I Was Inspired By Many An Aviation Tale... But Who May Be Inspired By Those You (and Others) May Tell?

By Jim Campbell, ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief

One of my greatest joys lies in the telling and retelling of some of my experiences and adventures in aviation. Some are pretty adventurous, and have a high "coolness" factor, though most are simple little ditties about sweet moments in time that could only have been arrived at through some form of aerial intervention...

They range from a slightly-pre-dawn, dewy/foggy, takeoff (over thirty years ago) in a Pterodactyl ultralight that displayed the most amazing swirls in the misty vapor off the high swept wingtips of this amazing levitation machine, as the sun barely peaked over the waiting horizon... to walking Bob Hoover out to his Twin Commander for the first time in several years after the FAA finally admitted that he was safe to fly, whispering excited little platitudes as Bob regained his rightful place in flying world... to flying back to back inverted formation over Daniel Heligoin's CAP-10B so close that I was sure we could open our canopies and shake hands, if physics had allowed this bit of vanity, while Daniel smiling that rare grin he had that only occurred when something REALLY cool was going on... or even battling lousy weather on a LONG ferry flight from Hawaii to the mainland, watching ceiling and visibility go straight to hell, only to arrive with the most textbook ILS to minimums I have ever shot in my life, catching sight of the 'rabbit' lights after a full day in the air and greasing the landing despite all the strain, tension, and sleep deprivation -- and earning that feeling of accomplishment that all pilots earn ONLY after a well flown flight that taxes one to the max.... among so many others.

I love to tell these tales, again and again... and I love (even more) to listen to those told by others. But... somehow, they don't quite sound as amazing as they used to... seeming as if some of the luster has been ground off the bright shiny outlook of an extraordinary activity.

There is (usually) no lack of legends or folk tales among those topics that inspire people to live their lives "larger" than they might otherwise have pursued. Among the devotees of various sports, hobbies, adventurous pursuits and the like, there are no small number of fables, stories and legends that bestow the nearly mystical prominence such avocations breed among those who build their lives around them.

Aviation should be no different... whether it be a good series of hangar yarns or favorite passages from Jonathan Livingston Seagull or Fate is The Hunter. There was, once, a burgeoning mythos surrounding all things aviation... but in the last deace or two, these delightful tales of lofty adventure, aerial daring, and aeronautical wanderlust have been all but hidden behind the horrific guise of airplanes posing as killers and purveyors of fear and terror. It's hard to remember the bright and flighty tenets of "Illusions" and Donald Shimoda's quest over Mother Earth when the mere mention of aviation, these post-9/11 days, conjures horrific visions of silver missiles filled to the rafters with (mostly) innocent samples of our humanity ramming buildings at full-speed, killing thousands and clouding a world in fear, doubt and mistrust.

We may never get over those images... but it's time that we try. We needed to substitute the myopic hysteria of fear with the realities of what aviation really means.

It wasn't so long ago that the mention of an airplane brought thoughts of freedom, adventure and all manner of notable aero-stories... whether it be Sky-King or Jay-Jay The JetPlane. Even during the darkest hours of our wartime past, airplanes presented the means by which we protected our freedoms and prevented the world from being enveloped by an evil darkness. Despite the incredible visions of the cowardly attacks at Pearl Harbor, aviation lore was soon filled with feats of bravery, courage and skill as countless flyers took to the air to defend all that they held dear. It was their sacrifices and outstanding patriotism that helped to keep the world free. But, now, after the events of 9/11 (and the fear of a repeat), many can't seem to shake the image and memory of airplanes as dealers of death and misery... and I think it is up to we flyers to replace these destructive apparitions with a more peaceful and powerful set of tales and images. Everytime we hear a tale of an airplane as a death-weapon, we need to insert our own knowledgeable tales of aerial travel, adventure and accomplishment.

We also need to seek out the new 21st century aero-tales (and new means by which they may be told) that will provide inspiration and solace to the flyers and would-be flyers of tomorrow. We need to tell and retell these stories, again and again, to all who may listen, augmenting the greatest of these tales with some of the simplest (like those I related, above) to provide balance and a human touch to the world of aviation... as an invitation to all who might someday share our skies. We need to tell them to those who do not (yet) truly understand what drives us to fly. We need to show aviation and airplanes for what they are... one of the most truly pivotal expressions of freedom known to humanity. We need to collect them and make sure that the best and most poignant of these gets passed from flyer to flyer, and from flyer to the rest of the world, as often as we can manage... so that someday the images of 9/11 will be replaced by something kinder, gentler and far more representative of the true nature of flight.

I'd also like to suggest one other idea... there needs to be a place (Oshkosh comes to mind -- maybe on a cool night around a bonfire), revisited on a regular basis, where flyers can gather and share these stories for a few hours, so as to launch their greatest adventures among new ears, minds and spirits (and maybe even allow us to do some videos and podcasts about them). We used to do such things many years ago... and it may be high-time that we started up again... to drive away the demons of anti-aviation fear and hysteria, and welcome back the true spirit of flight one that inspires and drives simple human beings to amazing feats of flight.

Blue Skies!

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