hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr4387.txt

Episode: 4387
Title: HPR4387: Did she say she flew light aircraft?!
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr4387/hpr4387.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-26 00:05:46

---

This is Hacker Public Radio episode 4387 for Tuesday the 27th of May 2025.
Today's show is entitled, Did she say she flew light aircraft?
It is hosted by Ellsbyth and is about 29 minutes long.
It carries a clean flag.
The summary is, wherein Ellsbyth expelms on her experience with light aircraft and how
it relates to her geekiness.
Hi, my name is Ellsbyth.
The very first time that I ever flew was before I was adopted.
I was adopted at four and a half and for like six months or somewhere during that time period
my parents, my adopted parents were getting to know me and my little brother when they adopted
us and they were given permission to take us for a plane flight.
I have memories of that.
I don't remember like specifics, but I do remember it.
And then after they adopted us, just became kind of routine.
And I don't mean to say that I didn't appreciate that it cost my parents really big on talking
about the cost of things and having a plane and storing a plane and flying a plane cost
money.
And at a young age, they communicated that, but it was always fun to go flying with my
dad because, well, my parents were both pilots, but my dad mostly flew.
And I don't remember which one he had when I was growing up first of Bonanza and Assessina
at one point in time.
Mostly joy rides.
I grew up in Oregon, so the little local airport that my dad had his plane through and
parked at, stored, I don't know the lingo to be perfectly honest.
It was something where I always wanted to fly like because of that, I wanted to be a bird
and I thought that was the coolest thing to be in the air.
Dad would always file a flight plan.
I think that's like mandatory kind of like having a driver's license, you know, you have
to, if you're going to go on a trip, you have to make a plan and since you're going to
be sharing airspace with potentially other planes, other aircraft, you write a flight plan
and say where you're going to take off from, if you're going to have any stops and where
your end goal is going to be or if you're going to return and so on and so forth.
You also have to verify that you have like your safety checks down and make certain that
the plane is flightworthy.
Like we would go, my siblings and I would periodically go and I think I was a little more
fascinated, maybe I think I was maybe the most fascinated by how planes were the whole
process of it.
So I enjoyed doing the whole walk around checking the landing gear and the flaps and making
certain everything was working properly.
Again, I was young so I probably couldn't, you know, tell you all the little terminologies
and whatnot.
The biggest thing about flight to me was when you are in the air, the only thing that
matters is that the plane is moving properly and beyond that you're looking around it,
things that you wouldn't see on a day-to-day normal basis.
I suppose that made my little creative dreamer heart very happy.
We were just going on a quick, you know, flying around and dad tended to be a little bit
of a not-ful-on flight performance artist, but I don't know if you've seen the...
I wouldn't say they were super fancy stunts, but more like, you know, he'd dip but not
a full-on roll, not anything really scary or dangerous.
But definitely stuff that made my cautious little heart beat a little bit faster.
So there was nothing quite like experiencing that panicked rush went into your throat.
And since I'm a very, very cautious person by nature and very analytical and very logical,
and yet at the very same time a complete creative dreamer, it was basically like a shock to the
system to get my mind to just live in the moment instead of being caught up.
I'm sure that has a lot to do with my neurodivergence.
That time it was very, very much undiagnosed.
So I was just told to get my head out of the clouds all the time.
So I suppose it made sense that I liked flying.
Usually in planes like that, like we would fly over just above the cloud.
We wouldn't always, but like, there were times and we would fly over low enough where
you could see the power lines and you're just, I'm sure it wasn't that close, but it felt
very close to it.
I don't think that the small aircraft actually gets to the altitude where you need press-ride
air, though I do believe that you, it's something that they keep on board as a safety measure,
but I never had to use it so I don't know that for certain.
At 8,000 feet supplemental oxygen is not usually required and it's a comfortable level for
most people.
So I guess it's probably the highest they would be able to go, but I don't know that I would
have to look up and to verify whether small aircraft could comfortably get to that height.
It depended on what the cloud cover was because I do remember times when we would like fly
above the clouds.
