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Why do you fly?

Scouter

SPONSOR
Exeter Maine
Last weekend I got to attend a WAD fly in down in PA. Got to go to the island airstrip in the Cheat River Gorge by Rowlesville, WV.
Really a super nice bunch of local folks waiting there. One of them is a Dairy farmer that i talked with extensively.
Hes kind of a thinker, and asked me this question

Why do YOU fly?

He wasnt looking for the answer becasue its fun or I like to. I didnt do a very good job of answering him, but have thought a lot of it since and I think I have my answer,

Id like to hear yours

Jim
 
Aside from the fun part I think early on it was a challenge for me to try to get that coveted license and then to try to learn to do it right and well. My father was flying when I was just a young child and maybe I wanted to do it because "dad did it". But I guess for the last nearly 50 yrs. I have just enjoyed the freedom of becoming airborn like a bird when ever I felt like it. Probably more complicated than that but that is the simple version. Also like to fish winter and summer and it opens up areas not easily accessible to others. Getting old but I still enjoy working on and building them and doing a little flying.
 
I'm 3rd generation...I learned from my dad 36 years ago and the feeling goes a little beyond fun....deeper maybe. Supercrow nailed it with the "freedom" statement....The other thing that usually is prevelent in pilots (at least people who fly planes like we do) is a love and facination with the machines themselves....we just want to be around them almost as much as we want to fly them......
 
Glenn I tried a couple of those lines it wouldn’t work with him. It was like laying on the Psychiatrist couch for a session
made me think all the way home
 
Here's what I wrote for the Lake Country Journal this summer:

https://lakecountryjournal.com/top-stories/lake-country-air

IMG_7934.jpg


What is it like to fly?
Flying in Lake Country gives you the opportunity to experience the sublime beauty of water and atmosphere. In summer, the seemingly endless lakes reflect the deep blue of the sky. On windy days, they are streaked with rows of foam and whitecaps, gusts visibly marching across the water to rattle boats and reeds. At other times they are glass mirrors, giving the impression of windows into another world just beyond.

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3rd, 4th, and Upper 5th Lakes near Walker

Pine-Beach-Peninsula-on-Gull-Lake.jpg

Pine Beach Peninsula on Gull Lake

Leech_Lake_near_Walker.jpg

Leech Lake near Walker

Rice-Lake.jpg

Rice Lake and the Mississippi River separated by the Brainerd Dam


In fall, the threads of land between lakes become suffused in color, first in bright reds and oranges, then turning to gold and deep red in October’s first weeks. Later, as the trees bare and ice begins to form, rafts of Bufflehead ducks appear, the last migratory waterfowl before the vapored waters are stilled in frozen silence.
Winter brings a new white world to explore by air. Skis and fat tires replace the floats of summer, and restaurants can often expect to see aircraft alongside snowmobiles parked on the lakes.
Spring completes the cycle. Watching from high above, dark lines begin to appear on northern shores, progressing slowly to the almost translucent blue of early season ice out.
Fellow fliers of the avian kind fill the air urgently, heading north, and the land begins to turn green again. Witnessing these changes in the creation from above brings a new perspective on the world and a deep appreciation of Minnesota’s Lake Country. This is why I fly.


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Lake Edna near Nisswa

BayLake.jpg


Bay Lake near Deerwood

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North Long Lake near Brainerd

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Round Lake (left), Gull Lake (middle), and Hubert Lake (right)

BayandFarmIsland.jpg

Farm Island Lake located near Aitkin


[h=2]NAME THE LAKE BELOW AND WIN
A ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO LAKE COUNTRY JOURNAL![/h]How to enter (Entries must be received by September 30, 2021.)
Online: LakeCountryJournal.com/contests | Email: contests@lakecountryjournal.com
Mail: Guess the Lake, c/o Lake Country Journal, P.O. Box 978, Brainerd, MN 56401

NamethisLake.jpg
 
I did not grow up yearning to fly. I ended up as a USAF fighter pilot because it kept me from being a 2nd Lt leading a platoon in Vietnam and getting my ass shot off. Call it fate, call it blind luck. I ended up in a profession that I was good at and loved. “Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
 
Last weekend I got to attend a WAD fly in down in PA. Got to go to the island airstrip in the Cheat River Gorge by Rowlesville, WV.
Really a super nice bunch of local folks waiting there. One of them is a Dairy farmer that i talked with extensively.
Hes kind of a thinker, and asked me this question

Why do YOU fly?

