Ed Note: “I Do This Because …” is a series of guest essays on this site by adventurers, entrepreneurs, and brave explorers of experience, uncharted territory, and life. As the title indicates, the essays offer the authors’ reflections on why they chose the path they did, and why they continue on that path, despite all the challenges, costs, and discouraging moments that come with any uncharted adventure.
For more information on the origins of the “I Do This Because” essays, see my own entry. And, as always, if you know of anyone you think would make a good guest essayist, or have your own answer to why you’re pursuing the particular, challenging path you’re pursuing, please share it!
About the Author
Lakshmi Vempati is an instrument rated private pilot working on her commercial rating. She is an avid blogger/writer and travel enthusiast, and is passionate about aviation. She loves to fly to exotic destinations for that $100 hamburger and write about her adventures. When not flying, traveling or blogging, she is actively involved in modeling and simulation, performance assessments and conduction analysis of advanced NextGen capabilities. She is one of the contributing bloggers on Forbes Wheels Up. You can also follow her on her personal blog at Flynthings.
I do this because …. I must… for nothing less is acceptable!
If I could breathe more, I would
If I could eat more, I would
If I could fly more, hell I definitely would!
I gazed skyward, apprehensive yet unable to snatch my eyes away. The massive shape with lights in the night sky looked ominous. The sound loud and scary. Alone, on the terrace of my two-story home I watched. On the one hand I wanted to dash downstairs and hide behind my mother’s sari, on the other hand I watched fascinated at this massive shape, zooming by in the night sky with lights illuminated, resplendent. I was 10 years old and that was the first memory I had of viewing an airplane in the sky.
“You have to be the prime minister’s son or really rich to fly airplanes,” was what I heard throughout my childhood. “Flying is not for the common man.” The only person that we knew of who was a pilot, was the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s son. I returned daily to watch the airplane, as it made its way to land at the nearby airport, and slowly the fear was replaced by amazement of this man-made creation that flew and soared like the birds.
I devoured any books I could lay my hands on flying at the local British library. Television was just gaining popularity in India and I glued myself to all BBC programs. It was one afternoon while watching a program about airplane crashes on takeoff, that my fate was decided. While the details of the exact program are vague in my mind, that was the precise turning moment in my life. When I silently acknowledged to myself that I wanted to be an Aeronautical Engineer.
Making the decision was easy enough, but attaining it has been a long struggle. There were precisely 5-6 universities that offered an undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering in India at that time. Competition severe. And cost of education beyond my current means. After a failed first attempt, I decided to pursue an engineering degree at a low cost local university and follow on with a master’s degree in aerospace in the United State with innumerable choices and to reach the land of the free.
Four years later, I packed my bags with first semester fees from loans, $900 for expenses and took the flight to the US. This was the first time I was leaving home on my own. Interestingly enough it was midnight of August 15th. Talk about freedom at midnight! A Masters degree and ten years later, I had a job and most importantly a license to fly! There was no turning back. The struggle has been long, but with a little patience, perseverance, dedication and commitment anything and everything was possible.
It’s not easy being a foreign national in the aerospace industry. But living in a country that promotes general aviation, attaining my private pilot license was a matter of money, time and interest. Ultimately it was my interest and involvement in flying that paved the way to my current career in aviation. It is few people that can happily mix business with pleasure. I love that my passion of flying helps and gives me a practical and first hand view of aviation. I currently work in the aviation industry and love every moment of it. The journey has been long and arduous. And totally worth it!
There is always strong resistance to change. Either people are not ready for it or the economy is not. Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is here whether we like it or not. It promises a safer and more efficient system. More importantly it promises a full modernization of the national airspace system incorporating satellite-based navigation improving access, safety, efficiency and environment. It comes with a price that the user and provider have to share. For without equipage, it has no meaning. With equipage it opens innumerable opportunities. Consider this: with Automated Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) equipage, pilots are able to fly out in remote areas without radar coverage safely (such as Gulf of Mexico where helicopter operations have benefited immensely from ADS-B ground coverage).
Today when we fly we have access to advanced technology at our fingertips: Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), XM Satellite Weather, Electronic Flight Bag, Flight Management Systems, ADS-B, and much more. As everything else, change takes time. So too will NextGen. But it is the right direction for us. In my own small ways I would like to influence this change and usher in the next generation of flight!
That is great, how are you doing?
Excellent!