Every Flight Is a Gift

On this day of giving thanks, and as I get older, I know what I am grateful for as a pilot.

Julie Boatman

Thursday, November 23, 2023 at 12:20 PM ET

Verified

The fall colors in western Maryland make for a sight only pilots get to see. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

Key Takeaways:

The author, a seasoned pilot, details how physical changes with age have made routine tasks like boarding an airplane more challenging, necessitating a slower and more deliberate approach to flying.
Despite these difficulties, she has embraced the enforced "slowing down," finding it has led to a profound and renewed appreciation for the entire flight process.
She now deeply values every flight as a precious gift, a perspective intensified by seeing peers grounded due to various health issues.

See a mistake? Contact us.

I am going to admit something that not many folks know. In fact, I’m not even sure I’ve told my husband (also a pilot) this.

After years of putting my left foot on the postage-stamp-sized “step” Cessna deemed the right balance between weight, drag, cost, and product liability on the nose of its high-wing 150s, 152s, 172s, 182s… when I came back to check out in a 172 in 2019 after a hiatus, I went to step up—and nothing happened.