Hi everybody,

I have started flying solo circuits and the emotional feeling of it is something completely different to anything else in life. I've got friends, family and workmates asking what it is like. I have tried to think of a way to explain it to them, yet i cannot come up with something that is remotely suitable. Has anybody else had the same problem? I think only pilots can understand what it is i am talking about.

It's very difficult to share those moments with non-believers. I'll never forget flying home one afternoon in my Decathlon. There was light rain and the sun was setting behind me. Suddenly I saw a magnificent rainbow ahead. When you see a rainbow in flight it appears as a complete circle - not the semi-circle that earth-bound people see. I couldn't resist doing a couple of barrel rolls in the centre of that brilliant rainbow.

That night at a party someone said "Tell me Bob, what did you do today?"

I just smiled..........

Hey Bob, I reckon that poem that's up on the wall in your bathroom is pretty good - the one about the first solo. I couldn't find it on the net anywhere unfortunately.

Friends of mine are hinting that I don't get out often anymore, that I spend too much time studying. I try to tell them, yet they will not come close to understanding that going for a flight is far more interesting than wasting time at parties and social gatherings.
Many people I talk to say they would love to learn how to fly, yet we all know there are many people who I call 'gonnas' gonna do this gonna do that. but they never do. I know why people don't like to take the adventurous step either into flying or many other pursuits. they get caught up in their microcosm worlds and are unwilling to break out of their comfort zone. Recently I came up with a saying, (I know there are a billion out there) "Don't allow lazyness get in the way of a great life". Too often people get great opportunities to improve their lives or to make it more interesting yet the fail because it requires effort. We are all allowed to be lazy. We need to be sometimes. Yet achieving something that requires every ounce of effort and will power gives a sense of great fulfillment. This is one of the many feelings i have each time i fly. Along with guilt (should be paying the house off), fear (stall and incipient spins scare the hell out of me), highest level of concentration ever (don't stuff up the landing) especially cross wind. Many people think these feelings as negatives. I must be odd. To me they are the essence of adventure. One of the greatest times in my life was standing on top of Mt Howitt in victoria after climbing (some hands and knees) up a 4000ft spur in freezing cold, heavy rain fog and lost near dark. I loved it. To hell with sitting in front of television and watching that rubbish. I can fly.

Good for you Peter !!

Delighted to hear your passion ! It's strange though isn't it. The closest I have got to that epiphany was when I was a kid pootling around the N W coast of Tassie in a surf cat in jaunts of 20 odd miles. In and out of bays reading the forces of the wind and the beauty of the sea and sky.

Next thing you will enjoy is aerobatic training. It goes from that feeling of aprehension at impending chaos to the point where you can pick out the aspects of the stall spin and feel very comfortable. That is very satifying.

Cheers Mark !!

Speaking of aerobatics, just put a few vids up of me doing some on youtube, have a look if you have a couple of minutes..

www.youtube.com/user/ellzyss?feature=mhum

V Cool !!

Maybe you saw me Mark, just north east of Serpentine .. not that you live there.. Do you do much flying out of there?

Doing a barrel role through a rainbow-circle. I think that has burnt an incredible image in my mind. For some of us, there are events in our lives that we just cannot explain because only those who have simialar experiences could only understand.
I started flying with the idea of obtaining my ppl only. when i signed up for the training, i ticked the cpl box to save a bit of money. now, i am determined to go right through to the cpl and if there is a slight chance of finding employment or being self employed in aviation, even at my age, i think it is worth the effort. I should have done this as a career a long time ago.

For what it is worth:


Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr


I can only think of one other activity that has given such a kick, and that is ski-touring alone along the Crest of the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains and then carving a hundred telemark turns in perfect snow from the tops down to the Snowy River. The schnapps in the bar wasn't too bad either!