perpetual pursuit

I can’t get no

By Dave English

“I was never satisfied with simply doing well. Even after getting a good result in a test or a flight, if I’d made a mistake I would want to fix that mistake and ensure I got it perfect for the next time. Back in our quarters I would run my own debrief. I’d go through a flight over and over, thinking through what I should’ve done and reinforcing in my mind what I would do in the future. I was very big into visualising — replaying a sight picture over and over the way it should unfold — and inevitably … Continue reading I can’t get no

Magnifying and analyzing

By Dave English

Do you fly and say ‘not bad, pretty good‘, or do you fly and then honestly debrief yourself on every action, every decision? Commander Victor Glover became a fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut by not accepting ‘pretty good’ and going home. (Original photo NASA, at the Houston neutral bounancy tank, 2015. Quote from Mens Health magazine, March 2018)

Gnawing at bones

By Dave English

For me, gnawing at the flying bone includes reading all I can about being a pilot. And re-reading. Sure do learn a lot from re-reading the classics. “Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life as a dog does his master’s chaise. Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.” Quote from an 1848 letter, from Thoreau to Blake.