In an age where flight simulators get ever more realistic and actual flight schools become ever more scarce, Bill Whittle makes the case for doing thing In Real Life — in this case, taking up a hobby (and potentially lucrative vocation) that can make you feel like nothing less than the king of the air and a lord of creation.
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Mr. G here.
I got my SEL (single-engine land) rating in 1986. Other ratings/endorsements followed in due course.
Forgive my pedantry, but the FAA does not give out “licenses,” they give you a “certificate.” You are a certified pilot, not a licensed one.
Before the FAA changed your card from paper-to-plastic, I’d win a fair number of bar bets over the above as the word “certified” was in the very first sentence on the back of your card; “licensed” ain’t there.
Being diabetic, I don’t think I would have been allowed to pilot a plane, but I do enjoy flying. I have been in a soar plane (that was what they called it, as it was a glider that was towed up in to the sky and the pilot sat behind me), a Cessna 172 (or 180–it could hold maybe 6 total people), small commuter planes (like the De Havilland 8, or Dash-8) and others, various Boeing jets (717 through the 777), and a couple different Airbus jets (I think just the 320 and 321). I have yet to be in… Read more »
My first solo was fifty-six years ago. I don’t remember many details, but I definitely remember the feeling Bill talks about. It will always be a source of personal pride and confidence.
Never felt like a Demi-god in the more than 60+ years of flying starting at age 15. Having flown every aspect of aviation but crop dusting and bush pilot. 58 years of general aviation, regional airline in Purdue, USAF flying A37B & A10, then 38 yrs airline career finishing by flying the B-747-400 that I only read about when learning to fly. I tell all my students it was never work, and you always get a window & an aisle seat. Been to every continent but Antarctic. Trump can’t even buy the view from my ‘office’ from the aurora over… Read more »
Well … I have a little experience with this stuff. Never been in a sail plane though. My Dad was a private pilot. He learned to fly because when he was a kid one of his neighbors was a barnstormer. Who my Dad struck up a friendship with and learned to fly in exchange for labor. That was before you had to have a license to drive a car or fly an airplane, I think. Dad flew a “putt-putt”, an Army observation airplane (don’t know the model, might have been a Piper or a Cessna) from Korea to Japan and… Read more »
This reply is not about flying, but about Marines, in particular, shooting. Dont know if you heard about this, but an exercise had Marines using the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, M1014 shotgun, and M32A2 and M320 grenade launchers to shoot down small drones going over 90 mph and as close as 65 ft operated by experts. Even using ammo specific for drones using 5.56mm ammo that fragments as it flies down range so it functions similar to a shot shell. The words used at the end were, “they developed the basic skillset.” Bet that was an understatement. Doesn’t surprise me… Read more »
“God bless the US Marines” LOL, from your and Elanor Roosevelt’s lips to God’s ears … 🙂 To be fair and accurate, most of my post was about flying experience I’ve had in my life. What it was not about is the passion for flying that Bill has. To me an airplane is just another ride to get where I need to go. Not very often a comfortable or pleasant experience either. Just something to be endured for an end result. Leaning out of the door of what amounts to a paper airplane with a lawnmower engine shooting furbearers I… Read more »