Calgary, January 2024
Two years ago, I wrote an article which I called Lost Love. It wasn’t about a loss of love for a woman, it was about a loss of love for flying. I claimed that I don’t miss it anymore. So, why is it that every time I hear an airplane in the sky, I look up and think about its pilot? I do not envy him. I wouldn't like to be an airline pilot, driving aerial buses through the sky or to be a flight instructor, passing my life in the right seat of a Cessna 172. But as I am looking at the plane disappearing behind the horizon, I feel some nostalgia. Also, my favourite programs on YouTube are about flying. I listen to the old pilots talking about flying fighter jets and I wonder how it would feel to fly the real hot stuff. I wouldn’t be able to handle the military discipline, but still, it is nice to dream.
But I shouldn’t complain, I did my share of flying the hot stuff. My last airplane, which I flew for 23 years, from my age of 50 to 73, qualified for that characteristic. From the first unforgettable flight in June 1994 to the last one, on 24. 9. 2017, the airplane was a part of my life. In my mind, I still can go through the maneuvers and feel the G-forces associated with them. I visualize moving the stick and pressing the rudder pedals, hanging in the straps, watching the earth rotating around me. Also, I remember my dedication to keep the airplane flying. I am not a handyman, Alena complains about the lack of attention I pay to our house, but the airplane always had the top priority. My philosophy about repairing things at home always was: ‘If you can postpone it for tomorrow, don’t do it today’, but this didn’t apply to my airplane. For it, the rule was: ‘Do it right now’.
As I read the previous paragraphs, I wondered: Is it really true that I don’t miss flying? I certainly don't desire a ride in the back seat of somebody else’s aircraft. Also, if I still had my plane, flying it would be more a duty than a pleasure. I would have to push myself to go flying and would be looking for excuses not to go. But, if somebody today would say: "Ivo, you can have your medical certificate for one flight. Would you like to fly your old plane again?” I would say: “Yes.”