Adventure in Decline

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a huge movie fan. I don't dislike movies, but I just don't think you get what you pay for going out to see a movie anymore. I did, however, finally see "Amelia" on DVD last week, and it sparked a bit of thought. In Amelia Earhart's day, aviation was a completely different industry than it is today. Adventure in this line of work is not what it once was, and I think it peaks extremely early in a commercial pilot's career.

Now, it's certainly worth noting up top that it is a good thing that "adventure" isn't a normal component of part 121 air travel. I'm pretty sure the traveling public likes it that way. They want dull, boring, and routine. And, that's fair enough. I understand where they are coming from with that, but it certainly does take away from the romantic pilot image.

I think one of the biggest adventures for a new pilot is that first solo flight. I think it might even be the pinnacle for a pilot's career. It is a tremendous feeling the first time your CFI turns you loose for a few laps around the field. At this point, you likely have very little in the way of hours in your logbook, and much of what you're about to do, is very new. The first solo is an adventure. The first time you part ways with the tarmac, and its just you and the plane. It's your first real "gut-check" in flying. There's no one else to make any inputs on the controls. No one else to take up any space inside the cabin. Up to that point, your entire brief flying career has been under the guidance of your instructor. Then, for the first time, its just up to you to fly this bird around the patch. It really does feel like uncharted territory. Even though your CFI is confident in your skills, there is certainly a feeling of risk and uncertainty. The first solo is usually an event that every pilot remembers and enjoys looking back on.

From that point on, as a pilot progresses through his/her career, I think the "adventure" element begins to decline. As a pilot completes the instrument rating, the commercial single and multi-engine ratings, there are little adventurous bits here and there, but I don't think they compare to that first solo in terms of sheer exhilaration.

This is even more pronounced later in a pilot's career. As a pilot learns to fly bigger and faster aircraft, type ratings are earned, and pilots start flying as a crew, not just by themselves. It wasn't too long ago that I had my first flight as a regional airline captain. If you would have asked me, back in my private pilot days, what it would feel like to fly my first flight as a 121 captain, I'd have been using words like, "Awesome, incredible, exciting, kick ass, etc." Now, this isn't to say that this wasn't a milestone flight in my career. It was a very enjoyable and satisfying thing. However, that sheer sense of adventure was notably absent.

Why is this? Well, adventure certainly is a wonderful thing, but it's also closely associated with something called, "Risk." You see, as you fly bigger, faster, and more expensive aircraft, risk is something to be minimized. By the time you make a line flight, even as a new first officer, much of what you are about to do, has already been rehearsed, rehearsed and re-rehearsed. This is in effort to make things as routine as possible for you and the operation. This indeed is a good thing, seeing as how the first time you fly your actual aircraft, you will have paying passengers behind you. They don't want to even think about you having an adventure up there in the front of their plane.

So, this is really just a little note to those just getting started in or about to start their aviation careers. I know you're focused on getting through those ratings as fast as you can, and all you want is to be done with training and flying big fast jet somewhere. But trust me, don't short change that enjoyment of those early ratings, and mostly importantly, that first solo.