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| 1.Q |
Tell me
about the first time you remember being thrilled. |
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| 1.A |
Once I
had leaned to drive, age 12, and just being able to drive about
the highland estate I was living on in Scotland. |
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| 2.Q |
What’s the slightest thing
to have thrilled you? |
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| 2.A |
Getting
a perfect 300 score at a shooting range. |
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| 3.Q |
What’s the most frightening
yet thrilling thing you’ve done? |
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| 3.A |
In flight
emergency during a take off from Glasgow airport. Being able
to understand the emergency, being fully aware of the possible
bad outcomes of the emergency. But still able to separate
myself from the fear, deal with the problem, carry out the
emergency procedures, talk to the control tower, deal with
the passenger that was on board, and carry out one of my better
landings.
Once back on the ground and safely parked up, there was the
thrill of having survived a possibly deadly event. But the
fear was never a big issue, is was there, I just chose to
ignore it and get on with the job. The biggest thrill was
in finding out just how you would act in a real emergency.
Practicing emergencies is on thing, but every one fears panicking,
and it’s a thrill to find you had not panicked and been
able to deal with it. |
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| 4.Q |
Tell me
why you’re not completely sensible. |
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| 4.A |
I am not
sure it’s in my nature to be anything but sensible. Everything
is planned, and there is always a fall back plan as well. Think
actually annoys me. Would love to be spontaneous and silly,
but it’s not me. |
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| 5.Q |
What’s
the most uninhibited thing you’ve ever done? |
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| 5.A |
cannot
think of anything I have ever done… strange? |
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| 6.Q |
What have
you considered doing for pleasure but were too concerned about
the risks? |
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| 6.A |
I cannot
think of anything that I have wanted to do for pleasure, but
was stopped from doing by the risks involved. |
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| 7.Q |
Describe
the event in one sentence (there’s time to expand later) |
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| 7.A |
Going solo
for the first time in a light aircraft. |
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| 8.Q |
Tell me
a bit about yourself around this time. |
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| 8.A |
I was in
my early 30’s, working for IBM. The work was well paid
and I had enough disposable income to do basically anything
I wanted. I had always liked aircraft and flying, but had never
thought about doing anything about it. |
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| 9.Q |
List the
sequence of events leading up to your thrill. Try to remember
how you felt at each stage. The smallest detail could be important
(this is your chance to expand). |
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| 9.A |
1. 3rd
day on the course. Had spent the previous day doing circuits
at an airfield in France. Practicing landings, and take off
emergencies.
2 . Monday morning, back to Jersey and was expecting another
day of touch and go’s, emergency procedures etc.
3 . In the morning I did 4 full circuits, two with engine failure
on take off.
4. Instructor told me that the next landing was for a full stop,
meaning that we would pull off the run way rather than just
reapply power and take off again.
5. Once landed I taxied to wards the club house, expecting to
break for a coffee. The instructor told me to stop on the taxi
way (not normal procedure).
6. He un did his harness, got out, and shouted in to the plane.
“One circuit, nothing fancy, don’t screw it up”.
That’s the point I realised I was about to go solo.
7. I taxied to the holding point, did the engine power checks,
and called the tower for clearance. I was then held for 15 mins
with commercial traffic landed.
8. Eventually the tower asked if I STILL wanted clearance. I
took off did a circuit, landed. Taxied to the club and parked.
Was congratulated by the instructor and had some lunch. |
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| 10.Q |
What were
your thoughts and feelings at the precise moment of thrill? |
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| 10.A |
Once you
were off the ground and in to the circuit, the circuit at Jersey
airport being large as the millionaires did not want little
plane flying over their mansions, you had enough time to do
the required actions, and still think about your circumstance.
There are few times on your life where you realise you either
get it right or die. There was no way to get help, no one to
bail you out, just yourself, your skill and self confidence.
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| 11.Q |
What did
you do afterwards? |
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| 11.A |
Had lunch,
orange juice and sandwich. |
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| 12.Q |
What were
the risks? |
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| 12.A |
Death.
Killing others on the ground. Screwing up the landing and damaging
yourself and the plane. Screwing up the circuit and closing
an international airport. Mid air collision with commercial
traffic. |
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| 13.Q |
What did
you imagine other people thought of you during and after the
event? |
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| 13.A |
Flight
instructors - A student with adequate skills to meet the requirements.
Non flyers - Not sure that the act of going solo would mean
that much to then. As non flyers tit seems to be the whole concept
of leaning to fly that is seen as elitist and a by snobbish |
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| 14.Q |
How often
do you think about the event, and why? |
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| 14.A |
Don’t
think of it often, am some times asked about it and it comes
up when explaining what is needed to be done to gain a PPL.(private
pilots licence) |
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| 15.Q |
Some people
probably don’t understand how such a thing can thrill
you; explain it to them. |
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| 15.A |
I have
explained it to people by asking them how many times do they
actually take their life in to there hands. How many time have
they been in a situation where an error on their part can lead
to their death. It’s not like driving a car, where is
there are problems you can pull over and stop. People seem to
understand it better when compared to solo free fall parachuting,
or scuba diving. The thrill is having to do it right, having
to have planned it, checked it and havening to not screw up.
Even the most boring flight out from Glasgow to Isla for morning
coffee is a thrill. The thrill being that it all worked exactly
as planned. |
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| 16.Q |
What three
changes could have made the experience better, and why? |
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| 16.A |
Truthfully,
and I believe this of most pilots. Going solo is a special moment
in your life. No matter what you go solo in, or where you go
solo, I do not believe that there is anything that could have
made that experience better for the individual. Once you go
solo you enter a club of other flyers, there are those that
have gone solo, and the rest of humanity. No matter what you
then do in your flying career, commercial, military or private
you are a member of a small and close knit community. |
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Is there
anything you want to add? |
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