Reflections on reading about flying

As my regular readers know, circumstances prevent me obtaining my pilot's license. Such is life. Yes, I was very disappointed several years ago when I first realized my dream of being a pilot could never be. I am fortunate to have pilot friends who take me flying from time to time, weather cooperating. I always sit in the right and never fly. But I do get to experience flying from the right seat of a Cessna 172. When I do go flying in the right seat with one of my pilot friends, it is like going home.

I have always enjoyed reading and I have a read a lot of books about flying. Some are novels with a pilot and their adventures as the main theme, Others are autobiographies written by pilots, others are biographies and still others are about aviation history. I get to experience flying through these books, and at the same time learn about different parts of the United States and elsewhere.

Yes, I do enjoy videos, tankers and otherwise shot from the cockpit. I have posted some videos from tankers and helos flying fires on this blog. Those videos are the closest that I can get to sitting in the cockpit of a tanker or helos.

Reading and flying videos are not quite the same as piloting an airplane. But reading about flying helps me to stay connected to the world of aviation. An added plus is that it soothes me. When my pilot friend takes me flying that is really special.

I meant to go into a little more detail in today's blog post, perhaps writing about something else, but time got away in the form of a cracked iPad screen. I am in the process of getting the cracked iPod replaced thanks to Apple Care. I wanted to go to my local Apple Store but it is closed for renovations so I opted to do what Apple calls express replacement where Apple is shipping me a new iPad which should be coming tomorrow by the end of the day. After it arrives and I set up the new iPad, I send the old iPad back to Apple. I was not expecting that Apple would be shipping through FedEx overnight delivery, that is nice. Yes, if anyone is wondering, I have to sign for the shipment. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Update on February 22nd: my replacement iPad came late yesterday afternoon and I am in the process of setting it up.