A Midsummer Night’s Flight

Great weather, great company, and a great airplane make for a wonderful return to the air.

Sean Siff

Wednesday, December 27, 2023 at 06:26 PM ET

Verified

While at home simulators have their advantages, there's nothing quite like being in the air. [Courtesy: Sean Siff]

Key Takeaways:

After a four-year hiatus, a private pilot rediscovers the profound physical and emotional joys of real-world general aviation flight, contrasting it with his extensive home simulation experience.
The flight highlighted unique aspects of flying he missed, such as the tactile preflight checks, the physical sensations of takeoff, and the social connection of flying with a friend.
The experience was deeply personal, invoking memories of his grandfather and reinforcing a feeling of belonging and "coming home" to aviation.
While acknowledging the benefits of home flight simulation, the author notes its limitations in replicating the full sensory and immersive experience of actual flight, even with advanced hardware like haptic pads.

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My last official entry in my logbook as a real-world private pilot was in July 2019. The school where I was a renter had a Piper Arrow, and it was time for some recurrency training with my instructor. The intervening years since that flight passed quickly as my wife and I were focused on our two young children, balancing the obligations of our careers, navigating the COVID-19 experience, then moving to a new town. In May, a good friend invited me to join him on a night flight to help round out his flying requirements before starting his training program at a regional airline later this summer.

Thrilled with the chance to go flying again, I found my flight gear in the basement, grabbed my aviation headset, kissed my wife and kids good night, and hurried off to the airport to meet my friend.