do all they want and don't tire of it, some of us know what we need.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
It frees my mind. It challenges me, excites me, and scares me. Every time I take off, all my troubles get left on the ground, and every time I land, I come back feeling stronger, happier and intensely satisfied. It's the best damn therapy in the world.
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^^^^^^^
This! When I was younger it was fast motorcycles and climbing rocks. It's impossible to worry about lifes troubles when you're 450' up a rock face trying to clip that cam you just slipped into a crack. And no more exhilarating feeling when you take a 20' whipper and that cam holds.

But then my knees and back went and I had to find a new way to get that thrill.
 
The immediacy; nothing else matters much when flying - later today, tonight, next year, none of that is too relevant when in the airplane. If the flight stretches me a bit, with weather, mission, whatever, even better.
 
Gets me anticipating when planning, my heart rate pumping and excitement heading to the airport, "in the zone" like a machine when preflight thru climb, relaxed and in awe nearing cruise, and then more excitement in descent, and "in the zone" again at TPA thru parking.
 
I started flying to save time when I was a 5-12 hour drive away from all family and friends activities I wanted to do + a work schedule that allowed little time off. Now that's changed... I make my own schedule and I'm within a 30min-5hr drive of everybody.

So now I fly just for the fun of doing something exciting... we're trying to do two huge cross countries a year, several mid-range trips, and a bunch of $100 hamburger runs just to keep current. I suppose just like any other major interest/hobby it's something to do that gets you away from the everyday frustrations and struggles.
 
I love the perspective you get from 1500', 3000', 5000', whatever. It's magical, really. Discovering things that you'd never see in a car, and going back later in Google Maps to identify what you've seen. We're fortunate to have this view of the world.

"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky."--Amelia Earhart
 
Tom-D said:
It relieves my mind of petty stuff, I call it head time.
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My head time relieves my mind too.

Flying was something I always wanted to do but had a tough time justifying. Once I started making an 8 hr drive a month I finally had a reason to finish it up. After 2.5 years I now fly given any opportunity because of the fun and excitement I get from every flight. Hope the feeling never fades.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
After taking a great deal of my retirement income,it gives me feelings that are undescribable. All I know is two days a week and several long ,long cross countries may not be enough.
 
Joshuajayg said:
It makes me drive hours through the rain to hop in a plane I've never experienced and polish up on my tailwheel time.

And like jordane, it pays some of the bills.
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Good day
 
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