Haven't flown in a long while...

I haven't flown in a long while and I'm avoiding the "Pilot
withdrawl..." thread. I've got to get my medical class III done before
Feb 15, that's when I'm turning 40 so it will last for 3 years.

Now, I've been reading about all of these recent crashes.

Man! I'm not sure if I'm upto going back up again with all these guys
ditching and all... I haven't flown in ages and that little Robinson
R22 is just a tad bigger than a Chinese top. I'm not too keen on
driving planks, I like landing in friends' back yards and sandbars out
in the country way too much.

The Monk

"Flyingmonk" wrote in message
oups.com...
I haven't flown in a long while and I'm avoiding the "Pilot
withdrawl..." thread. I've got to get my medical class III done before
Feb 15, that's when I'm turning 40 so it will last for 3 years.

Now, I've been reading about all of these recent crashes.

Man! I'm not sure if I'm upto going back up again with all these guys
ditching and all...

The real problem is, how are you are going to get to the quack to get a
medical? There is an automobile crash every 5 seconds in the US...

--
Geoff
the sea hawk at wow way d0t com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
Spell checking is left as an excercise for the reader.

"Flyingmonk" wrote in message
oups.com...
I haven't flown in a long while and I'm avoiding the "Pilot
withdrawl..." thread. I've got to get my medical class III done before
Feb 15, that's when I'm turning 40 so it will last for 3 years.

Now, I've been reading about all of these recent crashes.

Man! I'm not sure if I'm upto going back up again with all these guys
ditching and all... I haven't flown in ages and that little Robinson
R22 is just a tad bigger than a Chinese top. I'm not too keen on
driving planks, I like landing in friends' back yards and sandbars out
in the country way too much.

The Monk


Yeah you read a story about some guy with a 2 million hours, 30 type
ratings, 300 endorsements and he manages to get himself killed and you think
what the hell are my chances then??? Well that is true no matter what you
do, taking a shower, getting the mail, keel over from a heart attack
watching TV, life isn't safe. You can't take it to serious cause' you'll
never get out alive!

------------------------------------------
DW

Yeah you read a story about some guy with a 2 million hours, 30 type
ratings, 300 endorsements and he manages to get himself killed and you
think what the hell are my chances then???

I'm gonna get flamed for this one....

Just because someone might have 20,000 hours doesn't mean he's a safe pilot
in a GA aircraft. In fact, I know a couple of airline Captains (both
recently retired) that I wouldn't get in a 172 with. Neither of them have
the "love" of flying that it took to stay current with out George doing most
of the flying for them. In fact, some of the safest pilots I've been around
lately are lower-time guys. I guess it's because their mindset is that they
know they may screwup so they do everything they can to do it right. Being
"comfortable" can bite you...IMHO.

jf

Just because someone might have 20,000 hours doesn't mean he's a safe
pilot in a GA aircraft. In fact, I know a couple of airline Captains
(both recently retired) that I wouldn't get in a 172 with. Neither of
them have the "love" of flying that it took to stay current with out
George doing most of the flying for them.

Sadly, this does seem to be one terrible downside of flying for a living,
and I've seen it, too. These guys start out as kids who want to fly,
become flight instructors, build hours, and then move into flying freight in
the middle of the night.

It seems by the time they get to 747 captain, they've had to fly so much, in
every kind of crappy weather, with every kind of passenger, that it just
wrings the love of flying right out of them.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay wrote:
----------------------------------------
Sadly, this does seem to be one terrible downside of flying for a
living,
and I've seen it, too. These guys start out as kids who want to fly,
become flight instructors, build hours, and then move into flying
freight in
the middle of the night.

It seems by the time they get to 747 captain, they've had to fly so
much, in
every kind of crappy weather, with every kind of passenger, that it
just
wrings the love of flying right out of them.
----------------------------------------

That's what I think too, also I think that driving them widebodies must
be like driving a bus ( not that I wouldn't give my third nut to be a
captain of one g ). I would prefer Ferraris over a school bus anyday
of the week, if you know what I mean.

The Monk

Just because someone might have 20,000 hours doesn't mean he's a safe pilot
in a GA aircraft. In fact, I know a couple of airline Captains (both
recently retired) that I wouldn't get in a 172 with. Neither of them have
the "love" of flying that it took to stay current with out George doing most
of the flying for them. In fact, some of the safest pilots I've been around
lately are lower-time guys. I guess it's because their mindset is that they
know they may screwup so they do everything they can to do it right. Being
"comfortable" can bite you...IMHO.

It's not the thought of dying or getting hurt that scares me, not by a
long shot. It is the thought of my girls growing w/o a father or a
crippled one, that's scary.

The Monk

It's not the thought of dying or getting hurt that scares me, not by a
long shot. It is the thought of my girls growing w/o a father or a
crippled one, that's scary.

The Monk


I have the same thoughts many times before I fly. I'll go kiss my kids
goodbye and the fleeting thought will run through my head "is this the last
time?". Morbid, I know and I also know that I'm MUCH more likely to have a
stroke or have a car wreck on the way to the airport, but we're talking
about non-logical emotions. I'm sure it's all in the comfort level.

I "feel your pain". I understand completely, but I also have to use my head
and understand that 99.99% of the time, I'll be fine If we let the fear
go too far, we'd be sitting at home worried that the house will fall in.
Don't be stupid, don't be reckless, but enjoy what you can.

MHO,

jf

It's not the thought of dying or getting hurt that scares me, not by a
long shot. It is the thought of my girls growing w/o a father or a
crippled one, that's scary.

I have the same thoughts many times before I fly. I'll go kiss my kids
goodbye and the fleeting thought will run through my head "is this the
last time?".

Gee, I thought I was the only one who had thoughts like that. Of course, as
often as not, my kids are *with* me when I fly, which REALLY opens you up to
morbid thoughts and feelings of overwhelming responsibility.

I remember when they were real little, and we'd have to strap them in their
car seats in the back seat, and I would wonder to myself how in the world
would I EVER get them out in the event of a crash. Post-crash fires were
(and are) my greatest nightmare, but at least now they're self-mobile, and
could get out in a hurry under their own steam. Back then, strapped in car
seats, they would have been doomed.

Of course, you start to ponder stuff like that, and you can drive yourself
crazy -- but where does "prudent emergency planning" cross the line into
"paranoia"? It's a pretty thin line.

Morbid, I know and I also know that I'm MUCH more likely to have a stroke
or have a car wreck on the way to the airport, but we're talking about
non-logical emotions. I'm sure it's all in the comfort level.

This has been hashed and re-hashed here many times, and the verdict is this:
Unless you're flying on an airliner, that's really not true. According to
the statistical gurus on this newsgroup, private flying carries with it
about the same statistical probability of having an accident as does riding
a motorcycle -- which is MUCH higher than driving your car.

But that's not about to stop us from living the dream. Knowledge is power,
and that knowledge just makes Mary and me *that* much more cautious when we
fly. Hopefully that gives us the edge we need.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Flyingmonk wrote:

It's not the thought of dying or getting hurt that scares me, not by a
long shot. It is the thought of my girls growing w/o a father or a
crippled one, that's scary.

A few years ago I went over the handlebars of my mountain bike so hard that
I broke the helmet almost in half. Fortunately for me and my family, I
escaped serious and permanent injury.

Later that night I posted this experience in one of the mountain biking
newsgroups along with the question, "As a father of two small boys, should
I really be doing this anymore?"

One poster replied with the following that made a lot of sense: "If I were
a child who learned that my father stopped doing all of the activities he
enjoyed solely for my benefit, I would be very saddened."


--
Peter