Flying Life: Hopeless Romances

Well, in my life, aviation has been that boy from the wrong side of town. As soon as I completed my undergraduate degree, I had every intention of going to graduate school for journalism. However, looking for some excitement, I took a flight lesson—my first date with aviation, so to speak. It was so much fun, I signed up for another, then another.

I never went to grad school. I never left the airport, really. I had fallen in love. I got all my ratings that year, before moving on and taking any and every flying job someone would give me. Now, I do something aviation-related almost every day, whether it’s flight instructing, working as a designated examiner, my corporate gig flying a Beechjet, or writing about airplanes and the people who fly them. That early summer romance with aviation has turned into a 13-year love affair.

But part of me wonders, deep down, is this really the best thing for me? After all, there is so much more to life than airplanes. I am a grown woman now, with a husband and two small children. I have priorities other than flying. Can this passion for aviation be all that healthy? And yet, I just cannot—will not—force myself to stay away.

I love the world that is aviation. I love the ritual of waking up and checking the weather before I step out of bed, just to see if it will be a good day for flying. I love that on cloudy mornings, I can pop above a layer and see the sun before anyone else gets to. I love the people I meet at the airport. Man, do I love the people.

When my first instructor was teaching me to keep up a good instrument scan, she was really teaching me to multitask. She was equipping me with the skills for motherhood.Aviation attracts all kinds, from my 84-year-old boss who still flies six days a week, to the teenage girl who wants to solo on her sixteenth birthday. And I love hearing the raspy voice of our tower controller when he says “cleared to land” at the end of a long day of flying.

The truth is, I simply cannot imagine myself doing anything else. Being anyone else. I fly airplanes. It’s not only what I do; it has helped make me who I am. I suspect I am not alone—whether it helps to pay the bills or it is the hobby on which you spend all your money.

So on behalf of all of us who love aviation, I would like to defend that boy from the wrong side of town. I think he has a lot to offer. I think he might even be good for us.

The fact is, aviation is life—at least part of it. It’s not a part that’s entirely separate from all the other things we love, either. Because while I was diving headfirst into getting my ratings that year, I was learning the value of hard work, that it pays off. And that time I thought I was just picking up my first airplane, I was embarking on a true cross-country flight that would allow me to appreciate this great country of ours in the very best way: low and slow, starting at the coast, then across the southern half of the Rockies, then the Plains, then finally home to Memphis.

When I was trying to wrap my brain around the aerodynamics of wing dihedral, aviation was really teaching me that maybe I did have the capacity to understand things that seemed foreign at first. This is a skill that has come in handy over the years as I have learned to see eye to eye with my left-brained, logical thinker of a husband.

And when my first instructor was trying to teach me to keep up a good instrument scan, she was really teaching me how to multitask. Believe me, nobody multitasks like a working parent. My CFI wasn’t only making me a better pilot, she was equipping me with the skills for motherhood.

So it is, the things we love will be the very things that shape who we are. If aviation is your thing, then you are very lucky indeed, because that particular romance has a whole lot of lessons to teach. While I must confess that I do love aviation—a lot—the thing I love most is who aviation has made me. So, tomorrow, I will roll over and turn off my alarm, then check the weather. If it’s a good day for flying, you know where I’ll be.