A little while ago, a friend sent me a picture which depicted this beautiful riverine scene with a man casting a fly as he fished for trout. The setting was idyllic and the caption read ‘Not all Churches have Pews’.
That sentiment, in a nutshell, is why I fly. I am not a particularly religious person, but having said that, flying provides a connection to a beauty that I can scarcely describe. It’s the stuff that poets write about and it’s the same reason why people find peace and rejuvenation when they go on a trip to the bush. In the film, One-Six Right, one of the pilots that are interviewed comments that (and I’m paraphrasing) “Finding a reason as to why you love to fly, is like trying to motivate why you like Mozart or van Gough. The reason defies words…it just is.” That’s why I find it difficult to put into words why I fly. It’s not about getting from A to B; it’s not a faster method of transport; and it’s not because I need to keep current. There is something inside of me that feels incomplete if I haven’t been in the sky recently. I think that the President of the Piper Aircraft Company, William T Piper puts it quite well, and he’s the sort of authority that carries quite a bit of weight on an issue like this, having designed what is arguably the epitome of what it is to be a recreational aircraft, the J3 Cub. He said “Once you have learned to fly your plane, it is far less fatiguing to fly than it is to drive a car. You don't have to watch every second for cats, dogs, children, lights, road signs, ladies with baby carriages and citizens who drive out in the middle of the block against the lights…Nobody who has not been up in the sky on a glorious morning can possibly imagine the way a pilot feels in free heaven.” I think that every aviator has felt this way, and sadly, sometimes this passion is lost in the progress of efficiency and safety that rules out the pilot and is translated into the binary codes of computers. That is why recreational aviation is so important and it must be safeguarded, like all things that are so terribly vital to happiness and rejuvenation. For me, a life without flying would be like a life without music. It would be dull, the lesser for its loss. I don’t think that this romantic view of aviation is confined to these aerie-fairy musings, but somehow it also incorporates a personal challenge. You only compete against yourself when you fly; for the perfect landing, the balanced turn, or the optimal cruise. I think this reason is probably similar to why people play golf. It’s for the personal satisfaction of rewarding and testing yourself. Coaxing all of that machinery into one fluid, graceful movement is part of that satisfaction which, I suppose, makes up so much of its appeal. You might have read the musings by Robert Traver where he tries to articulate what drives him to go fishing whenever he has a spare moment. I like what he has to say, because I understand where he is coming from and I’ve adapted his words to suit my passion: “I fly because I love to. Because I love the wide open spaces of sky and cloud that swallow up my worries and let me be free. No matter what the weather, the skies are invariably beautiful, contrasting the places where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly. Because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape. Because in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing what they hate, my flying is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion because in flying there is an absolute truth. Aircraft do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed, or impressed by power. They respond only to quietude and humility, and endless patience. Because I suspect that men are going this way for the last time and I for one don't want to waste the trip. Because in the sky my skills are reflected in honest judgement by the craft, and although I will never reach perfection, there is a thrill when I get close. Because in the sky I can find solitude without loneliness. ... And finally, not because I regard flying as being so terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun.”
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