I will never forget the feeling. I had tried about three times already—on a shorter runway. I ended up over-controlling my aircraft. That meant the wings were taking big dips one way and the other. Somehow when I lined myself up to land at my home airport, a 5,000 foot runway, I had the gentle touch of an experienced pilot. I cautiously guided the Cessna 172 to the runway, and as useable runway was under me, I cut the throttle, glided her in and heard the stall speed indicator whine just as my wheels touched the tarmac. It was perfect, and my instructor was ecstatic. “That was YOUR landing!” he shouted.
One of my favourite authors wrote novels loosely based on his experiences as a jet pilot during the Vietnam War. There was a line in the book that stayed with me, “Flying is the most fun you can have outside of the bedroom.” Due to my mental illness, I had to give up flying at one point and I was devastated. A lot happened around that time, I went into psychosis, I was hospitalized, I lost a close friend because I was delusional about our relationship. If I could have only known what true, real love meant, how it made a person feel, I would have gladly have given up all those things.
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