Life Is Not Like Flying—Navigating Uncertainty with Purpose and Adaptability.
In the world of aviation, pilots rely on strict procedures, detailed flight plans, and sophisticated technology to ensure each journey is completed safely and efficiently. When you’re in the cockpit of a seaplane, for instance, the combination of flight plans, checklists, and real-time analysis of wind, weather, and water conditions creates a structured environment where variables are managed. Not all storms come with a warning, but as pilots, we learn to fly around them. In the air, you plan your course, reroute as necessary, rely on your instruments, and land when the runway is clear.
Life, on the other hand, is less predictable. Despite our noblest efforts or best-laid plans, “shit happens.” There are few checklists in life, and no life plan survives the first contact with reality. External factors throw us off guard. This blog explores the concept behind the phrase: “Life is not like flying.” We’ll delve into its deeper meaning while linking it to the core themes of aviation, sustainability, and remote travel that captivate pilots and enthusiasts worldwide.
Maybe it is unsuitable for a pilot, whose life is determined by destinations, to keep a journal with no place to go. That is the dilemma of time, the paradox of past, present and future. My journal should be in the present, coming from the past and heading somewhere in the future. I wish I knew where I was going, but at least I know where I have been.
Life is so unlike flying. When flying, I always know where I am going. I don’t necessarily know where I am or how to get back to where I started, but I always know where I am going. I have said many times that I have never truly been lost. How could I be lost if I knew where I was going?
Have you been there? Have you ever flown low over a rainforest, shrouded in mist and surrounded by thunderstorms, that goes on as far as the eye can see while trying to get to a distant clearing in the forest represented by an imaginary place in your mind? No matter how ethereal that place seems, you always know it exists and will find your designated clearing in the forest if you keep your eyes open.
However, life’s destinations are not pre-determined, making a daily journal unpredictable with no assured outcome. We record what we see and predict what we hope or believe will happen, and then decisions and events shape the result. The pilot’s credo is to record the journey and safely land where we may.