You couldn't necessarily, especially on a very cloudy day, you wouldn't necessarily be
able to see the ground.
You weren't so high up that it would be, you couldn't see the ground if the cloud cover
worked there.
I remember flying over Mount St. Helens and flying into the crater and Mount St. Helens
erupted in May of 1980 and I remember flying over the crater after it had recovered a bit
and stuff and seeing the damage, but I seemed to recall, this may not be accurate, but I
seemed to recall flying it once before it erupted, so you could actually fly into the crater
and see all of the trees and just how pretty it was and then after it erupted, it was
all lava, the effects of the lava flow.
So we got to see a lot of things.
Maybe we covered some of the areas just on the coast, maybe.
I've been on passenger aircraft like, nationally, I've been all over the place as far as aircraft
is concerned.
Oftentimes I feel more comfortable in an airplane than I do in a car.
I've been in a lot of different types of planes.
I've been in the big 747s, I've been in the prop planes, in fact, there were a lot of
prop planes to take us from boarding school to home when I was in Africa.
So we fly from Abisjonal, Cote d'Avois to Connacrygini and it would be a passenger plane
but it had propellers.
I'm not kidding.
Sometimes when the plane was kept together by duct tape, I guess that's why I don't have
as much fear about airplanes.
I've been through some interesting flights.
So light aircraft is much, much louder and you typically have headphones on, like some
sort of ear protection.
I don't think I realized it at the time because I was undiagnosed.
It would not have been something that I would have communicated very well, that I had sensory
issues because of it.
I would get so wrapped up in looking outside and what was going on to try and tune out
the discomfort that the sound was making for me.
I know that my parents had assessment and they had a bananza.
I know that very little about the geekiness other than remembering being obsessed with looking
at the panels and the instruments and trying to figure out what they did.
And with my father being more logical and maybe neurotypical, I never really understood
the text so much because I'm seeing these really cool instruments that they have these
little arms that move and they obviously have something to do with how this plane is flying.
And I never really did understand the text behind it other than more artistically and
seriably in the sense that Dad would point to a panel and say this one here, it shows
the altitude and this one will, you know, it was never something that I as a girl was
really encouraged to really understand.
And I don't think that was necessarily intentional.
It was just, there was a lot of gender roles when I was growing up.
My parents were both pilots.
Mom was always the co-pilot.
I thought it was pretty cool.
I knew it was a big deal that she could fly, but at the same time I never really considered
that other than the fact that she was Dad's co-pilot, if anything happened to Dad, she
could take care of the plane, if that makes sense.
It was more of a, it was a hobby she shared with my Dad and I think that's really, really
cool.
I think it was something that is kind of a sign of maybe the privilege of my Dad's hard
work for his career.
It's definitely not something that if they didn't have the freedom with finances that was
the product of my Dad working hard that anyone really would have experienced in our family
because their families came from farm and orchard-type natural growing up.
So I thought it was pretty cool.
I knew it was special, but I think I took it for granted.
When you're living Africa and you're going to, and you're the business manager, sometimes
it's nice, it's convenient to have someone that knows how to fly a plane, be able to fly
emergency supplies or whatnot to missionaries and whatnot.
I would say it was beneficial that he was able to do that.
His primary duty was being the business manager, so he made certain that all the political
stuff was taken care of.
He was the one that knew the details on that.
He could do a flight check, he could do the post flight and all that as well as fly the
plane.
So if he was needed, he could have.
And I think he did.
I didn't spend a whole lot of time with my parents when we were missionaries because
I was importing school most of the time, but I do recall certain things like that being
coming up, but it wasn't necessarily his primary focus.
I don't remember which one he had first, a Bonanza and a Cessna.
It's different between a Cessna and a Bonanza, body model.
I think one was a little bit smaller.
I think one was maybe a, I think they called it a two-seater, but you could fit four people
in it in the back, so it was far more cramped.
And I think the other one was a four-seater that had a little like the storage room.
Okay, so the primary difference, I looked it up because I wanted to refresh my memory.
The primary difference is the Cessna and the Bonanza, it's their design and their intended
use.
