Sometimes when I meet people for the first time and tell them I am a pilot, they say something to the effect of Whats it like?. I usually say something like I like it or Its amazing or even Most fun Ive had with my pants on. While all those things are true it does not quite capture the essence of what it is like to fly. It is especially inadequate to describe what it is like to fly a small single-engine fully aerobatic aircraft. So here is my real answer, but I did not make this up. High Flight Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward Ive 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. Hovring there, Ive chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . . Up, up the long, delirious burning blue Ive topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or ever eagle flew — And, while with silent, lifting mind Ive trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. — John Gillespie Magee, Jr
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 03:42:43 +0000