inner art

The drama of flight …

By Dave English

“The drama of flight does not take place between the pilot and the environment, but between the airplane and the pilot, and between the pilot and himself.” David Mamet, Flying magazine Feb 2019. For the first time in years I’m excited for Flying magazine! Mamet has a Pulitzer Prize, Tony nominations, a parody Twitter account, flies his own plane. And now is a columnist for Flying. In his first column he argues that the best aviation writing is found not in books, but in magazines. Writing by pilots for pilots. I think he may be right. My garage has boxes of … Continue reading The drama of flight …

Tao Te Ching on microbursts

By Dave English

A strong wing does not blow all morning. A cloudburst does not last all day. The wind and rain are from Heaven and Earth and even these do not last long. How much less so the efforts of man? Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching Quote from Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, translation by Jonathan Star. Picture from the LA Times newspaper, it’s a presidential 747 from a year ago, the Obama’s trying to get to into Palm Springs. Ended up diverting to Riverside’s March ARB http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-obama-palm-springs-20170120-story.html SaveSave

Changing not the world

By Dave English

This is what great pilots share with artists, and monks and mystics. The heightened perception, the fascination with flight, eventually turns into an aeronautical superpower. The great pilot sees things and corrects before the average pilot ever knows anything is amiss. The desire of monks and mystics is not unlike that of artists: to perceive the extraordinary within the ordinary by changing not the world but the eyes that look. Within a summoned and hybrid awareness, the inner reaches out to transform the outer, and the outer reaches back to transform the one who sees. Catherine of Sienna wrote in … Continue reading Changing not the world