Some of my readers know, and others can tell by the photograph on the upper left, that I was a private pilot. I had my license for over 55 years.
I was talking to one of the members of my morning coffee group and was surprised to find that he had taken a private pilot training class. He wasn't a private pilot but be understood the issues. He can listen to my flying stories.
I am no exception. Nearly every private pilot has a full book of stories about their experience as a pilot; we will gladly share with anyone willing to listen for even 5 minutes.
We are in a small exclusive club where we have a desperate need to tell each other stories. When we get together that is precisely what we do.
When I think about the myriad stories I have to tell, I would love to have someone listen to them. They deal with several elements of flying that are unique in airplanes.
First our experience is defined by the fact that it occurs in three dimensions as opposed to automobiles. Because of the three dimensions there is no sense that you can safely stop, pull off to the side of the road and make corrections. Therefore everything to do with being a pilot has to do with solving problems without stopping.
Furthermore the three dimensional elements act to create multiple story lines. As a pilot will tell you, when something goes wrong, several things go wrong simultaneously. This is because we are dealing with forces that are not found on the ground for automobiles. One is weather including clouds and visibility, another is turbulence which is invisible; still a third deals with the density of air which changes with altitude. Planes can be flying inverted and still be flying. Cars can’t.
You put all of these variables together and you've got plenty of room for good stories. Sadly the stories require someone who understands the convergence of all these forces.