Quotes please...

[Casey Wilson]

Hello all,

I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local airport
and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a sport or
private pilot certificate.

What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"

Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry, handles
and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar with the
business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that ends up on
the pages.

Go Fly!

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer
and Photographer

I started flying because:

"...of the challenge," Casey W., CA

[Robert M. Gary]

"To rise above the bothers of life"
Robert M. Gary
Sacramento, CA

[Kingfish]

I started flying because:

"I've had a fascination with airplanes since I was a kid"

Will A.
New Milford, CT

[Stubby]

Casey Wilson wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
> spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local airport
> and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a sport or
> private pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
> the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
> state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry, handles
> and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar with the
> business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that ends up on
> the pages.
>
> Go Fly!
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> I started flying because:
>
> "...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>
>
I went to the local FBO looking for the guy who was annoying the
population by practicing aerobatics. I was going to read the riot act
to him. The FBO owner came up and asked why I was there. I was too
embarrassed to tell the truth so I blurted out, "Dah. I think I want to
learn to fly. How much is that?" He told me to take an intro lesson.
As part of the lesson, I actually made the plane take off! I
remember saying to myself, "This is really cool and I CAN do it."

[[email protected]]

"To be able to escape the congestion of the Bay Area on a moment's
notice"
Jonathan S., CA

[Jay Beckman]

I learned to fly in order to scratch a lifelong itch...

Now, of course, I know that it's a spot I can't reach !

Jay B
Chandler, AZ

[.Blueskies.]

Because...I had to do it. The freedom of a bird, the glorious sunrise, the perfect landing. Such a simple thing, to fly;
such a hard thing, to fly!

Dan D. Kalamazoo, MI

"Casey Wilson" <N2310D @ gmail.com> wrote in message news:uC3bg.6047$343.822@trnddc06...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The spin of the article is to encourage folks to
> go down to their local airport and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a sport or private
> pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer the question: "Why did you want to learn to
> fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your state of residence or, if not in the USA, your
> country code. Sorry, handles and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar with the business, you
> know the editor has the final chop on anything that ends up on the pages.
>
> Go Fly!
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> I started flying because:
>
> "...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>

[Larry Dighera]

On Thu, 18 May 2006 19:08:10 GMT, "Casey Wilson" <N2310D @ gmail.com>
wrote in <uC3bg.6047$343.822@trnddc06>::

>I started flying because:

I wanted to dwell in the three dimensional world, and rise above the
smog and congestion of ground-bound humanity groveling below in the
heat and dust. I found a challenging and logically ordered discipline
that required total concentration liberating me from the annoying
worries circulating in my head, as well as speedy and enjoyable
transport with breathtakingly rapturous vistas among the cottony
turrets and endless panoramas.

-- Dighera, Los Angeles.

[Tony]

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee has given my reasons to fly better than
I can. I'll copy HIgh Flight for you. Anthony W: North Carolina (PP
SEL INST, with a couple of thousand hours wrapped inside a M20J).

High Flight

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 windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

[GeorgeC]

How many words? I don't think I could do it in a one liner.

On Thu, 18 May 2006 19:08:10 GMT, "Casey Wilson" <N2310D @ gmail.com> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
>spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local airport
>and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a sport or
>private pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
>the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
>state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry, handles
>and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar with the
>business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that ends up on
>the pages.
>
>Go Fly!
>
>Casey Wilson
>Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
>I started flying because:
>
>"...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>

GeorgeC

[FLAV8R]

To slip the surly bonds of Earth and dance
the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
To climb sunward and join the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, to do a hundred things you
have not dreamed of.
To wheel and soar and swing high in the sunlit
silence.
To hover there, and chase the shouting wind along,
and fling my eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
To go up, up the long, delirious burning blue
and top the wind-swept heights with easy grace
where never lark, or ever eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I'll trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touch the face of God.

David L.
Orlando, FL

To borrow from John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

[Wizard of Draws]

On 5/18/06 3:08 PM, in article uC3bg.6047$343.822@trnddc06, "Casey Wilson"
<N2310D @ gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
> spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local airport
> and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a sport or
> private pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
> the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
> state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry, handles
> and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar with the
> business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that ends up on
> the pages.
>
> Go Fly!
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> I started flying because:
>
> "...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>
>

"To silence the whispers of my heart."
Jeff B., GA
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com

More Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

[Dudley Henriques]

Just a suggestion, but for your specific request, in addition to here, you
might want to try rec.aviation.student. It's there you will find most of
those just starting out.
Dudley henriques

"Casey Wilson" <N2310D @ gmail.com> wrote in message
news:uC3bg.6047$343.822@trnddc06...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
> spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local
> airport and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a
> sport or private pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
> the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
> state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry,
> handles and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar
> with the business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that
> ends up on the pages.
>
> Go Fly!
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> I started flying because:
>
> "...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>

[Michael 182]

After retiring for the first time my wife bought me an intro flight
because I was driving her crazy hanging around the house. and,
surprise, surprise, I liked it...

