At this point people are probably tired of hearing me say it, but more than any other hobby or sport I can think of, aviation offers an endless variety of forms in which to pursue your passion. We often lose sight of this during flight training, and we do nothing to change that after earning the certificate.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you were to take a look at my logbook, you might think I have some sort of aviation schizophrenia. Although I primarily fly light single-engine airplanes, I’m rated in multiengine and single-engine seaplanes, and I’ve flown turbines, gliders, trikes (think hang glider with a seat), tailwheel, and even a hang glider. I don’t seek out new opportunities to add lines to a logbook. For me, flying different categories, classes, and types of aircraft is about the pursuit of a dream and the experience of learning.
I’m like a lot of people in that my childhood was filled with airplane posters and thoughts of flying jets. I used to dream about floating to school, which the Internet now tells me was actually some sort of escapism thing. Oh, well. I still like to think of it as man’s ultimate dream to float effortlessly though the air. I’ve found that the types of aviation experience I’ve gravitated toward is in pursuit of that dream. Things such as gliders, ultralights, and hang gliding came the closest so far, but I’m still looking.
The other real joy I get out of trying these new things is the process of learning. I love being a student of flight, whether it was for my private certificate or anything beyond. Taking lessons was just plain fun, and I like to recapture that spirit whenever I can.
That’s why putting together this month’s issue was so much fun for me. This month we’re featuring two extremes on the spectrum of aviation experiences—air racing and hot air ballooning.
Where air racing is fast, powerful, stressful, and demanding of precision, hot air ballooning is slow, safe, and flown literally at the whim of the wind. We examine aviation’s equivalent of extreme sports on page 30 with Al Marsh’s story on the Red Bull Air Races. Red Bull has established an amazing collection of pilots and their machines for a series of worldwide competitions in sync with the company’s successful marketing style. The result, says Marsh, is that people are looking at aviation in a new way.
On the other side of the spectrum, we take a journey into the world of hot air ballooning with “My Beautiful Balloon,” which begins on page 34. The story, written by balloon pilot James C. Kunze, gives some compelling reasons why you should give balloons a second look. In fact, even though I’m afraid of heights, after reading it I knew I had to try it. Aviation can be surprising like that. I’m willing to accept a bit of fear to see if it’s the magic carpet I’ve been looking for.
Between Red Bull’s power and ballooning’s easy going style, I hope we’ve illustrated just a few of the many opportunities available. They all have their ups and downs, but aviation’s wide variety means if you can imagine it, you can do it.
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