When I moved up I was hell bent on flying anytime, anywhere, and with anyone with an airplane. I got in with a bunch of different people, in a bunch of different planes, and saw a lot of cool country. I wanted to learn to fly and have my own plane so bad I could taste it. No idea how I ever dreamed I could buy and maintain an airplane on my salary, but man I knew there had to be a way.
Then I lost three good friends, all pilots with thousands of hours, to plane crashes. All in under a year. It completely put my flying fire out, no desire to be in control of any kind of flying machine now.
I look back and can't believe some of the rides that I went on with inexperienced pilots in rented planes and some of the times I raced the weather with more experienced guys in their own planes. And you can bet that when I'm paying to be flown I research the flight service and never try to push the weather. If the pilot ain't comfortable, I damn sure ain't.
