Page 24 - Jan21T&T

From the Flight Deck
by Kevin R. Dingman
Shirt Tails
Remembering Our First Solo Flight(s)
Learn with your brain; Remember with your heart.
Our pilot ranks have shrunk over the last four decades and the aviation alphabet groups (EAA, AOPA, GAMA, NBAA, etc.) have made a concerted effort
to get more younglings interested in flying – and I’m all for it. How could we not assist in exposing future generations to the attributes of aviation? Plus, there’s strength in numbers: political influence, economic efficiencies of scale in manu- facturing, fuel distribution, insurance underwriting, airport funding, and a myriad of other tertiary services afforded a large group. And as a nation, we need a pilot-pipeline for the military, Part 135 operators and Part 91 instructors, the airlines and our space program. But learning to fly appears to be more strewn with obstacles than ever before: COVID, the cost of airplanes, fuel and maintenance, lack of instructors, product and personal liability and airspace complications.
22 • TWIN & TURBINE / January 2021
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt
with the heart.
– Helen Keller