The idea behind Plane & Pilot‘s Lessons Learned About Flying Essay Contest is simple. You get to submit a story about your flying experience and what you learned about flying (and about life) from it. It’s often said that every pilot has one of those stories, but I’ve always thought that an absurd notion. Every pilot has at least a handful of them, challenges big and small that were overcome through luck and/or moxie, and informed your aviation and world views in a profound way. There is still time for you to enter one of your stories in our essay contest. The details are here. And please check out these terrific Lessons Learned about Flying columns that are currently free to access.
When we launched our monthly Lessons Learned about Flying (and about life) column almost seven years ago now, it wasn’t revolutionary. A handful of aviation brands feature a similar piece in their magazines. The oldest one is at Flying, where I worked for 20 years. That magazine popularized the first-person pilot story genre, and while I was there, I compiled and edited a couple of book-length collections of those stories.
Those stories are reader-submitted and usually tell a tale of a flying challenge that gave the writer an insight about flying safety. For decades, that column was illustrated by legendary aviation artist Barry Ross, who for the past couple of years has been illustrating for Plane & Pilot‘s Lessons Learned about Flying. Barry’s work is the best in the business, and their loss was our gain.
While I was at my previous gig, I always thought (and still think) that they missed the big picture. Flying technique and safety strategy are important, but let’s face it: Neither subject is top secret. Much ink has been spent over the decades on all manner of threats from carburetor ice to mountain wave.
The real magic we as pilots get to take home are the life lessons, the realizations gained from successfully overcoming a flying challenge, those insights being largely about how flying informs life and how those high-drama moments help us clearly see how lucky we are to enjoy such an elevated perspective on life.
That’s why our column is called Lessons Learned about Flying (and about life). The lessons are big, sometimes barely fitting on the printed page, and they inform our flying and life experience in ways so profound that they stay with us even after the drive home from the airport and sometimes stay with us forever.
Are you ready to submit your story? Enter our Lessons Learned About Flying Essay Contest here.
Do you still need some inspiration? Here are some Lessons Learned about Flying (and about life) columns.
Lessons Learned: Bizjet Destiny And A Jumpseat
Lessons Learned: Fencing With Crosswinds
A Precautionary Landing Leads To Big Surprise For Pilot
