Be Honest...

flyordie · Wed Feb 20, 2002 10:12 am

An interesting question was posed to me: "Why did you want to become a pilot?"

In a nutshell, I love to fly and I love everything that goes along with flying (i.e., math, discipline, character, knowledge; just to mention very very few). And in all honesty, the good pay is just a perk for me. So I pass the question onto you, "Why did you want to become a pilot?" I've heard many different reasons from colleagues, but I find it rare (at least that's the way I see it) to find those who have a passion for it, like I do. Again, please be honest. I want to get an idea as to what other pilots are thinking!!!

Thanks for your honesty,

flyordie

Hurricane · Wed Feb 20, 2002 10:34 am

I really think it is something you gain a passion for, just like any theater or animal 'buff.' I've heard that you have found your 'thing' if you can do it for hours and the time escapes you. I don't know about real flying, but flightsims are like that for me. Any type of flying becomes the one of the only things on your mind. I don't know if I'm insane, or just an aviation freak, but almost everything I see I relate to aviation in some way. When it becomes one of the only things on your mind, you can't help but to want to be a pilot. Heck, I would settle for a flight attendant if I could fly for a living... Smile/happy/getting dizzy

Cessnapimp · Wed Feb 20, 2002 10:48 am

Chicks...

jgore · Wed Feb 20, 2002 11:09 am

Just the idea to be in charge of that beatuful machine, to be responslble about all of those souls, and for many reasosn that are personal.

jgore Smile

SEA nw DC10 · Wed Feb 20, 2002 11:24 am

Becoming a pilot has always been my dream, and I am almost there. I think there are many things that attract me to becoming a pilot. The money is one of them of course, but to people who live and breath aviation, like myself, have something more on their mind when they fly.

I take flight about 4 times a week commercially, and each time I fly, it is like my first time. You know you are obsessed with flying when you take fly places only to turn around 1 hr later and fly home...which is what I do...(thank the Lord for flight benefits). There's a feeling I get each time I take off, turn, feel turbulence, and land. The feeling has periods of goosebumps, sweaty palms, awe, and just freedom. Combining those feelings together gives me what I call an air-orgy. LOL

Anyways, it's a passion, and there's no other place I'd rather be than in the skies. Good luck to all the aspiring pilots...

SEA nw DC10

norseman · Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:08 pm

I think flying an airplane causes feelings that are indescribable. So much so, that it causes one to reinvestigate the feeling over and over again. What makes me like this so much? I ask myself each time I fly. Flying is about adventure and discovery. Every new flight inspires new feelings, emotions, and reactions. I know from my own personal experience, that there are very few flights that resemble previous ones. Every flight is an adventure into the unknown. We might all have a very good idea or guess as to what the flight might be like, but do we know exactly how the flight unfolds? Flying is about freedom and discipline. I constantly catch myself thinking aloud as I look at the traffic gridlocked below, “Man if they only knew what it was like up here.” Flying is like a secret that only a few fortunate people get to share. I always remind myself how lucky I am to be a part of this secret. In response to the question “Why do I want to become a pilot?” I would have to say I am an addict of airplanes and flying. I can’t get it out of my blood, so I might as well do it for a living…The chicks are pretty cool too!!

IMissPiedmont · Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:14 pm

A good answer is one given by my friends, and myself, when people ask why we like to ride. For those of you who don't know what this means, it's Harleys. It could however apply to even **** burners. (trying to be polite here).

Anyway, the response is : "If you have to ask you wouldn't undertand".

ual777contrail · Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:21 pm

to be a part of the select few who have had the chance to command an aircraft.do something so few will only dream of doing.yes there are alot of pilots in this world,but not as many as people think!!! like the flight of icarus, onward towards the heavens we soar,on man made wings.ours not of wax, but of metal. what a wonderful thought.

buddymagoo · Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:26 pm

The reason I became interested in flying started with the movie TOP GUN. However, my military days were ended with an injury but I can still pass an FAA first class physical so I am good to go. I love the view and traveling. I the adventure of flying is too much to resist no matter how boring the moneyhungery guys say it is.

Illini_152 · Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:48 pm

Why? John Magee Jr. said it best:

"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 wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever 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."

And too, if you have to ask, you can't be told.

N757ST · Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:56 pm

I love to travel, I love to fly. I have a friend that is an airline pilot for delta, and after talking to him it kinda sealed the deal. Traveling throughout the country(or the world) , meeting new people, not being confined to a cubical, being paid a lot of money, only working 12 days a month, and the overall respect you get all led me to persue a carrier in aviation. Hopefully, I will make it to my goal. I have found that there are many places in the path that will discourage you and the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel never seems to get closer, but I have always stuck through it. 3 more years of college, then comair and delta, here I come. Big thumbs up

Guest · Wed Feb 20, 2002 1:06 pm

I am not a pilot yet, but I want to become a pilot for the opportunity to travel around the counrty (USA) and I love to fly. I 've flown Gliders (LET-23 super blanik) and it is just out of this world. The pay adds a nice touch to the career!!!

DeltaASA16
Big thumbs up

VapourTrails · Wed Feb 20, 2002 7:11 pm

One of the reasons I added a member (a pilot) to my respected users list was because he said "Every day I go to work, I fall in love with aviation all over again." Crying

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