Impressions of flight

I like to think that the act of getting aloft is felt not by the earth dropping behind, but that with your spirit rising in answer! The prestige thus must lie only in getting airborne since it is devoid of any ostentatious display of luxury that is portrayed to come attached with it. It is the greatest and the most selfish moments of all time, to be kept sacred, to be thought of as a personal memento of your reason to fly and to rise above a life you have fixated yourself to.

Nothing makes you reflect upon life until you view the city you grew up in from aloft, for this is where your heart belongs and will always remain attached to no matter how far you fly.

I like to think of passion for flying as a strength that has an innate ability to power through any amount of resistance that has you stay grounded. It is indeed difficult, but one needs to believe that there is an opportunity waiting somewhere down the line and your only shot at seizing it, is through constant preparation. It requires an immense sense of self belief to keep improving until you get airborne again. I feel it is absolutely essential to continue training your wings even if you can’t fly with them for a while. Embrace these days, those spent manifesting your return to the big blue sky. Let no force deter, your spirit which was born to soar!

The rising sun when viewed from aloft is an entrance to being awakened both in spirit and in consciousness. Its calmness is reverberating and the colours of dawn are almost impossible to look away from. At this point of time I feel conflicted. Conflicted in the attempt to understand if this picture in front of me, one that revisits you when you close your eyes, is a reminder to constantly develop a new perspective to life or to continue falling in love with the solitude of dawn.I for once cannot find the right words to express what I felt but yet attempt to. Maybe words aren’t necessary and perhaps the simple act of admiring this spectacle is a quiet prayer in itself. I only know that I yearn to go back, to be one among those colours, to watch my wings shine when touched by the glory of the morning sun!

I like to think of preparation as a catalyst for being transformed as a pilot both in knowledge and character. Without this process, the effort is rendered purposeless. Fixation on the result is a futile exercise since the result itself is secondary. What should ultimately matter is whether or not you develop the confidence of being someone exceptional irrespective of what the future has in place for you.

I wonder what an airplane might think of its pilot finding excuses to fill his eyes with its presence. One that is engulfed in such esteem and affection that even the act of flying is not enough. As if their bond is somehow incomplete until expressed on ground while walking away but turning around for one final time, to reaffirm what one means to the other.

The upward glance describes not just the desire to stretch your wings but the longing for the sky that cannot be contained in a single sight.

Sometimes what is in front of you is unfathomable to come to terms with. Perhaps it is difficult to decide what is more beautiful to look at. Yet it is in this moment when you feel separated from the rest of the world but strangely attached to it at the same time. You watch your wings turn against the backdrop of the sunset sky, your wings being connected to your hands with such grace and elegance that you wonder if flying was achieved through the expression of a pilot’s soul and which has now turned into a part of your life that is difficult to live without.

Every aircraft has a different learning curve to it. If you look closely you will realise that it has a story to tell. You must start from the ground up. You must stand close to it and understand the specifications of its design. Ask yourself what was the thought that created something that you find peculiar. Understand that not an inch of its creation is wasted. At first the aircraft will stay ahead of you when you fly. The purpose is to get better staying ahead yourself. It shall require practice and it is necessary that it does. As a pilot you have the privilege of getting to know your aircraft more intimately than anyone else. One must learn to appreciate its significance and develop a bond that must stay unique to you both. Hence, be as patient as you can when you learn and as gentle as possible when you land.

A pilot’s love for his aircraft grows in fondness particularly when he is away from it. He finds excuses to stay close, to linger in its presence is comforting. There is a certain warmth that is felt in its company.His longing to meet his airplane is expressed by the way he walks towards the hangar. It is seldom recognised by those around him. It is felt in such moments, when standing on the ramp yearning to reunite. To put an end to the distance that brought him closer.His eyes are now set skywards. Flying an aircraft is therefore the greatest expression of his life. To watch a pilot with his aircraft by his side is to be in presence of love in its most purest form.

There are certain philosophies that stay eternal. That the love for one’s work is the greatest form of reverence that can exist for someone holding a desire to constantly succeed and be in its presence. It is a sacred sanctity that must be left untouched. It is in fact the greatest form of worship that can exist for someone aspiring to be worthy of the privilege it has to offer.

I often find myself reminiscing the way I fell in love with aviation. It wasn’t something that occurred to me overnight. It took its own time and it was necessary that it did. Every flight I boarded witnessed a different version of myself. It started with simply being curious. The science of flight fascinated me. I was glued to the window, observing every single movement of the aircraft through the air and the finesse with which it flew. I like to think that you first start learning to fly by merely spectating the way an aircraft manoeuvres through the air. You do that long enough and before you know, you tend to become a part of it. There is a very special feeling attached to it that grows in admiration with time and knowledge. It is perhaps the dawn of many new beginnings, stretched across the vast expanse of the bright blue sky!

The desire to fly is best expressed when an aviator looks at his aircraft standing still under the colours of the sunset sky. It is recognised in this moment. It’s not only expressed through words rather it has to be seen and admired. The communion of an aircraft with a pilot’s spirit is a sight that defines a passion that has grown in time and one which has many summits to climb. The yearning to view the world from aloft remains. It is perhaps, everlasting!

I like to think that the fascination of flight is strongly felt the very second you lift off from the ground. As the lights of the city fill your eyes, the only event worth noticing is that of watching an aircraft rise upwards. When man and machine propel towards an infinite expanse of the sky that awaits its presence. A reunion of uncommon sorts that urges your spirit to get lost in its romance.