[B A R R Y]

Kingfish wrote:
> New Milford, CT

Wow, I grew up in "Northville".

It's not often that you hear that town mentioned.

[R.L.]

So that my wife and I can fly from point A to point B without stripping in
front of strangers.

Rick L. Harrison, NY

"Casey Wilson" <N2310D @ gmail.com> wrote in message
news:uC3bg.6047$343.822@trnddc06...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
> spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local
airport
> and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a sport or
> private pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
> the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
> state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry,
handles
> and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar with the
> business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that ends up
on
> the pages.
>
> Go Fly!
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> I started flying because:
>
> "...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>
>

[Vic7]

What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"



For me that question is as hard to answer (or pointless) as "Why did you want to breath oxygen?" or "Why did you want to blink?" From my earliest memory I wanted to fly. I was facinated with birds, bugs, planes, rockets, Frisbees, and anything else that left the ground.

What I am embarassed to admit and wish you would convey to your readers as a bad example, is that I waited until I was nearly 40 years old before it occurred to me that I could walk into an FBO and simply say, "Teach me to fly."

I don't think many people realize that it is just that simple. Once you're inside the process, it is all quite straightforward and simple. Walk into any FBO, talk to the right person and you can be flying that very day. But until you've done that, it may not occur to you just how easy it is to start. Until you've taken that first step, many don't know that an FBO full of CFIs eager to teach are in nearly every community.

Steve C.
Memphis, TN

[gatt]

"Jay Beckman" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I learned to fly in order to scratch a lifelong itch...
>
> Now, of course, I know that it's a spot I can't reach !

LOL!

[gatt]

"Why did you want to learn to fly?"

To fly, one must learn to fly.

The human desire for flight extends into our history through DaVinci and the
beyond the legend of Icarus. Until the 20th century no man, however
great--President, King, Pharoah, Emperor, Caesar, nor all their
armies--ascended to the Footless Halls to soar through the heavens and view
the world beneath him. No temple, tower, mountain or pyramid offered them
the view or transport afforded what can be accomplished for $50 in a Cessna
152.

We are reasonably certain, however, that these great men pondered and
yearned for the experience of flight just as we ourselves have and do. We do
not question why they yearned. To fly just once is to experience that which
nearly all men and women in the vast course of human history have missed; a
significance, however, that tends to be secondary to the experience itself.

Chris Gattman
Private Pilot
Portland, Oregon

[gatt]

There it is. No finer point has been put to it.

"Tony" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee has given my reasons to fly better than
> I can. I'll copy HIgh Flight for you. Anthony W: North Carolina (PP
> SEL INST, with a couple of thousand hours wrapped inside a M20J).
>
> High Flight
>
> 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 windswept heights with easy grace
> Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
> And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
> The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
> Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
>
> Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
> No 412 squadron, RCAF
> Killed 11 December 1941
>

[Richard Riley]

Well said, Chris.

To me, it's like asking "why did you decide to learn to walk?"

The thing that's hard for me to understand is there are people who've
decided they DON'T want to learn to fly.

Richard Riley
Santa Ana, California
Private pilot, homebuilder.

[Jim Logajan]

"gatt" > wrote:
> There it is. No finer point has been put to it.
>
> "Tony" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee has given my reasons to fly better than
>> I can. I'll copy HIgh Flight for you. Anthony W: North Carolina (PP
>> SEL INST, with a couple of thousand hours wrapped inside a M20J).
>>
>> High Flight
>>
>> Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth


It's a great emotionally stirring poem, no doubt. Which makes it remarkable
that some arguably great parodies of it appear to have been written:

http://www.skygod.com/quotes/flyingjokes.html#high

It's a tough call, but I find the one titled "High Flight, with FAA
Supplement" the most amusing.

[C. Massey]

"Richard Riley" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Well said, Chris.
>
> To me, it's like asking "why did you decide to learn to walk?"
>
> The thing that's hard for me to understand is there are people who've
> decided they DON'T want to learn to fly.
>



And those are the ones I hope never do learn to fly...




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Tested on: 5/19/2006 5:22:28 PM
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http://www.avast.com

[Don Tuite]

On Fri, 19 May 2006 21:26:01 +0100, Vic7
> wrote:

>
>Casey Wilson Wrote:
>>
>>
>> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
>> the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>>
>>
>
>For me that question is as hard to answer (or pointless) as "Why did
>you want to breath oxygen?" or "Why did you want to blink?"

The question's ass-backwards. Once past financial considerations,
phobias and low self-esteem, why would someone NOT want to learn to
fly?

Don T. California

[Jay Beckman]

Very nice Larry...

