International Pilots Day - April 26

You know the joke about recognizing a pilot in a crowded bar? No need to recognize, earlier or later she/he will come to you and introduce as a pilot!

I often get asked how becoming a pilot has changed me as a professional. So started thinking down that line. Definitely I have learned a few things and yes indeed they have impacted the way I work:

• sky is the limit for most people but not for pilots - I have increased my confidence and started believing I can achieve more,
• thinking ahead of airplane - ability to foresee things before they happen, not focusing on now and here but what will be happening 2 or 5 minutes from now, in other way thinking of consequences of what I am doing now,
• making a decision and sticking with it - many people keep thinking whether they made the right decision and sometimes going back to change it, in an airplane there is no time for that, you have to be "ahead" not "behind", you have made a decision and it has consequences,
• I have learned how to let it go sometimes - the weather was not right, I felt tired or had a bad day? No problem, I can always fly another day, meanwhile I can spend time in the hangar or with other aviators.

As to the joke at the beginning - the best way to announce you are a pilot is wearing pilot wings!

Yeah they look good on hospital scrubs, too!

Happy International Pilots Day!

Marcin Ajewski MD PhD MBA