Flight training should be required for all teenagers. Replete with valuable lessons that can be applied to any situation, learning to fly is one of those all-consuming activities that allows even the busiest person a moment of respite, a peace that comes only from complete concentration.
My aviation career began at the age of fifteen. My flight instructor, Mack, was an old school pilot, the type that you still hear occasionally shouting out “Tallyho!” when another airplane is in sight. Mack taught me many wonderful lessons in the airplane that have served me well in life.
This sounds much easier than it is initially because your body and mind start to play tricks on you. Your senses and feelings about where you are, if your plane is level, etc. become unreliable at best. It is in these times that you must ignore your natural internal perceptions and trust your instruments. It is easier said than done.
Various illusions can take hold quickly and many a pilot has met his doom because of a lack of faith in his instruments. It is very likely that John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed because of this very issue. Your instruments, generally speaking, do not lie.
Your life is following a particular course, charted by you. The speed at which you move, the direction you take, the passengers and baggage you bring along, are all choices you’ve made at one point or another. No doubt there have been days of smooth sailing as well as days that could perhaps be described as “turbulent,” but the point is that your life is the accumulation of the little decisions you’ve made along the way.
What are your instruments? What guides you when the sunny days turn cloudy or when the smooth days turn bumpy? Do you navigate differently under pressure than in fair weather? Some of the instruments I’ve found useful along the way include:
1. Respect
2. Appreciation
3. Compassion
4. Inspiration
When visibility is low, when you’re not sure what to do, a quick scan of the consistency of your respect for those around you, the depth of appreciation you have for your present situation, the scope of your compassion and the magnitude of your inspiration of others will tell you a lot about where you are and where you are going.
If, however, you find that you are filled with contempt for others, simmering with disdainful attitudes, wishing ill upon your fellows or a major league party-pooper, you will likewise learn something about where you are and where you are going.
The point is this: the earlier you catch the deviation, the less backtracking you have to do.
Trust your instruments and you will keep out of danger in times of visual meteorological conditions (VMC) and IMC. Far too often time is lost, fuel is burned and crash landings occur because of a failure to check and trust the instruments. It’s one thing to do so when you can see fifty miles ahead of you, but another when you can’t even see the propeller ten feet ahead of you.
Gregory Hake 
Thanks Gregg. I intend to pilot your insights into my own living. St. Exupéry said that the “aeroplane” was “a means, not an end” and I can see how aviation and its principles can in fact be skillfully applied in the ways you point out, to the end that, as a passionate pilot would, one’s heart is both enlarged and humbled by the majestic beauty and power of the earth and nature, as well as by the friendship and camaraderie of all those he has met on his journeys.
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Great blog! Just what I needed today!
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Gregg Hake you have given me so much food for thought! I think it’s great to start with respect as one of your instruments. We grow up hearing you must earn respect, but no one ever says the part about giving respect first in all situations, regardless of who they are or how they act, respect is what we should give..Every person on this earth deserves to be respected. I have never heard of an instance where any person was ever made less because he treated someone with respect, only that they grew from it.
Thanks again Gregg for your a great blog!
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These 4 “gauges” in life can break down any form of judgment about oneself or others that would limit any life experience from being creative, expressive, generative and fulfilling. To understand these points profoundly could change any circumstance if you allow them to.
Thanks for the insights, Gregg!
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Elton John said the major turning point in his life; that led him to stop using drugs and other destructive activities was appreciation.
He realized in the middle of a circumstance that he was never appreciative; even finding himself complaining about the wall paper in the room of his luxury hotel. He talked about being a nice child and getting lost along the way as the years went by.
He attributed the addition of appreciation to his wonderful experience of the last 20 years and his anticipation for what else he could accomplish.
It struck me, that perhaps Sir John’s amazing creativity was also unleashed and enhanced as the power of appreciation filled his heart.
Why then choose to live without the fullness, happiness and magic that appreciation conducts into our lives, it is so readily available. Why settle for less than we were created to experience?
Thanks again for the inspiration; another of the instruments that makes life so fine for the giver and receiver.
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Having been in many an aircraft in Alaska as a passenger/guide I have complete appreciation for “trusting your instruments”. When I first started Helicopter Ski Guiding in Valdez my attention was always out the window, particularly as we approached our landing. But looking over at the Pilot he would be watching his “little gauges” and playing with the pedals and control stick – I’d be thinking, “what’s he doing, playing some sort of a game, look out the window for God’s sake man….we could crash here!”
Always calm cool and collected we would set down as if on a feather bed. Meanwhile I was scampering to get out & put my skiis on where I felt muh safer in the clutches of big time Avalanche Territory.
It’s all a matter of perspective and how we handle it. I eventually developed trust in those little gauges on the dashboard and in my pilot’s judgement – but what a process!!
I was the “party pooper” waisting alot of “HOBS”/flight time, until I began to trust,….and wouldn’t you know it, things began to change, the whole experience was a thrill and my clients loved the whole adventure, including flying. Amazing how we impact those around us often without even being aware of it.
Moving forward in time, my 5 year old son has taken to Mountain Biking like no one else. He looks up the trail, focuses on where he wants to go, doesn’t have time for complaint let alone a conscious awareness of the extra energy needed to climb a hill – he is present, appreciating the moment, has complete respect in waiting for dear ole’ dad, and a total inspiration to every adult rider who tries to pass us – ha ha ha!
I thrill in riding with my son like I enjoy reading your Blog each day and the comments from others – keep it up everyone – much more inspiring than CNN.
Brad
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