Why do you even want to fly?

Many of my friends and family members have always known that I’ve always wanted to fly. A few though, have mentioned something along the lines of, “After all that you’ve explained to me, I still don’t know why you want to fly.”

So what is it about flying that makes me want to do it? Why is it so enthralling to me?

I’ll let you in on something.

When I first had my first few flying lessons, I actually doubted myself and asked myself the same questions. Looking back on them now (which isn’t even so far away back since I’m not even that far into my flying phase as of now), I realise the first few flights were bad.

Really bad.

I don’t mean bad as in performance wise, or that I didn’t perform to the high standards that I had expected of myself. This bad here is akin the horrible feeling that your stomach feels when your boss just told you that your services to the company are easily disposable and that you might have to look for a new job soon, whilst you conjure up horrible images of HDB repossessing your flat at the back of your mind upon realising that it’s now a real possibility.

Okay so I exaggerated. But it’s true that I felt like crap during those first few flights. I experienced some form of mild air sickness. Not to the point of vomiting (well perhaps just a little during the first flight), but certainly discomforting enough for me to use up a lot of my mental capacity in trying to overcome that discomforting feeling.

Which is bad, because you need lots of mental capacity available to focus on flying. This is especially so during the first few lessons when you are so new to the whole flying ball game altogether.

It came to the point that I was relieved whenever my instructor took over the controls during the approach and descent back to the aerodrome, and I just couldn’t wait to be back on the ground.

I actually questioned my career choice at that point of time! I can easily laugh about it now, but it was indeed on my mind then.

So what actually happened?

It turns out that I just needed a few more flights to get used to the feeling of being airborne and be tossed and jostled around mid-air by winds or turbulence. Eventually, those feelings of discomfort in flight went away.

A few more flights in, and after overcoming certain stumbling blocks like circuit flying, I felt more and more confident in flying the aircraft.

What happened next is that I had more and more time to look out of the aircraft and finally, appreciate the view and perspective of the area below me. A view that not just anyone can enjoy.

It was then that I had that moment. THIS was why I wanted to fly. This feeling of freedom in the air that you get as you look down on the beautiful cities and coastlines.

Our lives are so revolved around our point of view that for once, a different perspective of something just seems incredible. Even if that view is of landfills, sandpits and boring towns around the aerodrome.

I wish I could explain it better but there’s only so much that words (and my writing ability - or lack thereof) can do. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture is what I don’t have right now.

Perhaps one day, I’ll have a picture taken of what I mean. Meanwhile, you just have to take my word for it.