Jay B

[Don Tuite]

On Fri, 19 May 2006 22:14:34 -0000, Jim Logajan >
wrote:

>"gatt" > wrote:
>> There it is. No finer point has been put to it.
>>
>> "Tony" > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
>>> Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee has given my reasons to fly better than
>>> I can. I'll copy HIgh Flight for you. Anthony W: North Carolina (PP
>>> SEL INST, with a couple of thousand hours wrapped inside a M20J).
>>>
>>> High Flight
>>>
>>> Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
>
>
>It's a great emotionally stirring poem, no doubt. Which makes it remarkable
>that some arguably great parodies of it appear to have been written:
>
>http://www.skygod.com/quotes/flyingjokes.html#high
>
>It's a tough call, but I find the one titled "High Flight, with FAA
>Supplement" the most amusing.

One's mileage may vary wrt "High Flight," R. Bach and St-Ex. Gann's
pretty good. Hopkins' "Windhover" may appeal to the metaphysically
inclined:

The Windhover

To Christ our Lord

I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.

Don

[Larry Dighera]

On 19 May 2006 16:38:37 -0700, "Jay Beckman" > wrote
in om>::

>Very nice Larry...
>
>Jay B


Thank you.

[JohnH]

"flying is the ultimate freedom." - JohnH, Richmond VA

[Tony]

That's good, but what makes High Flight stay with me is that Pilot
Officer Gillespie Magee died flying so soon after he wrote that.

Touched the face of God indeed.

[Richard Riley]

When Christ had risen, and talked to the disciples and was done with
his work, what did he do?

He went flying

[soxinbox]

I think one of the current manufacturers summed it up best in one of their
ads: to paraphrase "No traffic cops at 6000 feet hiding behind a puffy
cumulous with a radar gun".

"Casey Wilson" <N2310D @ gmail.com> wrote in message
news:uC3bg.6047$343.822@trnddc06...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm working on an article for a regional magazine in California. The
> spin of the article is to encourage folks to go down to their local
> airport and sign up for that first lesson to get them started on either a
> sport or private pilot certificate.
>
> What I'm asking our R.A.P. community for is a concise quote to answer
> the question: "Why did you want to learn to fly?"
>
> Please tag your quote with first name, last initial, and either your
> state of residence or, if not in the USA, your country code. Sorry,
> handles and other cute nicks won't make the grade. If you are familiar
> with the business, you know the editor has the final chop on anything that
> ends up on the pages.
>
> Go Fly!
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> I started flying because:
>
> "...of the challenge," Casey W., CA
>

[Larry Dighera]

On Sun, 21 May 2006 03:42:24 GMT, "soxinbox" > wrote
in >::

>I think one of the current manufacturers summed it up best in one of their
>ads: to paraphrase "No traffic cops at 6000 feet hiding behind a puffy
>cumulous with a radar gun".

While that assertion is true, implicit in it is the unflattering and
erroneous notion, that airmen seek to avoid law enforcement due to
their violating regulations.

[Blanche Cohen]

Albuquerque to Carlsbad Caverns - 6 hours by car, 2 hours by air

Denver to Taos - 5.5 hours by car, 2.5 hours by air (got mountains
in the way). Have lunch, stroll around a few galleries,
and be home for the evenings news!

More important...

My schedule, not the airlines. No strip search. And, (to quote the
Stargate promo from last year) you can carry a weapon!

[Skylune]

I want to experience the thrill of ****ing into a Gatorade bottle while
bouncing around at 5,000 feet.

I want to annoy tens of thousands by circling endlessly and creating a
god-awful racket, purely for my amusement. With GA, I can do this without
consequence.

I love antiques, and the average GA plane will allow me to experience
technology from the 1950s.

[Larry Dighera]

On Mon, 22 May 2006 10:21:34 -0400, "Skylune"
> wrote in
utaviation.com>::

>I want to annoy tens of thousands by circling endlessly and creating a
>god-awful racket, purely for my amusement.


Oh, much like you do in this newsgroup. :-)

[Skylune]

by Larry Dighera > May 22, 2006 at 03:19 PM


On Mon, 22 May 2006 10:21:34 -0400, "Skylune"
> wrote in
utaviation.com>::

>I want to annoy tens of thousands by circling endlessly and creating a
>god-awful racket, purely for my amusement.


Oh, much like you do in this newsgroup. :-)

<<

Yes, except i cannot kill-file the pilots who incessently buzz around over
what used to be a quiet town....

[Gig 601XL Builder]

"Skylune" > wrote in message >
> Yes, except i cannot kill-file the pilots who incessently buzz around over
> what used to be a quiet town....

Where on earth do you live that the amount of GA has increased?

[Tony]

To see the airspeed move toward the top of the yellow arc, to verify
the gauges say go, to apply back pressure and have the runway disappear
beneath the cowling. . .

If that doesn't touch someone's core, you might check their vital
signs.

[Don Tuite]

On 23 May 2006 17:01:55 -0700, "Tony" > wrote:

>To see the airspeed move toward the top of the yellow arc, to verify
>the gauges say go, to apply back pressure and have the runway disappear
>beneath the cowling. . .
>
>If that doesn't touch someone's core, you might check their vital
>signs.

Boy, waiting that long to rotate would sure get MY juices flowing!

Don