Pilot Pilot Pilot Pilot your our our our life ife ife ife Welcome to issue no. 15 of Pilot your life. September 2010 During my recent four wheel drive trip into South Australia’s Outback, I put into practice one of the tips I learnt on Oz Flight ’99, my flight around Australia’s coast. I had to turn negatives into positives several times. Staying at Rawnsley Park Station, in the Flinders Ranges, was going to give me another opportunity to fly in a hot air balloon. I rather like the serenity of floating with the breeze, like earlier in the year in Florida (see issue no. 9, March 2010). In the evening before the flight, everything pointed to the right conditions for a balloon launch the next morning. We had to get up early and meet in front of the Woolshed Restaurant at 5.45am, while it was still dark. It was also very chilly so I had on my gloves, scarf and beanie (a sight to behold!). The chief pilot wasn’t sounding very hopeful because even though there didn’t seem to be much wind at ground level, the small tester balloon, with a light attached, was floating up into the darkness quite rapidly. So the decision was made not to launch the balloons. Very disappointing. It would have been a beautiful flight, seeing Wilpena Pound bathed in the early morning sunlight. That was the negative side, missing out on the flight. The positive side was that my cabin was only a few hundred metres away and I could go back to a warm bed. Others, unfortunately, had to drive back the 24 kilometres to their accommodation in Wilpena. The most important positive was that the pilot had our safety in mind and chose not to fly (my kind of pilot – safety first, second and last). Later in the day, the pilots packed up their gear
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Pilot Pilot Pilot Pilot yyyyour our our our llllife ife ife ife Welcome to issue no. 15 of Pilot your life. September 2010 During my recent four wheel drive trip into South Australia’s Outback, I put into practice one of the tips I learnt on Oz Flight ’99, my flight around Australia’s coast. I had to turn negatives into positives several times. Staying at Rawnsley Park Station, in the Flinders Ranges, was going to give me another opportunity to fly in a hot air balloon. I rather like the serenity of floating with the breeze, like earlier in the year in Florida (see issue no. 9, March 2010). In the evening before the flight, everything pointed to the right conditions for a balloon launch the next morning. We had to get up early and meet in front of the Woolshed Restaurant at 5.45am, while it was still dark. It was also very chilly so I had on my gloves, scarf and beanie (a sight to behold!).
The chief pilot wasn’t sounding very hopeful because even though there didn’t seem to be much wind at ground level, the small tester balloon, with a light attached, was floating up into the darkness quite rapidly. So the decision was made not to launch the balloons. Very disappointing. It would have been a beautiful flight, seeing Wilpena Pound bathed in the early morning sunlight. That was the negative side, missing out on the flight. The positive side was that my cabin was only a few hundred metres away and I could go back to a warm bed. Others, unfortunately, had to drive back the 24 kilometres to their accommodation in Wilpena.
The most important positive was that the pilot had our safety in mind and chose not to fly (my kind of pilot – safety first, second and last). Later in the day, the pilots packed up their gear
Pilot Pilot Pilot Pilot yyyyour our our our llllife ife ife ife and headed back to Adelaide, with no hope of balloon flights later in the week. I’d previously booked another night at Rawnsley Park in a few days’ time just in case there was another opportunity to go ballooning. Not this trip, obviously. However, I made the most of the situation since I was already up in time for the sunrise (like in issue no. 6, December 2009). It was bitterly cold and my boots did get wet tramping through the dew-laden grass but it was worth it for what I heard and saw and photographed. The magpies were carolling away in the trees and in the distance was the faint bleating of sheep. An eagle was even soaring not far from Rawnsley Bluff.
As the sun gradually rose, the landscape changed from the windmill silhouetted against the night sky, to trees cloaked in gentle light and mist still clinging to the ranges. Not a bad start to the day as I chose to look on the bright side and turn a negative into a positive.
So, the next great tip for how to pilot your life (personal or business) is: Turn negatives into positives. In order to get rainbows you have to put up with the rain. Always look on the bright side of life… Two of my presentation topics are:
Overcoming procrastination Turning negatives into positives
Pilot Pilot Pilot Pilot yyyyour our our our llllife ife ife ife For a close up view of the windmill at dawn, email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the photo which you can use as your desktop wallpaper. Visit: www.franwest.com and http://au.linkedin.com/in/franwestau. Blogs: http://pilotyourlife.wordpress.com and http://franwest2.blogspot.com. Blog for DVDs: http://alzheimersproducts.blogspot.com. Twitter: www.twitter.com/AdventurerFran Phone: 61 8 82706623 Email: [email protected] for speaking engagements, purchases and the first fourteen issues of the newsletter. While you’re waiting for the next newsletter, “Plane Reflections: about life and a flight around Australia’s coast” is available in book and CD format for $20.00 plus postage and packaging. “Australia’s Coast from the Air” DVD, with over 260 photos and soundtrack, is available in PAL and NTSC for only $25.00 plus postage and packaging. To preview the DVD visit www.youtube.com/ozdragon52.
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