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GunnySonics

Aviator Poem

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Impressions of a Pilot

Flight is freedom in its purest form,

To dance with the clouds which follow a storm;

 

To roll and glide, to wheel and spin,

To feel the joy that swells within;

 

To leave the earth with its troubles and fly,

And know the warmth of a clear spring sky;

 

Then back to earth at the end of a day,

Released from the tensions which melted away.

 

Should my end come while I am in flight,

Whether brightest day or darkest night;

 

Spare me your pity and shrug off the pain,

Secure in the knowledge that I'd do it again;

 

For each of us is created to die,

And within me I know,

I was born to fly.

by "Gary Claud Stokor"

 

 

A nice collection of words i thought worth sharing

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I stopped flying in the real world because it's just not like that at all.

 

Unless you have a huge disposable income ( or the right stuff to join the military as a pilot, which I didn't ) then you'll be trundling about at 100kts in some crappy old Cessna or Traumahawk which is like the very worst car you ever owned, except with wings. It's boring, regulated the hell out of and really expensive. I spent an enormous amount of money finding that out.

 

Considering the adrenaline to cost ratio a fast motorcycle is a much better solution if you REALLY want to hang your arse out over the edge of eternity :)

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You have never been gliding I take it?

 

I've roared through valleys at 300 feet and Mach 1+.

 

I've sliced through 40k+ feet, turning around to see my own curving contrail in the sky at 3G and Mach 1.2.

 

I've seen the 'northern lights' while cruising at altitude in the dead of night.

 

I've chased the puffies, leaving valleys of air with my wake, done loops, rolls, spins.

 

1 meter close formation in the weather, just enough to see lead's wingtip light and that was it...

 

Putted around in the pattern in a Piper Arrow, a Piper Seminole and a T-41C.

 

Went to Napa Valley in a Grumman Traveler...putting over San Francisco bay at 500 feet, 60 knots with the top open, feeling the cool sea breeze and looking down to see the fog tendrils slowly snaking their way into the bay, cresting over the Golden Gate bridge...

 

Even lucky enough to scam a DACT ride in an F-16D while I was on Spring Break oh so long ago...confirming right there and then what I wanted to do in life.

 

Gone fast on the ground too, dirt bikes, street bikes, sports cars, muscle cars, convertibles...most of them (other than the dirt bike) I've had at 140+ MPH at one point or another.

 

My fondest memories however, are of the times I went gliding...soaring. After detaching from the tow plane, catching a thermal to ride up, hearing nothing but the breeze swishing over the airframe, seeing the turn and slip indicator (a piece of yarn on the nose) flutter with your speed. No engine noise, hardly any wind noise...like sailing, but with a far better view. Away from your problems, they seem small, up there. Alone, with your thoughts, admiring the beauty of the world.

 

Surface transportation will never impress me, no matter how fast it goes, how fancy it is, or how much it costs.

 

FC

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You have never been gliding I take it?

 

FC

 

No, I haven't, but funnily enough after flying those horrible little Cessna's ( at £80 an hour ) the concept really started to appeal to me.

 

You are always meant to be worrying about what to do if the engine stops, so why not get rid of the engine completely, accept the fact there isn't any power and have fun instead ? :)

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I would recommend it highly. It might cost about the same, but usually the aircraft are nicer, if not necessarily IFR capable.

 

FC

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