So the Cessna is smaller and the Bonanza is larger.
The Cessna has high wings, fixed gear, single engine plane.
They're easy to handle and they're affordable and Bonanza's are low wings with single engine
and they have retractable landing gear, so they have greater speed and range.
So the Bonanza is more for longer distance and the Cessna is more for shorter distances.
I even remember learning to pack based on weight, and that goes for passenger airlines.
And a lot of people don't realize that, but part of the reason that passenger airlines
are so strict about the weight of baggage is because of that.
But in a smaller plane, you have far more limited amount and you have to factor in the
weight of the individuals as well, which probably wouldn't fly so well in today's political
climate as far as all that.
But if somebody's weighs too much, you have to factor that in because it may be able
to seat for people, but if somebody weighs too much, you might only be able to seat two
or three because the plane can't carry as much.
So if you're going on a short john, you're going to like spend the night somewhere and
then fly back, you have factor in how much does your luggage weigh.
I don't remember what the cost of fuel was then, but I remember it being discussed.
If you wanted to fly somewhere, there was always the discussion of how much fuel do we
need to get to the destination?
How many times would you have to refuel and how much would it cost for the entire trip?
And that was me being young, being impacted by that, like being aware that this wasn't
something that was like every day.
I didn't understand the maps themselves because it wasn't something that this kind of goes
back to that.
I was a girl.
It wasn't really like I would look and watch in, but I wouldn't necessarily learn the details
of it.
But he would definitely plot out the courses using probably a compass and for cracker.
I always found, I think I mentioned this in my first podcast, I always found tech fascinating
even when it wasn't necessarily considered tech, but it was like, you know, not something
that girls were supposed to do in the culture I grew up in.
So I didn't get a whole lot of encouragement to learn more.
But it's interesting that I do remember even if it's not even remotely expert level.
It's not even intermediate or even beginner, you know, but it impacted my life, definitely.
That was for sure.
I wish that I could be more detailed about stuff like that and it's kind of making me wonder.
I don't know.
I'd have to see if that's a priority in my life anymore.
It definitely was a huge part of my life growing up though.
I don't know about the current ones today, but back then, if it was a warm day, you did
not want to be wearing shorts because your skin would get burned on the, it get really
warm on the seats.
So on a warm day, a light pair of pants and a t-shirt or whatever you're comfortable
in.
I remember the ears or what I call the ears, the ear covers because it gets really loud.
You have the engines right there, you know, and you have the propellers gone and, you know,
thinking back on it, I'm kind of like, oh, what were the smells?
And I think it is something that is really unique, smell because you smell the burning,
you know, engine fuel to some degree because it's coming off the propellers, but you don't
really notice it too much because of the wind, especially when you're up in there.
But when you're doing pre-fight and post-fight, you definitely notice it.
I think it's something that the first time, because I was so young, the first time I flew,
I think it's something that just became normal for me.
In a way, I think it represented comfort because flights meant happy times, a flight meant
either going home or going to school or, and that, that's including passenger planes
as well, I suppose, but back then, those short flights were just brilliant.
They were time when the whole world just stopped for a second.
It would be the difference between sitting in a car, driving somewhere with someone, and
taking the TJV across France.
It's accelerated and the get time kind of stops for a moment.
There's not as much conversation and interaction in flight, not that there isn't any, but it's
a little different than trying to keep someone entertained for long distances in a car,
hurting that which is not normal.
I suppose anybody would stop and take a breath the first time that they saw the world
from a bird's eye view.
To this day when I'm in a plane and we're in the clouds or taking off, I'd like to have
a window seat to be able to see.
It's just a huge change in perspective on the world.
Suddenly, the day-to-day junk that's going on in the world doesn't mean so much.
We should all just get along because this earth is just very...
The world is so much bigger than what our little narrow view is, if that makes sense,
and I think flying enhances that perspective.
My dad is a Vietnam vet, and I think this partially contributes to it, but he has a tone
that everybody needs to sit down, might be, any situation where he needs to focus and
concentrate.
