Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:52 pm
#1273504
So we like to dance around and avoid an uncomfortable subject, if I read between the lines correctly.
I think we all have a responsibility to our fellow flyers, and when we notice something amiss we should do our part to help resolve a situation. We should care.
I live in a country where the suicide rate is somewhat higher than it is in the UK and it is easy to see why. Canada is a lonely place.
We all face emotional challenges in our lives and suicide like murder is an unfortunate irrevocable act that can be avoided if time and consideration takes place, and if the people who consider their fellow flyers to be friends take note, and take appropriate action, such things need not progress.
Pilots who fly aeroplanes usually have intuition beyond 'normal' people, it's how many of us survive, we don't go where intuition suggests there is danger. We ignore our intuitions at our own peril.
Flying instructors have to be psychologists as well. We need to read our students and know when they are ready and prepared to accept the instruction we're about to give.
This attribute is also useful for spotting people in distress and we're in a position to prevent people getting into the cockpit when they are set upon an unfortunate path.
I had my own Goodwood experience.
I'd flown there in the MkV Auster for a breakfast patrol.
I'd also just broken up with a girlfriend... This was really bad because I had fallen in love with another girl beforehand, and this was natural, not 'oh I'll date this girl and we'll see how it goes', it was simply being in her company through the flying club I had created... When we go against 'real love' in the way I did, applying the rational ideals I had learned in my youth rather than the natural emotions we all have, then we set ourselves up for some emotional stress.
I replaced my real love with another more practical girlfriend and it did not work out.
So there was Mark, a victim of many a heartbreak of his own, showing concern for me, flying the Auster on my own following what was a serious heartbreak for me.
But though I was certainly upset I was not suicidal, even so the consideration Mark and some of my friends had for me that day was very much appreciated.
So let's not dance around this uncomfortable subject, rather let's face it, learn from it, and show more human consideration for others that share the air we enjoy, but who from time to time go through difficult emotional times as we all do.
I think we all have a responsibility to our fellow flyers, and when we notice something amiss we should do our part to help resolve a situation. We should care.
I live in a country where the suicide rate is somewhat higher than it is in the UK and it is easy to see why. Canada is a lonely place.
We all face emotional challenges in our lives and suicide like murder is an unfortunate irrevocable act that can be avoided if time and consideration takes place, and if the people who consider their fellow flyers to be friends take note, and take appropriate action, such things need not progress.
Pilots who fly aeroplanes usually have intuition beyond 'normal' people, it's how many of us survive, we don't go where intuition suggests there is danger. We ignore our intuitions at our own peril.
Flying instructors have to be psychologists as well. We need to read our students and know when they are ready and prepared to accept the instruction we're about to give.
This attribute is also useful for spotting people in distress and we're in a position to prevent people getting into the cockpit when they are set upon an unfortunate path.
I had my own Goodwood experience.
I'd flown there in the MkV Auster for a breakfast patrol.
I'd also just broken up with a girlfriend... This was really bad because I had fallen in love with another girl beforehand, and this was natural, not 'oh I'll date this girl and we'll see how it goes', it was simply being in her company through the flying club I had created... When we go against 'real love' in the way I did, applying the rational ideals I had learned in my youth rather than the natural emotions we all have, then we set ourselves up for some emotional stress.
I replaced my real love with another more practical girlfriend and it did not work out.
So there was Mark, a victim of many a heartbreak of his own, showing concern for me, flying the Auster on my own following what was a serious heartbreak for me.
But though I was certainly upset I was not suicidal, even so the consideration Mark and some of my friends had for me that day was very much appreciated.
So let's not dance around this uncomfortable subject, rather let's face it, learn from it, and show more human consideration for others that share the air we enjoy, but who from time to time go through difficult emotional times as we all do.
MichaelP
Wandering the World
Wandering the World