I don’t really know why I learned to fly. If someone were to ask me, I doubt I could give a succinct answer. And I can’t say that soloing was a major, life-changing moment for me. Passing my private pilot checkride, while satisfying, was not the a-ha moment I expected it to be. But now that I’ve been flying for more than 10 years, I can say without question why I continue to do it today.
You can sum up flying’s joys and utilitarian tendencies with one word: fulfillment. Whether through fun, or as a great tool, flying offers myriad benefits to those who stick out the training.
As we age, it is harder to capture the feeling of pure joy we felt every summer day as kids. For me, flying brings that back in droves. Just in the past few months I can point to three flights that have reminded me why I’m a pilot, and have reinforced the fun factor of aviation. The first was in a Lockwood Air Cam, a twin-engine, open- cockpit home-built aircraft that goes about 70 mph. The point is to fly low and enjoy the sights, which is what we did. Flying the Atlantic Coast from Maryland to First Flight Airport in North Carolina, I discovered hundreds of miles of undisturbed coastline I didn’t even know existed.
A few months later I recreated the flight in AOPA’s 2010 sweepstakes Remos GX light sport airplane as part of AOPA’s Road to Runway Rally. The airplane is a delight to fly, and I took the trip with nonpilot Steve Chupnick, whose wonderment at the whole thing reminded me just how lucky we are as pilots.
Last weekend, I flew a Beechcraft Bonanza back from Sporty’s Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio, to our home airport at Frederick, Maryland. It was crystal-clear blue sky with smooth air, the kind of day pilots dream of. Along with me was a pilot-friend who doesn’t get to fly much anymore. He just kept saying how beautiful it was. Again, that reminder.
But the trip to Sporty’s the day before gave me an entirely different sensation. We filed an instrument flight plan and dodged thunderstorms the entire way. Through the use of tools such as datalink weather, GPS, and an L-3 Communications Stormscope, which shows electrical discharge from a thunderstorm, we were able to make the flight safely. As the skies cleared close to Batavia, I took a look at the datalink again and remarked how we left at just the right time to make it through the weather. Any later, and the late-spring heating would have provided the lifting action necessary for severe storms. Any earlier, and I would have missed most of the workday.
When we landed, I had a sense of accomplishment at having completed a job well done. It’s the same feeling you get after fixing something on your car or house, or doing well on a test. Instrument flying can be challenging, and navigating the process and the environment safely and efficiently is a good feeling.
Flying is what you make of it. If you learned or are learning to fly to have fun, and if that fun is gone, change something. Start flying a tailwheel airplane, or get a new instructor. If feelings of timidity or apprehension are holding you back, get with a flight instructor and change that. Fun flying—the kind where you think about it for days afterward—is easy to be had if you look for it. And if you’re in this game for utility, get an instrument rating and go somewhere. But the best part is you don’t have to choose one over the other. Aviation offers it all. Either way, you’ll be on your path to fulfillment.