He wasnt looking for the answer becasue its fun or I like to. I didnt do a very good job of answering him, but have thought a lot of it since and I think I have my answer,

Id like to hear yours

Jim

Let me ask you a similar question.
Why do you like sex?

Glenn
 
My answer(s)

1997 - Because I need to get over my fear of flying.
1999 - Because it takes me places faster
2000 - Because I like teaching
2001 - 2021 The people
 
I’ve always felt bulletproof but I like things that make me feel small and humble me. I guess I need that. Flying days like today remind me that bigger things are at work.
 
Interesting one Jim.

I’m no where close to an answer. And actually, that may be the best thought provoking answer. “I don’t know, but yet I must”

But if I were to react with a 5 min reaction, I’d say -

- Adrenaline. It’s like carving a line down a ski mountain on a groomed trail in a full tuck, on a pair of 223 downhills, looking for the fast line, the better arc, all the while knowing over the next knoll you may to have divert to avoid the idiot standing in the middle of the trail.

- Endless skill training/learning/enhancing. I like to be good at what I do. (Okay, I always want to be better at whatever I do) Soft competitive. I push myself to do it better, and my ego gets fed if someone appreciates what I’ve done simply by seeing me do it. Flying provides endless opportunity to get better at it, if you work at it.

- The Wonderment. I constantly think about everything I get to see, and the places I get to go, that poor landlubbers have no concept of.

- It’s freaking cool. Go fly in a formation with 3 other really good (comparatively speaking) pilots, and yeah, it’s freaking cool. Slide your wings into the slot, match them, and make it look good. Lasts longer than sex and makes you feel good for a long time.

- Friends with a common addiction. I’ve essentially given up water skiing. I basically gave up snow skiing. I have few real interests that involve other people, and I’m good with that. Except for flying. Give me 5 or 10 pilots from within these walls and it’s like turning the intravenous on with a fire hose. [emoji91]

Yeah. I like to fly. I don’t know why. But yet I must.


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It’s a dance in three dimensions. I hear music.


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[Lasts longer than sex and makes you feel good for a long time.


Speak for yourself there Peter Piper

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
:pBeat me to it Glenn... sorry couldn't resist!!!!:p

One of the few things in life in which invigorates, relaxes and cleanses my soul all at the same time.

The side effect of accumulating such great people as friends is also a bonus!8)

Peter- when did you learn to play the pipes?
 
A lot of it is what the French guy said. I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.
 
To make a paycheck………….so I can put gas in the family planes and go to the cool places to recreate. I asked my Copilot what his answer was to the “Why” question. He said “Cause the chicks dig me and the guys wanna be just like me”. Have to admit about 30 yrs ago and 20,000+ hrs earlier that would have been my answer. But growing up in Southwest Alaska and seeing how aircraft dependent everything is out there…..kinda took it for granted when I was younger.
 

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[Lasts longer than sex and makes you feel good for a long time.


Speak for yourself there Peter Piper

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

Thanks for the morning smile Mr. Eaton. Perhaps it’s time for another northeast visit. Maybe try it on snow.


