Why fly ?

I am going to Florida in February to learn to fly.

Why do people want to do this ?

Man has been firmly stuck on earth for a few thousand years and only in the last 100 years have we been able to release the shackles imposed by gravity. We are therefore fortunate to be among the small percentage of people that have populated the earth to be able to break free and take to the skies. Being the pilot of a small plane provides this opportunity to take off from the ground, see the landscape from a birds eye perspective and travel in a direct route between two locations. Our ancestors were always trying to find ways of imitating birds. I was always interested in flight and made visits to Heathrow airport as a teenager to watch the aircraft come and go, as well as listen in on VHF radio to the dialogue between air traffic controllers and pilots. In later years I was able on frequent occassions to join the airline pilots in the cockpit and watch the business of flying a passenger jet. These days since the advent of terrorist attacks on aircrew, the cockpit is a no go zone.
So for less than the price of a small family car, anyone can learn to fly and experience being in control of an aircraft in flight, look out of the window and achieve what previous generations could not.

Having been earthbound for so long the human body is perfectly adapted to the ground level environment. Our bodies are not quite so good at dealing with some of the aspects of flight such as altitude, flying in cloud, g force, etc. Part of the training to become a qualified private pilot is to understand what these limitations are and how to deal with them.

My first solo flight is less than a month away, I can't wait.

In my next post I will provide a brief rundown of the home study subjects required.

Happy flying

Phil