There are no Old Bold Pilots

Cessna 152

This is my most read article since I started this blogsite in 2007. After I had an operation in April I realized that I had had to give up the life I wanted to live while I was growing up. Just like my cousin wanted to be a lawyer since he was 12 and is still happy being a good one at age 72, I wanted more than anything to either become an airline pilot or a Bush Pilot in Alaska. But, more recently I realized another thing, "There are no old bold pilots" and I have always been a very bold person. The best pilots are very careful in considering whatever they do in every situation. People who are more rash and bold and tend to look before they leap, die young as pilots. Because being a pilot is completely unforgiving.

I have noticed what happens a lot is pilots get used to how a plane handles with just them in it and then they take their family somewhere on a trip. Often in their takeoff they are at or above the weight limit for the plane. They aren't used to this new weight and often they will die in takeoff or the first landing because they haven't considered how much has changed in the way their plane handles between just them on board and a full or overloaded plane of all the family and all their stuff.

Then if they don't have problems on takeoff they fly to some place like Denver, or Idaho or Santa Fe or Flagstaff and then they crash on landing at 5000 to 7000 or above feet.

So, flying is different fully loaded and it is even more different when you are landing at a higher elevation than you are used to. My wife lost her step brother and his wife and their dog in Idaho in the early 2000s in a plane crash and it made it impossible for me to keep flying under those circumstances. I've taken a couple of lessons more but I really don't want to upset my wife any more. So, first it was my Dad who lost his brother who was a very bold person like me and then it is my present wife who lost her step brother and his wife and dog.

On the other hand I'm always very bold. People have told me I'm just too bold to be a safe and surviving pilot. Maybe they are right. But I miss flying a lot.

I've thought a lot about paragliding especially while I was recovering from my operation. I still want to do that but wonder sometimes if I might leave my wife and children in a mistake of judgement. Even though motorized paragliding is more safe than a lot of flying you still need low winds or no winds to keep it safe because basically you are flying a motorized kite. And winds and a kite don't mix beyond a certain point. So, being aware of weather changes you might stay alive longer. So, if you are going to fly ultralights be sure to get a weather report and look around BEFORE you take off so you are not the old bold pilot who didn't make it.

We still fly in passenger planes all over the world but that is not the same as piloting a small plane or ultralight of some sort. A large passenger plane can take quite a buffetting but the smaller the flying vehicle the less buffetting it can take. So, be careful out there.

One of the reasons I wrote this article is I realized during and after my operation that I gave up the life I wanted to live so my father wouldn't worry about me dying as a pilot. I likely would do the same thing again now because I saw how the death of his brother destroyed my Dad's family. Dad said his Blonde Blue eyed 6 foot 2 1/2 inch athlete brother was the nicest person in his family. So, the family was devastated by their loss.

So, I couldn't do that to them again.

So, I sacrificed the life I wanted to life and I really sort of didn't ever look back until I had this operation and realized how powerful it was in the effect upon my life to give up the life I wanted to live and how this factored into my being suicidal during my early 20s.

But, when you are young often you aren't thinking in this way, you are thinking in many ways but maybe not in this way. Did I do the right thing for my Dad? Yes.

Did I do the right thing for myself. No.

But, would I do the same thing again? Likely Yes.

Because loyalty to my kids, my  family and friends has always been important to me.

And how this mostly manifested is I have stood by my kids and my friends and my family no matter what.

And that's a good thing.

Do I regret not being a pilot all my life? Yes.

But, I don't regret the character it built into me by standing by my father, my friends, my relatives and my kids all along the way.