There's a tone that he got, and there are times that I do remember times when we just
have to let him fly because a storm was coming up that wasn't predicted or did because
usually wouldn't fly if it was stormy, at least not intentionally.
But there wasn't, you know, it was more just a tone.
That's how I knew.
I always felt safe when my dad piloted.
Even when things were tense, he had control, and he let everybody know he had control.
That was one of the best characteristics my dad has is he makes people feel secure and
safe if he's leading something, and when he was flying a plane, he was in charge.
I don't recall off the top of my head specifically that there was stuff when he was piloting
light aircraft, but I have had concerning situations with lights that I've taken that we either
had to prematurely land and, you know, regroup and stuff like that, but it was never anything
that I was too concerned about.
I used to love model aircrafts, building them.
There's the creative aspect of that, it's just amazing, but I think that anyone that
is interested in light aircraft or anything plane related is, it's a great endeavor.
You know, if you can't ever go fly yourself, learning about aircraft can be just as valuable
because, like, I'm talking back in the 80s with my parents, and the technology that has
changed in aircraft stuff.
So cars aren't built the same way, air, built the same way, the tech that's in the point
where you practically have to have a degree or some sort of serious education to pair
them.
So there's a lot to be learned and explored with technology in vehicles, whether it be
aircraft or, you know, car strokes.
I think the unmanned aircraft can be invaluable for the world as far as helping out if done
morally and ethically.
Unfortunately, I feel like most people that get to mess with unmanned aircraft primarily
are those that might take it for granted, because they have the income to be able to
play with such things and might not appreciate it for what it could benefit to the whole
of society.
So I think just like with any tech, it requires an element of ethics, respect, and not
using it for nefarious purposes, not using it just to earn money.
I think it could be really wonderful.
I don't think it's going to be used that way, though.
I think it's actually going to be used to advance Jeff Bezos' pocketbook for more nefarious
purposes and control.
So I would hope that ultimately it could be more beneficial.
I think that open source should be the norm when it's not, but that would require people
open source to be whizzywig for people that don't have the capacity to or bandwidth to
be able to process the more technical aspects of utilizing it.
I think that there is the extreme potential of it removing an entire pilots and stewards
of the planes flight attendants, it's going to get so advanced to the point where people
are going to lose their jobs because they're just not necessary anymore, because unmanned
aircraft can also implement AI robotics and whatnot for passenger flights.
I see that as being a possibility in the future once you get past the whole elitism of it.
Once it becomes more open source, I could see it provided, this comes down to ethics
and morals again, you'd have to have somebody that was knowledgeable enough to work with
that sort of code and keep it secure, and that could either be really beneficial for making
unmanned aircraft more secure and more available to the general populace, or it could be a complete
shit show. It just depends on how people handle it, like anything else in tech. My fondest
memory, the first time that my kids got to fly in, where I wasn't actually a passenger,
it was my dad's plane, it was the only time that they got to fly in one of my dad's planes,
knowing that experience, knowing what it was like and having an experience flying
often myself. There was something really impactful about seeing my kids be able to experience that,
and then hear the responses when they landed, and we're done with that. It's pretty amazing,
but I'm a mama. Of course, my fondest memory isn't going to be necessarily directed
just to myself. I actually have a game on steam that is a flight simulator. I hate it.
I don't know why, but I don't like it. I think if somebody sat there and walked me through it,
I think I'd probably enjoy it more, but it's kind of like playing an MMRPG with a mouse where
everything goes too fast, and the DPI's too messed up. I have, back in the, when I was growing up,
they had the little video game flight simulator type things that I played a couple times,
and I thought that was pretty cool. I'm trying to remember whether this is an actual memory,
or if I just dreamed about it, because there was a point in time I really wanted to be an astronaut,
and I read and studied about all that stuff, and I'm trying to remember whether I actually went into
a, I'm pretty certain I did went into some sort of simulator that would simulate being in space,
and that was pretty fascinating. I think that even if you never get to fly directly yourself,
I think it's worth learning about. I'm not an expert on lighter craft, but my experiences
in being a passenger and my quote-unquote dad's co-pilot, and even if you're just able to do
like a gaming simulator or learning about what the benefits are, and the challenges.
