Happy New Year BCP'ers.

Denali Pilot with this statement elsewhere, "Just what I was thinking when I read about the downed F&G officer. Attitude has probably made the critical difference more times than the space blanket and signal mirror in somebody's vest. -DP".......inspired another one of my writer's perspective pilot "mind probes."

I have run across many examples of this being the case in my interviews. It has played no small part in contributing to my admiration of pilots, and made their stories inspirational ... not just as aviators, but as human beings.

My question for those of you so inclined to give it some thought and respond: Describe a flying experience you've had where in retrospect you realize it was your personal attitude ... that kept it from being a disaster.

Conversely it just dawned on me ~ would also be nice to hear of flying experiences you've had where in retrospect you realize it was your personal attitude ... that made it so damn much fun.

Always ~ my gratitude for your thoughts and stories ... Susan

Flywriter....As pilots we are operating in a medium that we were not designed for ( if God had wanted us to fly he would have given us wings) so we are always out of our element...no different than swimming under water ( if He had wanted us to swim under water He would have given us gills) hencforth airplanes and scuba gear. Operating in the medium we are desined for is dangerous enough but especially when we get into a medium where we rely on man made contraptions to deal with it.
We all take risks in everyday life in our own medium but there are those of us who like to step out of our natural environment because of our desire to see the world of another envirnment.
All of this BS aside....I think we all have our own personal reasons why we do what we do!
HC

hicountry wrote:Flywriter....As pilots we are operating in a medium that we were not designed for ( if God had wanted us to fly he would have given us wings) so we are always out of our element...no different than swimming under water ( if He had wanted us to swim under water He would have given us gills) hencforth airplanes and scuba gear. Operating in the medium we are desined for is dangerous enough but especially when we get into a medium where we rely on man made contraptions to deal with it.
We all take risks in everyday life in our own medium but there are those of us who like to step out of our natural environment because of our desire to see the world of another envirnment.
All of this BS aside....I think we all have our own personal reasons why we do what we do!
HC

Agreed hicountry ... well said.

You have to remember though what I do as a writer, is prod people out of and gather "stories." So when I bug you all with questions like this, at the core I'm looking for specific examples of incidents where your "personal reasons why you do what you do" - resulted in actions/reactions which in turn result in a good tale being told that often others can be touched by, amused by and/or more often than not ... they can learn from.

And yes ~ whenever a human steps out of his/her natural environment and utilizes "man-made contraptions" with which to do so, the stories often get even better

Plus - and one of the reasons I read and come back here - if you take flying and aviators as a whole; all the different ways one can fly; all the different "attitudes" one can have about it ~ those of you who genuinely enjoy the challenges and possibilities that backcountry flying offers?

In my experience I've found - can tell some REALLY good stories................

Think back on when you were in a flying-related "fix", and your personal reaction to it based on how you tend to view life, helped you out of it as opposed to made it worse, or even disasterous; or when you were in a situation where somebody else might have thought, "oh brother, I'm in deep doo-doo now" but instead your particular take on things had you looking at it as an adventure; and that attitude ended up affecting the outcome.

In the absence of being able to sit down with you all face-to-face with my little recorder and prod these tales out of you ... I can but try to coax them out of you this way ... if possible.

Flywriter...when I was young I was not raised around flying machines so I didn't know much about them. What I did see was the sky and big fluffy clouds and knew airplanes could go up there. I knew of only a few people who flew, had their own airplanes, or had much to do with aviation. Probably the person who inspired me most when I was young was a man named Jim Cooke who flew a Stearman crop duster from a private strip about a mile away from where I lived. When he would fly by he would wag his wings to our frantic waving...I believe I was about 4 years old at the time...man he was up there and it was neat!
Took my first airplane ride when I was in the eigth grade in a V-tailed Bonanza...it was cool!...not even near a cloud.
Took my first airliner ride when I was in college....Lincoln NE to Scottsbluff NE..Convair 580..cold but no clouds.
Rode in several small planes for short rides, but no real altitude or near any clouds.
Passed ground school in '88 but only flew a few times with an instructor.
Went to Oshkosh in '93 with two of my brothers..both pilots. Was higly impressed. Made up my mind to be pilot...became one in August of '94. Got my own plane in August of '96.
Got to go up to see the big white fluffy clouds...have learned that you don't fly underneath these things...they will kick your ass!!
So it's taken me a lifetime to find out that what looks like fun might not be where you want to go...so I fly around the clouds, over them, but not through them or under them.
Why do I fly?...it looks neat when I am on the ground, hell of a stress reliever, feels and looks even better when I am up there especially when I am up there with others doing it because they love doing it too.
I do not fly for a living and do not want to. I know that mother nature can and will punch your ticket. I fly only for fun and want to keep it that way.
HC

Hey Susan, I wondered where you went to.... This question all comes down to one little thought....."Save Thine Own Ass"... I've been in my share of close calls and if memory serves you just do what you have to to keep the shiney side up and out of the cumulo granite...In all cases though i can truly say I wasn't scared till after i was safely on the ground... Like I said "Do what you have to"....

