Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:40 am
#1894328
Year of the Tiger begins with February... Maybe it’ll be better for all of us.
This Covid business is the worst thing for all of us, put a smile on your face, but there’s still the fact that energy in life and aviation is low.
In better times the excitement carries people along, in these times it’s too serious.
Thinking yesterday; in the past if the weather permitted, I’d be in an aeroplane and off to do some business, pick up some parts, or look at another aeroplane. Aviation was active for me and easy, but hard too. The hard was the work behind what I achieved, but this too was ‘easy’ for the results it produced.
I was asked to look into an aeroplane purchase, this sort of thing gets me excited, but alas I’ve been lead up a garden path again...
All plans for the past two years have come to nothing.
I can imagine doing without flying.
If I live in Chiang Mai, this would be somewhat okay, though in Thailand there’s many who seek me out to fly.
England is a disappointment at times though it is improving for me.
I got my fix in Canada last year, flying the Chipmunk which had been grounded a year due to me being grounded here. I flew other things too.
There’s not been the demand for me here in England that there is in BC.
Retirement is poverty, I have helped many into good careers as pilots, but I did not do well financially myself.
Dual checks and their costs, attitudes in flying clubs, rules, all have had their effects on me.
Being told by a CFI that I can’t fly the Super Cub if the crosswind exceeds five knots means I wasted a check out in that aeroplane...
Yet I turn around and do the one hour with an instructor (CRI) in different aeroplanes where the benefit of my experience comes to the fore. I flew in a J3, a Tiger Moth, and an EV97, and introduced something new, and something un practiced. I’m a CRI with a bit of experience.
I’ve checked out on Redhill’s Super Cub. I’ve landed it smoothly on the hard taxyway runway with a crosswind in excess of that five knots... Now I can fly again, when I have a few bob.
If flying is in your blood you have to get through this difficult period, “This too will pass”, and do what it takes to maintain your health.
The mind controls health, a healthy mind can prevent some illness. Depression can cause illness.
Flying aeroplanes promotes a healthy mind, it’s an investment in health.
I used to be concerned about the people who would come to me to get their five hours in 13 months done to get their stamp in the logbook... ‘Thought that five hours, or even an hour a month should not be too difficult to get. But now I see the problem myself.
Insurance:
Looking at purchasing an aeroplane I went on to Visicover. I note that pilots who are 74 and older have to be named on the insurance, and no doubt there’s additional cost.
MichaelP
Wandering the World