Life Lessons From 7 Miles High

Ever since the dawn of time, humans have marveled at the miracle of flight. What was once a pipe dream is now a regular occurrence as over 10 Million people around the world board an aircraft each day and fly somewhere. It is easy to take for granted how easy it is to traverse our planet with ease and comfort. Once upon a time it would have been a lifelong event to travel across a country let alone leaping across an entire ocean at will. As a professional Pilot, I have had the honor of seeing the world from a vantage point that has brought perspective about this journey we call life. With over 30,000 hours or almost 3 1/2 years on a flight deck, I have witnessed some of the most beautiful sights anyone could imagine. Flying has brought me a sense of gratitude of the world we live in and the lessons it has taught me about life. I've always chuckled at the one thing that gets a majority of the attention from passengers. It's the landing. Now don't get me wrong, the landing is definitely an important part of a flight but it's not all about the landing. We have all experienced those landings that are well let's just say, solid. Usually they are smooth as silk. When you make a good landing passengers are usually very complimentary but if you pound one on the pavement, be prepared to hear something like, "What was that?" Or, "You must be a Navy Pilot. It's similar to our life's journey, usually no turbulence and our landings at the end of each day are fairly smooth. However, we all know that life can dish out some of those bad weather days and on occasion some solid landings at times. Even those emergencies that arise that we have to deal with like finances, health, families and such. Life however is a beautiful flight from pre-flight to the final landing and the journeys in between. The landing is the final act, the finale after the culmination of endless pre-flight preparation, planning and executing for an ultimate safe flight. Every flight we do, we have to know which direction we're going, what's our destination. When we fly, we don't just put it on auto-pilot and fly off into the sunset hoping for the best. As we fly this adventure through life, we need to have a destination, a direction, a moral compass. Having a compass in life is key to success as we must constantly strive to maintain a moral compass, a direction of what is right and wrong, always attempting to make that great landing at the end. Setting goals and having a plan will allow us to have success. Aviation has taught me to never give up. When I was in College I went to the Air Force recruiter to see about being a fight pilot. My dream was squashed immediately when they found out I wore contact lenses. Fast forward to later in my career and there I was as an Aerial Coordinator, briefing with the Blue Angels as I prepared to fly formation with them to film a movie called, "Lady And Gentlemen, The Blue Angels". I later went on to fly in major motion pictures as well as film the Thunderbirds and Canadian Snowbirds. Don't ever give up. There are almost 8 Billion people on Earth and each one of us has a unique gift. Aviation has shown me that we should all reach deep inside ourselves and find those gifts and do something good with them. Don't ever let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams and always strive to "Reach For The Sky", so when you make your final landing you can always look back and say, "I Lived".