Sunday, August 10, 2008

Living on the Edge - November 2007

About a month later, word has spread amongst my friends that I was thinking of buying an Ultra Light. Most of them are visualizing something similar to a glider with a lawn mower engine attached. They are asking if I have a death wish. Ever since I bought my Vespa scooter a couple of years ago, they think I am really living on the edge.

Some have asked my husband if he has talked to me about how dangerous it is to fly small planes. His standard answer is "I know, I can’t talk to her". My best friend says "I know you have made up your mind so there is no sense trying to change it". They know me well. Flying has never bothered me. In fact, the limited flying that I have done in small planes I have really enjoyed – with the exception of an occasional Island hopper flight in a small plane with duct tape on the wings.

I am surprised how fast word has traveled that I am thinking of buying an Ultra Light. It is Christmas cocktail party season and I am simply minding my own business sipping on my Chardonnay when someone comes up to tell me that I am going to kill myself. Several others feel the need to jump in and concur. More to my surprise are the number of people that tell me that they are scared of heights and that they would never go up in my plane - not that I recall asking.

My husband has succumbed to the pressure and says he is not flying with me. Merry Christmas!

3 comments:

Bseat said...

Great Blog!!!

Unknown said...

Hey sounds fantastic, best of luck as you pursue this endeavour.

Grant (Falcon124) said...

The same people who think nothing of telling you that you'll kill yourself flying a small aircraft are often the same ones who strap themselves into a chunk of metal on small bits of rubber and fling themselves near others chunks of metal, often at closure rates of over 100mph. They ignore the number of smashed chunks of metal they see and the reports of the enormous number of people killed by chunks of metal every year.

Amazing how flying small aircraft is so dangerous and will kill you but driving a car is so safe...


Don't let them get to you - this is something you want to do, you do it :)