Draft 9: Mr Adventure Man Rides Again
(This blog is one I wrote 4 years ago and never published. Well, until now anyway.)Mr Adventure Man Rides Again
I'm thinking of changing my name to "Mr. Adventure Man". Seriously! I'll wear a cape, look very serious and, yep.....you guessed it, I'll wear my underwear on the outside!
Oh yeh, baby!
After camping, boating, swimming, running on the weekend, doing lots of business this week, lecturing business students, writing lots and much, much more (!) I went flying today.
Super Waco biplane
Jack and I took to the skies in a magnificent Super Waco, a reproduction of the classic 1935 biplane. An hour's flight in and around the Gold Coast taking in the great beaches, the magnificent hinterland and impressive Mt Warning - we flew around the peak so close you could almost reach out and touch it.
And although in my early days I trained to be a commercial pilot, it's been a while since I've been up in a light plane. And first time for an open cockpit.
Fantastic feeling.
Had a chat with the pilot
The pilot was a lovely fellow called Joe. We had a chat on how Joe came to be flying the Waco out of Gold Coast Airport.
After joining the Air Force at 15, Joe spent 12 years as a mechanic. From there it was work as a Flight Engineer. Then training as a Pilot. After 20 years with the Air Force, Joe took a job flying 747's for one of the world's big airline.
After 10 years of that, Joe settled into semi-retirement on the Gold Coast flying his beautiful Super Waco for fun and a few extra dollars.
The point of all that is this.
How many people today would wait out 12 as a mechanic to get their shot at a dream - to be a pilot. And another few years as a Flight Engineer.
Not too many.
In these days of instant everything, perserverance is an admirable and increasingly rare quality.
Failing isn't not succeeding. Failing is giving up.
Keep going, keep pushing. Believe in yourself and never, ever give up.
Regards
Brendon
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