Advice for a Younger Me
At the ripe old age of 19 I was being told by my first DAME that I had left it a bit late to start learning to fly if I wanted to get into an airline. This scared the crap out of me and it set off in motion a mindset that I think still permeates within me. It’s the “what do I need to do next” mentality.
This was initially based on my laser focus on becoming an airline pilot, something I had wanted to do since childhood. So here I am today, some 30 years later, just after returning to the skies in a "lightie" to feed that passion for aviation I know is embedded in me.
It has been a time of reflection on my aviation journey, from my GA days to advising Prime Ministers/Deputy Prime Ministers. A simple LinkedIn post that went viral on my "Steve at 20" photo next to my "Steve at 52" photo, both on the wing of a small Piper, reminded me that many aviators out there love to look back on the good old days.
My message in the post was basically "I should have slowed down to smell the roses" in GA, which as it turned out, was some of the best flying and experiences of my life and I’d spent 15 years of my life flying B747s and B777s around the world!
I recall one of my first B747 trips and quite unusually we ended up in a bar (this time in Mainz, Germany) and still vividly recall the Captain