I think honestly the communication aspect was probably my most fascinating part because you
have to call the tower and let them know that you're taking off and get approval. There's a whole
communications aspect to be able to fly a plane. If you can't communicate well,
that's when potential crashes happen. It's similar to like hammer radios. There's an identifier
specifically for the aircraft that's called like a registration something, but I think it's
call sign for the radio stuff. I think maybe if I did like a deep meditation and just like
wasn't focusing or concentrating specifically on that, but with the hopes that it would come in,
I might be able to remember it because I remember like I remember what it was and that he had when
I just don't remember the actual digits. I have like this thing where my short-term and long-term
memory don't directly connect if I'm trying to think about it. I think it's similar to hammer radios
if I remember correctly. My dad, he used to have a hammer radio in our van when we were growing up
because he likes to talk to the truckers and that's how they would communicate back in the 80s
to be able to pilot a plane. You have to have it logic and a sense of a self-awareness of your
own limitations versus what the plane can do and what the impact of how weather can impact the plane.
You have to really be aware of a large number of things and be able to process all that information
concurrently. A sense of calm, you have to have a strong sense of self-control because you can't
let yourself panic if things go wrong. You panic the planes down. I love historical documentaries
in general. I was like watching World War II stuff about the planes and how the different
planes because that was a really huge flying period for advancements and tech and I'm using tech
a little bit liberally there but as far as aircraft is concerned. I'm trying to think of one
movie in general and honestly the Joker and me keeps wanting to say the movie airplane.
Even though it wasn't necessarily the primary focus but the audacity files but that's overall like
just mostly the transportation and they're trying to find something and planes factor in as far
as being able to travel to the locations that they're searching for the information from. I
don't want to give away the plot of the movie in case somebody wants to watch it but there's
definitely some risks involved as far as flights are concerned. Again planes are not necessarily
the primary focus of that movie. When I was a kid I looked at the possibility well because we lived
near Boeing we're kind of familiar with the Boeing plant because of where I was located at and there
was some fascination with how planes are built some degree. I think I'm less technical as far as
the building is concerned as far as my interests and planes were concerned so there was a minor
fascination with it and yet I think a lot of that stemmed from how is flight possible and more
the philosophical aspect of it. I'm going to sound like a total newbie to all this because basically
for me it's just the I know you have to acceleration and the you have to use the wing flaps to kind
of catch the air currents to bring up so there's a bit of what is the what is the term that I'm
looking for like plane with gravity if you will. Everything about the shape of a plane is inspired by
the shape of how birds are created you know how they are designed. You have to have the acceleration
you have to have the shape for the wind to properly move around the the vehicle to be able to catch
the wings in the way that and have the wing movements help you accelerate and lift up or down
as the case may be if you're landing. I am a total noob when it comes to that but I do find it
absolutely fascinating to observe and it's definitely something that I loved being on the wing
of the plane when I was flying in passenger planes because I loved the the wings move and and
fluctuate or hearing the landing gear that in the place. Intuitive knowledge is pretty much how I
sum up most of my special interests. I don't necessarily always have the best way of describing
or explaining it but it's there in my head I can visualize it everything about it from taking off
to landing. It's interesting that that's still a bit of a special interest in my head. I don't think
I ever really considered that just because I haven't been able to fly for so long. I hope you all
have enjoyed listening to me ramble on about what little I do know about my aircraft. It's
reignited my interest in that so that's a really cool thing and I'm glad I had the opportunity
to talk about it. I hope you found something you didn't know and you're interested and
enjoy listening to the show. Thank you. Bye.
You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio at Hacker Public Radio does work.
Today's show was contributed by a HBR listener like yourself. If you ever thought of recording
and click on our contribute link to find out how easy it really is. Hosting for HBR has been
kindly provided by an honesthost.com, the internet archive and our sync.net. On the Sadois
Today's show is released on their creative comments, attribution, 4.0 international license.