Have you ever had a flying dream? I had them as a kid, but had forgotten until a couple of weeks ago. I'll get onto that in a minute.
I was always fascinated by aeroplanes. As a kid, it was plastic models, then pre teens, and early teens, it was radio controlled aircraft. Joined the Air Force cadets when I was old enough. A family friend would take me and my dad flying during my early teens. During year 10 at school, I completed my private theory at night, then left school to work and earn money to get my license. A few years later and I had a commercial with an instructor rating. "Living the dream" you could say. Then there was the recession we had to have, and I could not survive in a small country flying school, so I moved home and got a job in manufacturing. The usual story, got married, bought a house, had a couple of kids and couldn't afford to fly any more. Fast forward about 15 years. I get a new job and I meet a guy that flies RAA. So much has changed over the years with ultralights. I get a promotion, and although I still have a couple of kids at school, I now have some money to do a little flying again. So I get my pilot certificate, complete my GA AFR, and I am flying again. The more I fly again, I realise that the yearning to fly never really left me, as it is as strong as ever. I only really realised this recently when my mate emailed me a link to a Harrison Ford YouTube clip, and he asks the question at the start, "have you ever had a flying dream?", then all the memories of the dreams as a kid come flooding back into my consciousness. Now I can't get enough of aeroplanes again.
So why do I fly? Because I yearn to fly!
Joe.