General Aviation

As this pirate looks at 41 I’ve been reflecting on what direction I want my life to take. Classic mid-life crisis? Or is the a chrysalis type moment where this terrestrial caterpillar takes flight? I’m looking at this journey as the latter. I have a complicated history with aviation in general. I’ve flown commercially many times and all over the world. I have mild anxiety before take-off but generally enjoy the experience. My one gripe is that I don’t love being in the middle seat, in the middle of a fuselage, where all the passengers close their windows and you have no clue what is going on in bad turbulence. My typically remedy is to play a racing or flying game on my phone to create a more immersive gaming experience. Fun and takes my mind off the fact I have 0 control while trapped at 30,000’.

Now for the more complicated part. I’ve always viewed general (unlike commercial) aviation as rather unsafe. Getting real statistics on this is difficult but I think it is fair to say that it is about 10x more dangerous than driving. As a practicing surgeon and academician, the aviation statistical literature on this matter is what you typically see from a med student that has no statistics background. This makes for a true risk assessment difficult but I’m going to take Paul Craig’s word for it that general aviation can be quite dangerous. My personal life experience with GA is reflective of this reality. Plus single engine plane crashes are one of three causes of early mortality in neurosurgeons, who unlike the rest of the general population, typically have a longer life-expectancy.

My grand-father was a pilot. He and my dad crashed in a corn field in 1975 in Missouri. No fatalities

My close friend and neurosurgery co-resident was an IFR rated pilot. He crashed in 2002 in a Cirrus secondary to a vacuum failure and they couldn’t get the chute to deploy. No fatalities. I believe he was also involved in another crash.

In 2018, my brother-in-law crashed his plane on I-85 in the middle of the night. They had an engine failure after take-off and in the absence of modern engine monitoring did not realize they were losing oil pressure until it was too late. No fatalities.

One of my Dad’s friends and fellow neurosurgeon that also went to my undergrad was doing acrobatic maneuvers over the Gulf when he crashed. 2 fatalities.

One of my spine colleagues was returning from his practice in Wyoming when he crashed during an aborted IFR landing in Steamboat. He died.

So why on Earth would I want to fly? Great question. I never really considered flying until recently when we were considering moving to Athens Georgia. This would involve me commuting to Chattanooga for work. 3.5 hours in the car or half an hour in a plane. Seemed like a worthwhile consideration to gain the proficiency to make the trip (in good weather) by plane. We also go to the beach on North Captiva. 12 hour drive. 3 hour flight. We’ve decided to stay in Chattanooga but the more I’ve learned about GA the more interested I am in flying as a hobby, lifestyle, and endeavor. I’m an adventurer at heart that has been trapped in a hospital for 20 years. I grew up mountaineering, sailing, climbing, mountain biking, and have always had a strong sense for adventure. Neurosurgery has taught me a great deal about managing risk and the importance of humility when it comes to decision making. I do have a soft sport for gadgets, electronics, GPS, weather forecasting, and all the other side professions that aviation involves. I remember when selective availability was turned off and I took my clunky lowrance handheld GPS out into the yard to see if it was more accurate. I even when on a GPS mapping expedition to Bolivia to determine the altitude of Sajama.

I’m excited about this next phase of life and plan on documenting each step of the journey