>>2559921My favorite filmmaker Werner Herzog, though not a pilot himself, also understood the obsession. In his movie White Diamond he tells the story of a man obsessed with designing and flying a blimp—ostensibly for the noble task of collect medicinal herbs from the Amazon canopy. But Herzog wasn’t fooled. He saw beyond the altruism and recognized a cause much greater than all other causes: Joy. “Flying is the Great Purpose” he declared in his narration. I was in my first year of flying and I remember how my spine straightened when I heard him say that: The Great Purpose!
But as a pilot you know this to be true: When we are in the air nothing can feel more important or more crucial. It is profound and pointless simultaneously. But, above all, it’s joyful. And in the end as a wise friend of mine recently pointed out “Joy is a purpose unto itself. Maybe the only purpose– along with love.”