The ability to navigate an aircraft is an important attribute for anyone aspiring to fly. I have come to realise the significance of staying on course to wherever it is you are heading towards. To give significant corrections amidst what might set you off track, the ability to identify any deviations and to constantly alter your flight path to reach where you aspire to is analogous to the pursuit of your ambitions in life. It teaches you to continue chasing your purpose inspite of what might deter you along the way. To navigate an aircraft is to urge your spirit to continue staying resolute towards achieving your dreams.

The irony is that when you are on ground you tuck your head skywards to yearn to fly and be one among the clouds, although the second you get airborne you start looking downwards to admire how beautiful the Earth really is.

Flying involves a constant expression of thought. As you fly more often you tend to mature with the experience that follows. You are more curious to understand your aircraft, to know it better than what you are presently aware about and more cautious about what could go wrong.The solitude of flying solo increases in time as you fly further away from your comfort zone. It is in this moment when you realise the significance of being the sole pilot in command of your aircraft. This realisation is essential to groom your wings and have them prepared for far more responsibilities ahead.

There will be days spent on the ground when you will yearn to fly a lot more than you did before. You will look up at the sky and wish for a mere gust of wind to launch you upwards, as if the act of getting airborne could be propelled simply through a burning desire to fly. Embrace such moments, those of umpteen aspirations, of preparation and steadfastness, and allow this time to remind you to appreciate how far you’ve flown. Let it leave you completely enthralled in its presence and let no force deter, that spirit which is yours to behold.

It is not only your will to fly that matters but also a meticulous assessment of the risks involved that can affect the safety of your flight if you do decide to get airborne. The desire to negate staying grounded and get airborne rather quickly is a tempting choice which must be resisted particularly when you are unaware of what could go wrong beyond the envelope of your personal minimums.

I feel it is important to appreciate flying when certain conditions require you to stay grounded. I believe that it is important to look at an aircraft and reflect upon your skills and work towards how you could improve the next time you get airborne. The time you spend on ground learning directly translates to a very promising experience in the air. It is always better to continue training your wings with each flight rather than having them chase a certain summation of hours.

For anyone aspiring to fly must learn the discipline of staying patient in its pursuit. It is in your ability to wait, which prepares you to excel at what you are attempting to pursue. It requires you to be constantly resolute, not only through the action of expressing that desire but rather by the nature of a purposeful struggle that answers why you must be worthy of finding your place in the sky?

I like to think of standing in presence of an aircraft as the greatest form of reflecting upon an objective value that can exist for someone who is yearning to fly. There is a certain chemistry, a dialogue that is not heard but exchanged between these two entities not through words, but by the feeling of being next to each other with the virtue of sharing a single purpose, which is to fly.

As you fly more often you start getting attached to a feeling that lingers when you return to land. It is combined with a sense of awareness, the possibility of what could go wrong is always hovering, the thought is stagnant. Yet you continue navigating, flying the airplane is no longer an unknown feeling. You come across different landforms, swim above rivers and dance around the mountains. Is there someone in that town that might be looking upwards? Does that upward glance ignite a certain sense of curiosity within him?What is it that you are searching for, when you look under the edge of your wing? Does it hold an answer or is it simply about admiring the communion of an aircraft’s spirit with the space that surrounds its flight? Perhaps it is not to be known. Perhaps the answer lies not in the ability to determine but in the yearning to explore.

What you perceive is unique to what you believe in. You have locked eyes with an art form that you are yet to learn, a philosophy with a special sense of solitude that is known to few. It is here where you will always long to return. Because in that moment the only action that exists is that of you being able to recognise its significance and the purpose that propels you forward along the course of its pursuit . It requires you to obsess over it since each time you take flight, the feeling is different from what it was before. Your wings are sacred to your purpose. They must be stretched wide enough to learn every lesson your flight has to teach. Fly them high enough but keep your head grounded to protect them.

I like to think of flying as a synonym for freedom. The triumph of flight lies in the silence of the moment, when the winds are tender and the sun is rising, with your hands resting upon the controls, a connection beyond what words could possibly describe yet take a futile attempt to and eyes locked to the unknowns of what there is to explore beyond the arcane depths of the horizon.

To describe this in words would require capturing that one moment in which an aviator looks at his aircraft with utmost passion. There is something inexplicable, something unnamed. It might be as simple as some form of an acknowledgment, an affirmation and the recognition of a purpose.Is it answered by the way he walks towards his aircraft? Or the smile that slips through his face on landing her gently down the runway? Looking out the window and watching the wings roll along with the ones pinned on his chest, does that give his life the meaning it deserves? Is the solitude of flying solo a paradox for is he actually alone or does man and machine integrate to form a union of one common purpose, that is to fly?Perhaps the answer lies in a part of himself that he has nurtured through the course of his pursuit. The wings pinned on his chest have earned him his place in the sky, but they also remind him to keep his feet grounded.

An element of amazement gets locked in sight when glancing upwards to what captivates the soul which starts yearning to fly. The gush of the wind has a gentle tenderness in itself which instills a sense of childish restlessness, to simply stretch upwards to touch the sky.The sight of an airplane lifting towards the sky is the fountainhead of passion, the birthplace of a purpose.