gallois is spot on there but I also have an equal bit of excitement when climbing and break out on top into clear blue sky. I take what ever opportunity I can to share the great privilege we enjoy with other people.
Being able to get to nice otherwise more inaccessible destinations such as:
This airport is also billed (incorrectly) as one of the most dangerous/scariest airports in the world
When I lived in Singapore, I used to fly there regularly for same-day snorkelling trips with 1h flight time which would easily take 10 hours by car and ferry (one way).
In summary, applies to many destinations, being able to get there much faster and more easily than with a car or a commercial flight whilst having fun flying there oneself!
[ URLs converted into live links – some unusual URL characters don’t work otherwise ]
wbardorf wrote:
Being able to get to nice otherwise more inaccessible destinations such as:Pulau Tioman
I was there in 2003 or so. At that time they still had scheduled flights to the island. Interesting airport to say the least.
what is it that makes it really totally worthwhile?
Beautiful scenery, flexible schedules, cockpit instrumentation, and an impressive variety of aircraft.
Airborne_Again wrote:
I was there in 2003 or so. At that time they still had scheduled flights to the island. Interesting airport to say the least.
Hope you enjoyed it there on the island – there are various good snorkelling and diving spots around the island.
Unfortunately, they stopped the scheduled flights more than 10 years ago so one now needs to
1) endure the traffic jam at the Singapore/Malaysia border crossing,
2) drive/take a car all the way to a ferry port and
3) take the ferry across
which easily adds up to 10 hours one way.
So having access to GA makes a big difference.
I think that holds true for many trips except for the most served city pairs. But even then, I normally manage to beat BA on the London-Frankfurt journey in terms of door-to-door time (with both doors being only about 30 mins away from Heathrow and Frankfurt airport for a fair comparison). (My wife will have a different view on this as I am deliberately not counting the prep time/flight planning time the night before…)
wbardorf wrote:
Hope you enjoyed it there on the island – there are various good snorkelling and diving spots around the island.
I enjoyed it tremendously. I stayed at the JapaMala resort which inspired me to make a Riven-like presentation here.
Being able to pop over to destinations which usually are multi day trips by car or train within a short flight of 1-2 hours and be back the same day.
The community of mostly great folks to share the experience with, be it here or elsewhere.
And of course the sheer pleasure of flying and enjoying the remaining freedom in the air.
The simple joy of the freedom to go where you want, look out the window at interesting things. Maybe fly in a loose formation with a friend or two. Pop into a field to meet up with some other aeroplanes.
Or just to pop up by yourself, clear the mind and enjoy just flying the machine.
Taking to the sky. It’s no more complicated than that
Also going places of course.
nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment as the one after a long (4 hr) flight mostly in IMC conditions having to shoot successfully an ARNAV approach to minimums at destination. So many logistical things that have to be in place for that to occur. Then having to remain inside the airplane for 30 minutes waiting for the heavy rain to stop in order to get the airplane in the hangar. Few moments in life are like that, the best is that it can be done again. Unless you have an instrument ticket you will be deprived of this experience. Highly recommended. No need for drugs to get a kick up.