One experience comes to mind as I try to think back on my personal experiences.
I was called early one morning by a friend that explained that there was a young man that was lost. This particular guy is slightly mentally challenged. He had left on horseback to help his dad and hadn't returned to the Pickup and horse trailer that night. It was not flying weather and I had to wait a while to make it to the neighboring town, for the fog, to get fuel, . Rain was predicted for the afternoon. I normally wouldn't of gone flying. But, a friend asked me for a favor and my personality couldn't let me say no. After fueling the airplane we departed for the search area about 50 miles South of S49, my home airport. We searched for a few hours and then we received a cell phone call that he had been found. He had found a ranchers cow camp, put his horse in the coral and stayed for the night. A rider had found him there. The fun started when we attempted to return to the home base. I am strictly a VFR pilot and we ran into a rain shower I couldn't dare penetrate. We turned back flew east and tried to fly up the Owyhee Reservoir toward S49, But we ran into the rain again. We flew on east to the Succor Creek canyon and tried again but more hard rain.
I was finally over Caldwell, ID. trying to follow I-84 and again the rain got so bad I was low and couldn't see the highway. I turned back and found the Caldwell airport and landed. We went into the restaurant and they asked where we came from as they didn't think that we had flown in. I think my attitude helped me make the decision to land and not try to go on. I always say it is better to be somewhere you don't want to be, and be safe. Than to try to get somewhere and not make it. We were fine where we were. We called and my friends wife came and picked us up in the car. I like the saying, " It is better to be on the ground wishing you were flying, than to be flying wishing you were on the ground". Bob

Here's a link to a true story where the attitude of a passenger as well as the attitude of the pilot saved the lives of three people. The Forest Service personnel in Central oregon still refer a leatherman as a "helicopter repair kit". To find out why you'll have to read the accout at this link.

http://home.earthlink.net/~quade/leatherman.html

When your stuff hits the fan what keeps you from disaster? IMHO your personal attitude has little to do with it and it is how well your professional attitude steps up to the situation. Experience and training vs. luck. Ah, but the personal attitude gets all the fun!

hicountry wrote:...have learned that you don't fly underneath these things...they will kick your ass!!
So it's taken me a lifetime to find out that what looks like fun might not be where you want to go...so I fly around the clouds, over them, but not through them or under them.
Why do I fly?...it looks neat when I am on the ground, hell of a stress reliever, feels and looks even better when I am up there especially when I am up there with others doing it because they love doing it too.
I do not fly for a living and do not want to. I know that mother nature can and will punch your ticket. I fly only for fun and want to keep it that way.
HC

Enjoyed all you shared ~ I'm thinking there are more than a few individual stories within that lifetime it took you ~ that contribute to the attitude that makes you come up with the summation you do here.

And I have to give a hat tip to TrevDog in the "digging stories out" dep't. His thread about "what do you do when nature calls" has produced some real gems

tcj wrote:Here's a link to a true story where the attitude of a passenger as well as the attitude of the pilot saved the lives of three people. The Forest Service personnel in Central oregon still refer a leatherman as a "helicopter repair kit". To find out why you'll have to read the accout at this link.

http://home.earthlink.net/~quade/leatherman.html

I believe it, it was an old Hiller, but the emergency procedure for a stuck collective is to reduce throttle, which slows the rotor and decreases lift and land.

tcj wrote:Here's a link to a true story where the attitude of a passenger as well as the attitude of the pilot saved the lives of three people. The Forest Service personnel in Central oregon still refer a leatherman as a "helicopter repair kit". To find out why you'll have to read the accout at this link.

http://home.earthlink.net/~quade/leatherman.html

I *loved* this, thank you. Perfect example (as the author points out at the end) of what I'm talking about ... the positive attitude of the passengers in the helicopter had a direct affect on the outcome of the story; they could have acted in a different manner ... instead what they did do, effectively counter-acted the negative frustration (which was totally understandable!) of the author as he did what had to be done in the heat of the situation.

And notice I didn't say ... fear

This is the kind of story that's valuable to file away in the memory banks; a true-life example of where staying cool and calm under extraordinary circumstances made all the difference. Seems a no-brainer that a positive attitude trumps a negative? Sure ... but that is something I think comes easier to some people than others. BEFORE, they get in a situation - should they in life - where their tendency to not act that way might contribute to a negative result ... is it not a good thing to read stories like this that make one think, "hmmmm....something to be learned from how they handled that."

5BAatlarge wrote:When your stuff hits the fan what keeps you from disaster? IMHO your personal attitude has little to do with it and it is how well your professional attitude steps up to the situation. Experience and training vs. luck. Ah, but the personal attitude gets all the fun!

Ah, but your personal attitude imho, is what gets you to that effective professional attitude that keeps your derrierre out of trouble with the merde hits the fan.

The majority of my interviews have been with pilots who have it together; some obviously much more experienced than others, but all of them the type I've learned to recognize as admirable souls with perceptions, attitudes, and personal traits that lend them to being the type of people I want to present to the world through their stories. Here ... there's something of value to learn from reading this. And my opinion? Those stories if told correctly, have something to teach fellow pilots - and non-pilots alike.

I've come across the other kind of pilot too I suppose there would be something to learn from reading about their perceptions and attitudes also ... I just don't prefer to go there; would rather put positive stuff into the world.

Jump This wrote:Are you writing a book, Flywriter?

I am. Long arduous process ... although a labor of love. Got side-tracked a bit doing some article writing; I'm editing the UBCP Newsletter now, and doing some other things to build a resume` so that when I do get the book done, I'll have a chance at an agent/publisher as opposed to going the self-published route.

I've got a good idea for the book I think; couldn't ask for more "character" in my subjects ... and I've got the support of some kind and creative people like Brian Terwilliger of "One Six Right" who helped me gain access to pilots from his film. Need to do my "subjects" justice; all good things in their time.

Although like I just posted on another thread ~ people like Coyote Ugly here, and other backcountry pilots I'm privileged to know, make me feel like a kid in a candy store as a writer ... too many stories, too little time!