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Gone Flying Again

Sitting there above the clouds with all the needles on all the instruments pointing steady and in the green, a pilot has time to think. Sometimes he wonders, not without a shock, what in the world he’s doing there at all. More often he reflects upon the nature of the pleasure he gets in flying. The non-philosophizing pilot simply looks out the window at that point and enjoys the sunlight and the clouds and the face of the earth if it’s visible, and there are deep reasons for believing that is enough by way of comment, explanation and credo. If you have to explain the clouds to the guy in the next seat, he should be on the goddam ground!

WR

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William F. Rickenbacker

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Gone Flying Again

Sitting there above the clouds with all the needles on all the instruments pointing steady and in the green, a pilot has time to think. Sometimes he wonders, not without a shock, what in the world he’s doing there at all. More often he reflects upon the nature of the pleasure he gets in flying. The non-philosophizing pilot simply looks out the window at that point and enjoys the sunlight and the clouds and the face of the earth if it’s visible, and there are deep reasons for believing that is enough by way of comment, explanation and credo. If you have to explain the clouds to the guy in the next seat, he should be on the goddam ground!