Transmitted from my FlightPhone on fingers… [emoji849]
 
Besides all the other great reasons listed above, I use my plane often to help me out in my crane work. Finding a job site, assess the conditions for getting in or out, note anything in the way so it can be moved before I get there, maybe take a picture to text to whoever it is I'm working that day. Land there, if required and appropriate, done that at 3 job sites this year so far. Doing some work at a VOR antenna site recently, I was able to send an aerial pic to the work crew, while circling overhead, and then tell them what to move and where before I showed up in the crane the next day. Later, I sent a aerial pic of the site to the FAA person who had initially contacted me about the work in Oklahoma City, it was much appreciated, and a cheap thrill for me.

The big 50 next year for me, 50 years of aviating, if I include my hang gliding and ultralight days, which i sure as hell do, as they both got me high enough to kill me several times over.
 
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Such a great question Jim, and really get's you thinking.

I do not come from an aviation family background and my career path was picked for me at a young age as a third generation Ironworker. But my love for Aviation started around grade school. Our school was surrounded by apple orchards and I would gaze out the windows as an old Stearman crop duster used to swoop over the school, down to the tree tops and spray. From that point on I was hooked on the love of flight. When I was in my early 30's and well established in the Ironworker trades, my wife knowing that I have always wanted to fly enrolled me in one of the local flight schools for Christmas. So it started as a bucket list item to get my ticket, but just grew from there.

So Why Do I Fly?

Every Single time I go to Bowman Field to go flying, I get that same feeling I had sitting in the classroom as a kid watching the crop duster.
The feeling of accomplishment.
When Flying I am focused on flying and the stress of work and other problems quickly fade away. (clears the mind)
And of course the flying community and many great friends that I have met.

Larry.
 
Initially to escape the fishing and hunting crowds. Eventually i realized that flying was the only earthly thing that brought my mind and my body together in the same place at the same time. No matter what else I am doing, a good portion of my thoughts are someplace other than the space I am occupying.
 
What a response. I agree with all you have said and more. But I can boil it down even more for me at this point.

I scanned thru the log book for the past three years or so to look at some notes I will sometimes make. I became really apparent to me why I fly. You guys and girls and the relationships we form. a lot of flights have a SC friend as the destination.
New Holstein. Spending a few days on the shores of the great lakes. Getting enough work covered so I can go to the WAD. Flying from Maine to Montana and back. Maine Make a wish;
Almost all my flying has one of you or more involved. The plane is the magic carpet that will take me to tend to my most prized possession:
Your friendships
There are so many in this circle its hard to name them all, you know who you are and I am humbled and fiercly proud that you all are on my team
Ive tried to compare myself with other pilotsI nowl I have a friend in Dallas that is very successful in commercial real estate. He has a beautiful piper Malibu.
When he flies he heads to the bahamas to spend time alone. He likes that best.
I will compare his weekend to mine, he sat in a thatched hut in the bahamas with a fruity drink just he and is wife.
I got to run around Ohio/west virginia with a back of taildraggers and the fun meter was off the scale I met some of the nicest folks on the planet and made a lot of new frie
So today I can say I fly to support the friendships that we have formed

My mom said it best this summer after a big hug from FedEx lou,

You sure have a lot of nice friends. Indeed


JIm
 
[emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

Thanks for the morning smile Mr. Eaton. Perhaps it’s time for another northeast visit. Maybe try it on snow.


Transmitted from my FlightPhone on fingers… [emoji849]

Would this be a fitting time to tell everyone the name you had on your last cub?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ranging from the pragmatic to the serene:

- From TO clearance to Big Lake place...circa 15 minutes vs. 70-90 minutes driving NOT in rush hour
- From TO clearance to Mat Valley place...circa 40 minutes vs. 180 - 360 minutes driving with a lot more mud and breakdown exposure
- Alaska scenery is nice from the road, spectacular from the air
- Very few activities in life (mine anyway) tend to require and / or generate the singular focus that occurs when one is flying, particularly if one is looking for that elusive perfect landing, turn, or other operation that is just inside the envelope.
- Always room for improvement that is very susceptible to my own efforts...nice to always have a challenge that I can do something about (although that elusive perfect landing is achieve on a frustratingly inconsistent basis).
 
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