The Aviation Bug: What’s The Treatment???

The Aviation Bug

In the aviation world, pilot’s stories never have the same beginning: some were born with the bug, some had an uncle or father who influenced them, others had no aviators around them at all, and others yet were flashed by a movie, by a flight they made, by simply living near an airport… or none of the above.

The son of a lawyer/politician and a chemistry teacher, Charles Lindbergh, « The Lone Eagle », had no links to aviation before dropping out of engineering school to start flight training. Amelia Earhart, the first female aviation pioneer, found her passion in her mid 20’s while flying with her father’s friend. The Wright brothers, considered by many as the forefathers of aviation, caught the bug while playing with a French-made “helicopter” toy their father bought them when they were11 and 6 years old. Last but not least, Santos Dumont, the man who many believe to be the first to have flown a heavier-than-air aircraft, affirmed he fell in love with planes just by simply gazing at his homeland’s beautiful blue skies.

Regardless of very different backgrounds and life stories, once the “bug” bites you, there is no running! The “symptoms” are easily and quickly identifiable: lack of interest in other forms of entertainment, monothematic conversations, and strolling-around-airport weekends. The treatment… well, there is only one: go for it! Roll up your sleeves and get ready for a long, hard, pricy, fascinating ride, because if the cause of all aviators’ fever is different, three common denominators bring them together along the way: passion, determination and hard work.