WINGS
Alex Unruh CAPTAIN SPEAKING... HOW DIFFICULT CAN IT BE? A
re you a pilot? Regardless whether your answer is yes or no, being a pilot is not as difficult as most people may think. What I often find when conversing with non-pilots is that people give us more credit than we actually deserve. Being a pilot myself, I think we tend to promote the persona, the mystique. Engage a pilot in conversation, and chances are you will soon hear a macho ‘war story’ that begins with the words “and there I was…”. While flying has its challenges, I would say that those of us who work in a cockpit endure pretty much the same stress levels others experience in their respective professions.
Of course, pilots undergo endless hours of training, and often years of proving themselves before they get an opportunity to fly a multi- million dollar aircraft and make a respectable salary. How is that different from what other professionals go through when climbing the proverbial career ladder? Health care professionals, lawyers, engineers, athletes, artists, journalists, entrepreneurs — all have a substantial path to travel before reaching the pinnacle of their career. Sure, pilots bear the heavy responsibility for the safety and lives of their passengers. One only partially humorous aviation quote states: “Takeoffs are optional, but landings are mandatory.” Flying has its inherent risks — after all, we are overcoming gravity and all sorts of other laws of physics. Trust me, though, that when an in-flight emergency occurs, pilots are just as concerned about saving themselves as they are for those in the cabin. It’s in their very own best interest, and human nature, to always get the aircraft safely on the ground.
While I am proud of what I have achieved in my career as a pilot, there is no way that I can compare myself to those who pioneered transpacific air travel in the 1930s. Besides using celestial navigation and judging drift from sea currents, these pilots also had to repair airplanes when they malfunctioned. The only expertise I have in celestial navigation is what the app on my iPad tells me. Today, pilots enjoy precise navigation equipment and easy access to aviation infrastructure even in relatively remote areas. We also use complex yet reliable aircraft, capable of flying halfway across the planet before needing to land for fuel. While flying across the globe today does have its challenges, it pales in comparison to the risks pilots faced back then. So what sets a pilot apart from other professionals? Aside from a notorious lack of humility, I believe most of us harbour a lifelong passion for our chosen profession. I tend to think that for many people in other professions, such professional enthusiasm often fades over time. Most pilots refuse to place their wings on the shelf when their retirement time comes. They try to keep their hands on the control column, one way or another. Whether it’s through part-time flying, flight instruction, or just hanging out at the airport, aviation is so ingrained in a pilot that one can’t imagine life without it.
At the end of the day, we all have our areas of expertise for which we’ve been trained. For every person who tells me that he is not capable of doing what I do, I simply reply that it’s because he hasn’t tried. If you find what you’re passionate about, no challenge can prevent you from reaching greater heights.
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JETGALA
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