Possibly the best line I have ever heard in a movie was “ who’s the best pilot you ever saw?” This question started nudging the little gray cells that were left and I started wondering about this myself. Not so much who was the best pilot I had ever seen but what makes the best pilot you have ever seen?
Now there is no sure fire answer to this, I know there is definitely an answer as there is in most things in life. However the other question that plagued my by now exhausted brain was the question of “making” a pilot. One of those annoying TV ads comes to mind- but wait! There’s more, call now and not only will you receive a fully trained pilot. You will also receive a free Com license- Possible yes, plausible maybe, probably not. However this does not mean that a person cannot be made into a good pilot. Or for that matter that excellent pilot’s are born and not made.
Not everybody on this earth can be considered an Artist, because artists are in one form or another “gifted” with something that the rest of us “Plebs” sadly did not receive. They could, especially in Picasso’s case draw random coloured lines on a page and become famous for it (whether this is because they were truly artistic or just plastered is a different matter). However I am sure that Picasso did not start by creating a masterpiece, no I am pretty sure that he started with one squiggly line on a blank page. Now at this point you are probably sitting there scratching your head thinking- “what is this guy on about” Well, just like Picasso was born and started with that squiggle on his page so too us pilots were given the same blank page. Except instead of drawing lines on it we folded it into a paper jet and most probably threw it at our folks.
This urge that lay sheltered within us, just as it lay within Picasso was built on over time, we moved from paper jets to models to the real thing. However we have not created a masterpiece yet. O no, our masterpiece is ever changing, that possibly is our gift. We unlike Picasso are able, bit-by-bit to add to our canvas through constant training and vigilance. We, through the help of textbooks and preparation are able to remain on the edge, “five steps ahead of the aircraft” as my instructor once said. Pushing that envelope. This nonetheless sounds ridiculously easy, there are many people that push envelopes: Postmen for example are known for this quality. Let us however not forget about accountants who not only push envelopes they push pencils and pens behind there desks! A quality I am sure many of us spend countless evenings wishing we had.
However just because the accountant pushes pencils the entire day does not mean that he cannot become a good pilot of he wished. He might not have been born with the same Ethos of flight as a pilot who has know that his true home is in the cockpit since he was folding paper planes. But through hard work and training he too could become not only a respectable pilot but also a respectable member of the aviation society. However in our current year of flight I find that that much loved ethos is severely lacking, today it would seem that the mystical aura that has always surrounded flight has been replaced by a slightly uneasy feeling. The urge that was felt by the general public when we first took to the skies is no longer there. Perhaps it is because we have in there eyes reached our sell by date. All the great records have been broken, The Channel crossing, the Sound Barrier and the Space Race. All of these events were milestones in aviation history and, at the time were seen as the outside of the envelope. Not only that, but the Pilots who flew the planes were idolized, “The best of the best”. However although I am sure that they all had a passion for flight many of them were not born with it. Chuck Yeager, I read once was sick on his first flight. Can you believe that? The man responsible for breaking the sound barrier was sick on his first flight. This then goes to show that a person can become an excellent pilot without an initial passion for flight.
During the Second World War many of the British Pilots were rushed through their basic training in order to reinforce the heavy losses being incurred during the Battle of Britain. Now I am sure that many of the pilots that flew during the war were naturals (I don’t quite think under the circumstances that luck played such a large role). The rest of the pilots however had to adapt quickly and in time also became gifted pilots. This then means that it is very possible to have both a man who is born a pilot and a pilot who is born through a man.
It is at this point that some will argue that natural or born pilots posses a sixth or seventh (depending on who is doing the talking) sense. To a certain extent I agree, Pilots who fly often enough do posses this “sense” if one call it that. I have often felt it creeping up my spine on rather interesting (as I like to refer to them) cross wind landings. This does not mean that pilots that fly less often say for example your Paper pilot the accountant, will not have such feelings.
After all flying creates a bond between the pilot and his plane, which enables both pilot and plane to feel and to do things that defies all logic. Thus it is quite possible that your Paper pilot would be able to “feel” his plane just as well as a “Born” pilot. And so I believe that we can both be born “The Best pilot you have every seen” and become the best pilot you have every seen.
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