Delighting in new Knowledge

So I haven’t posted in ages — simply due to the fact that I haven’t flown in a while! It turns out starting to learn how to fly at the start of Autumn isn’t the most sensible idea — I’ve had a few lessons cancelled due to wind.

I’ve also been busy doing a lot of travelling with work over the last 2 months — meaning scheduling training hasn’t been easy — but despite only having a few hours of flying lessons, I feel like I’m already looking at commercial planes in a whole new light.

For instance, I’ve loved watching the wing flaps move at different points throughout the flight, as the captain steadies the plane. And watching them go bolt upright as the plane comes into land.

In my previous lesson, my instructor was explaining the landing sequence of planes coming into airports — about how they circle down through the air kind of like they are in a multi-storey car park, navigating those winding spiral roads that jut out connecting the floors. I’ve been trying to spot the different vertical levels of the planes when I’m approaching the airports in the taxi, and when I’m in the air, seeing if I can spot any other circling aircraft in the distance.

It’s funny how when you start learning about something, you start to notice things you’d never have taken much interest in before.

And it’s a nice feeling, noticing something you know lots of other people will miss. Like a quiet feeling of pride and of privilege, of being one of the few that gets to delight in the wonder of that knowledge.

I’m excited to see what my future lessons will teach me, and how many more simple new things I’ll notice and understand as life goes on.