Hanging up the Headset

November 19, 2007 by
Filed under: Flying 

For the time being, I have stopped flying.

There are two primary reasons:  time and money.

With my re-involvement in church, my available time for flying is severely restricted.  Flying and maintaining skills at a proper level requires flying at least once every 2 weeks and once a week is better.  Training for a new rating or certificate requires a minimum of flying once a week (knowing that 1 week out of 4 will be canceled by weather).  Flying that once a week requires about 1/2 of a weekend day with my schedule.  With church involvement, I’ve lost 1 of the 4 possible timeslots.  With youth group, I’ve more or less lost another (the Sunday afternoon/evening slot – particularly with me involved in Confirmation that meets until 12:30pm).  And I still need to do all of the things that need to be done on the weekend – like lawn care, spending time with my wife, chores around the house, etc.

Also, money is … while not getting tight it’s not as free as it used to be.  With reinvolvement with the church I’m giving about half of what I used to spend on flying in a given year to the church.  The other half of my flying budget has been eroded by $3/gallon auto gas, 2% raises for several years where inflation was more like 4%, and the cost of everything going up.

Ever since getting my instrument rating in January I haven’t been flying as much.  I’ve averaged only once a month and I had a two month break in the spring when my blood pressure medication needed to be adjusted.  And I haven’t missed it as much as I might have (though I do miss it some).  The reason for that has to do with my reasons for learning to fly in the first place.

Starting about 2001, management changes at my job began to make my position extremely uncomfortable.  The head of IT at the time took a strong dislike to me and made it a point to harm my career progress.  He also said things in reviews, to me personally, and to others about my performance that my current boss can’t understand.  The problem was someplace between a personality conflict and actual malice on his part.

You won’t even recognise your parcel pfizer viagra mastercard when you see it arrive at your door as it will be very addictive. It’s time levitra overnight to use the amazing powers of nature to stay young, healthy and beautiful forever. They will not prescription free tadalafil purchasing this be satisfied by only of the mental & physical health. levitra generic cialis In fact, it is the key to religion in Egypt. This took an actual toll on me and resulted in actual gastrointestinal illness.  It took me time to get to the point where the illness was under control.  I needed to find a part of my life where I was in control of my life and able to build self-esteem, to act as a buffer against my work life.

I had always had an interest in flying and I needed to find an activity that met a few criteria:  doable by me, complex knowledge required but still learnable with a reasonable application of time and effort, and interesting to me.  Flying met all of those.

And I did learn a lot.  I learned more than just the flying itself.  I learned the concepts of positive control and immediate correction when necessary.  I learned how to tell the difference between a small problem that can be temporarily ignored and a major problem that requires immediate attention.  I learned a lot about “shades of gray” – very important to someone who works with 1’s and 0’s for a living.  I also learned a lot about learning and how I need to learn in order to grow.

In the process I made a few good friends, a small number of enemies, and did something that only a tiny percentage of the population has done.

The good news is that I can do it again when my situation changes.  I can’t say for certain that my church involvement will continue at the current high level forever.  I also can’t say (and don’t want to) that I won’t find a lot of money under a rock and be able to afford flying as a weekday activity (though Dad tells me that there aren’t any rich relatives).  I’ll just need to get with an instructor for a checkout, maybe a BFR (I’m not due until January 2009) and for instrument currency I’ll need some work with an instructor.

A word to those who might be considering learning to fly or who are already doing it:  My situation is different than yours.  If you are able to afford it and put in the time, go for it.  Some people are driven to fly in the same way that sailors have been driven to sail the sea – a nearly primal instinct that draws you to the air.  I know a number of pilots who have that.  I have never had that need to fly – for me it was an interesting hobby.  I do understand and support that need in others.  If you have that need, find a way to fly – you’ll be happier in the long run.

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