I was reading Vincent’s recent post on the things he does not miss while not flying and it made me wonder: what are the things I learned through flying that will always be useful to me, even if I stopped flying?

Meteorology: ever wondered what causes seasonal changes in weather patterns? Why drizzle can last for days while showers of rain come and go? Why white puffy clouds grow bigger in the late summer afternoon? And what’s that funny cloud above the mountain? All the answers can be found in PPL textbooks, but be warned: trying to understand weather is very addictive!

Mechanics and systems: being a software engineer by trade, there was a lot I didn’t know about the hardware side of things: internal combustion engines, hydraulics, gyroscopic instruments and fluid mechanics. All fascinating stuff that will help you impress your petrol-head friends. I also learned a lot by following aircraft construction blogs. My life is more complete now that I know what a cleclo is.

Safety: learning to fly shapes your brain to think safety first. You will find yourself pre-flighting rental cars. Your partner will get upset when you refuse to drive into an unknown section of the countryside without a current map. When she points at the GPS on the dashboard you will answer that you don’t have a RAIM prediction.

Human factors: you will learn useful facts about human physiology, but it’s the psychological side of human factors that I found most helpful: recognising patterns of thought that may lead to unsafe behavior, learning to give and accept feedback when working as a team and prioritising tasks in stressful situations. I cannot think of one area of life where those skills do not apply. As was said on this blog before, flying can improve your life. You may even develop specific personality traits.

Aviation is so strongly connected to a large number of other disciplines that you just never know what you will end up learning. I didn’t expect that at all when I first pushed the door of my aero-club, and this was one of the nicest surprises of my flying training. And of course your airline flights as a passenger will never be the same again.