Comments on: GA Missionaries

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:59:38 +0000

I see so many young people stuck to their hand held gamesters, living a make believe exciting life instead of living an actually exciting life of their own design and make. I think Bruce has nailed the keystone of what private aviation is all about, making your own excitement through diligent, disciplined effort towards a life of rare accomplishment, not to speak of elevating one’s perspective of mother earth.

By: Bruce Landsberg

Bruce Landsberg — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:20:38 +0000

Donnie & Laura…

Thanks you for commenting and I hope you will be inspired to spread the word. You are hereby deputized as “Aviation Missionaries.”

I’d like to hear from anyone out there on what worked and what didn’t – to rebuild the pilot population we need to learn from the past ( what a concept ! )

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:19:04 +0000

At age 53, I finally decided it was now or never to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a pilot. I can’t tell you how many people have told me how cool they thought it was to learn to fly and then turn right around and tell me I was wasting my money….that I’d never actually earn money flying. Of course, I never embarked on the adventure thinking I would do it for a living. I did it for the reasons you mention…to blow out the cobwebs and find out what I’m really made of. For me, it really is an amazing feeling of accomplishment. I’ve run marathons, biked over mountain passes, and pushed myself in many other ways. But, none of those things compare with flying an airplane.

By: Donnie

Donnie — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:55:43 +0000

I grew up spending a lot of my childhood at a small grass strip in central Indiana. By the time I was 18, I had 400 hours in nearly twenty makes/models of ASEL, AMEL, glider, and rotorcraft … an adolescence blessed with aviation opportunities. My fondest memories of that time period are filled with the joy of flying and sharing the joy with others. And doing that within a tightly knit community of pilots. That’s exactly the reason why about a year ago, I decided to get back into flying and pursue a Flight Instructor Certificate.

It’s tough to make personal flying make sense. There are cheaper and arguably simpler ways to travel. There are cheaper hobbies. But it’s tough to beat the joy and camaraderie that come from being part of an active flying community.

Thanks for reflecting on this often underappreciated aspect of flying.