I had a conversation with a friend I used to be close with some time ago and I said there are two things about pilots (forget the gender) one they have and the other one they want; What are they, I asked?
He knew the answer as I did and I said you name one and I will....and he said pilots have an EGO and I said they want RESPECT.
EGO- The self of any person as thinking, feeling, and willing and distinguishing itself from the selves of others...conceit; self-importance.
RESPECT - a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities or achievements.
My friend Gene, whom I respect told me recently that "we pilots are a unique breed"...I agree.
Introspectively I have realized I can sometimes..ok truth, most times be goaded into having my ego pants show up...by falling into the need to prove myself to the boys. I hate to admit this, but my hobby, flying, is mainly comprised of the other gender. It does not surprise me that they bust on me and my flying capabilities. I have a habit of being very playful and my personality is such that fair is fair.....I have this strange personality trait called confidence that drives them insane as I always say I am "even steven" with you guys and I mean it!! It's a curse, a good one don't you think?
I have noticed that we do run the gamut of all different types of pilots..... Some with loud egos and others with quiet egos....and then there are the confident pilots...I prefer the latter..the pilot that has already proven him or herself and feels no need to share all of their accomplishments.
Those are the ones I respect, it is easy to when they quietly share flying stories with you and are not in the least boastful. The graceful art of flying in itself is pure art and does not need to be boastful.
The older generation is quietly this way and I have noticed our generation isn't. Something I don't like about my generation. I will admit that, truth be told, I have at times fallen into "I need to prove myself" and yet I know I should step aside and let my abilities be the proof.
Flying is just what I think of as part of what I do, to be authentically who I am. I fly because it’s the most difficult and most natural thing I’ve ever done in my life. Unaware that just the suggestion by my hubby over twenty years ago, I found my way into this flying fever on my own and I realize this hobby has forced me to discover myself.
My fellow aviators will sometimes show me their whole heart, the only way they know how, through our common language of flying. Some days just trying to express what we were trying to hold on to, holding our heart in our hands. So afraid that the dream of flying could be dying that you might not even see that it is right in front of you.
The key is my friends, that flying is not just ours. I know it’s so tempting to lock it up, and hold it captive in your hangars, and protect it because it’s so beautiful. But the only way that it can survive is to share it, talk about it, and keep it alive, in its natural environment, in our hearts. We can’t guard the dream, but we can be the caretakers of it. We can raise up this universal spirit of freedom found in flying that we hold so dear, and know so intimately. But first we have to embrace that we are a flying family, one collective heart stitched to one word…WE
I want to say that I chose this hobby, yet I must admit, it chose me....it forces me to be aligned to some really great people that I am friendly with and yet with only a few very close buds will I open up with and the passion for flying rolls off me..I literally eat it up, breath it out and hunger for it each day. Only my closest buds get me through and through...because they also have the fever that I have. My keepsake of our "brotherhood" of which I belong and am accepted.......it feels so natural.
There is a difference with having confidence or having an ego....do I present myself in the way I speak about above, not always...something I need to improve upon.
So let me share with you what I crave.. "RESPECT" from my fellow aviators, period!....I believe while some of my buds will never admit this to me...I do have it. How do I know this? In the way, they converse with me about anything flying, how they will fly with me, that's trust and respect in itself...those that are part of my circle realize and see the firelight that I have, flying is what draws us together, our like minds and it doesn't hurt that I am a good "stick"...shucks, there is that confidence again....;-)
I've always believed the lure of flying is the lure of beauty. - Amelia Earhart
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