Columbus Day, 2009. Wow, 517 years ago, Christopher Columbus and his three ships left the safety of the shores of Europe on a voyage of discovery to find and explore the New World. It is this same spirit, this desire to explore, this same sense of adventure, which compels us to fly ever higher.

Man started out as an earthbound bipod spending almost an entire existence walking on the face of the planet. Eventually, men and women organized and began gathering a very important commodity: education. They soon created schools and began walking to those classrooms.

As they gathered together and exchanged more ideas, more than a few began wondering about what might be across the glen, over in the next forest, on the other side of the mountain, across the lake, and some even began to question what was on the other side of the great water.

They possessed a burning desire, an internal flame, a natural curiosity that drove them beyond what reasonable men might consider safe. They had to climb on board the ships and sail west. They had to explore. They had to find new lands. Their spirit of exploration would allow no less.

That same spirit began looking at the sky. Soon, similar questions were being asked regarding what it must be like up there, high in the sky. The explorations began anew. Scientific testing was accomplished. And shortly after, the Wright Brothers took to the sky on December 17, 1903. Not long after that, other men and women looked to the heavens and began asking similar questions about exploring the moon.

Many of the aviators who began flying between the period of the Wright’s flight and Neil Armstrong’s stroll on the surface of the moon charged their imaginations with model airplanes, simple balsa wood gliders, and flying rc airplanes. The passion may have begun as simply as a curious mind thinking about the physics behind what makes a flying machine capable of flying.

Flying is very powerful. The desire to fly can help a young person make bold decisions; decisions such as staying in school, learning to read more in depth, or studying math with serious intent. It can mean the difference between dropping out of school or graduating high school. The difference can be as great as making the choice of college to attend based on the pursuit of serious academic study in the field of aviation or aeronautical engineering.

An interest in flying, sparked by rc airplanes may even make the difference in the life of one who would walk on the planet Mars, or lead an ordinary and mundane life on the planet Earth.

Older Posts
October 8, 2009 It's All About the Aerodynamics
October 5, 2009 Wow! We're Finally There!