Afraid of Flying and In Love With Planes
It was recently suggested to me by a friend that I talk to a person named Steve and get his story. All I was told is that he was an airplane mechanic that had twenty two years experience. It didn’t seem that this was going to be a remarkable talk at all, but my friend who gave the recommendation is seldom wrong.
I went to meet Steve at work and his boss knew I was coming. We sat down in the lunch room and we talked a bit to break the ice and I asked him why my friend would think I should talk to him. Boy did he have an interesting story.
His story started to back when he was a child. His father was a pilot for a major airline and he would take Steve down to visit with the mechanics every Saturday. It was there that he learned about avionics (the electrical systems in planes), aircraft parts, and how to repair an airplane. He would spend hours there with them and the mechanics treated him like their nephew.
From time to time they would let him attach parts with fasteners, oil a hinge, and help them out. It was from these lessons that he became very handy.
At the same time, all he could do was dream of flying like his father. Deep down he wanted to soar like the eagles in the sky, and be able to look down at the people and houses far below. But that would never happen.
You see, when he was sixteen, his father’s plane crashed and he died. From that point on, Steve had a big fear of flying - so big that he has never flown yet. But, he still loves planes and that is why he is an aircraft mechanic. In his own words:
I’m afraid of flying, but in love with planes.
-Steve Brisbon
