Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in a dark, muddy hole without the energy or the tools to dig out of it? Have you ever dreamed of making a fresh start, of doing something so amazing that it could change the course of the rest of your life, but you just can’t figure out how to make it happen? We hope that our upcoming book, “The Incredible 180,” will inspire you to seek and identify your inner strength, and encourage you to follow your own path to happiness, even if that path is not entirely clear to you right now. Listen to your heart. Live each day to the fullest. Never give up. Just fly your little airplane — and remember that if you don’t like the direction you’re headed, you can always turn around. You have a choice.
As pilots we spend a lot of time training to deal with unusual and emergency situations in the air, but the truth is that most accidents are the result of human error, usually precipitated by a series of bad decisions. We tangle with bad weather, run out of gas, and take unnecessary risks. Pilots are people, and as such, we are our own worst enemies. Just like everyone else.
Sometimes, though, bad things happen that are out of our control and we have to use all available resources at our disposal to get the airplane safely back on the ground. But regardless of the situation, the successful outcome of any flight depends almost entirely on the pilot’s ability to maintain control of the airplane, to keep flying it, no matter what happens. That lesson transcends aviation and can be applied to nearly any life situation. We discovered that the training we received as pilots helped us overcome some very difficult challenges in our personal lives, and we hope to share these insights with you in our book.
Our flight around the United States in the Cub this summer is our celebration of this personal discovery, of our successful 180-degree turn out of the storm clouds, toward the blue sky and sunshine. Check the blog for updates on our progress along our route. If you’d like to help us along the way in exchange for a signed copy of the book, please visit our Get Involved page or contact us today. We expect to have the book published by the end of December 2012.
Meredith and Dana enjoying some authentic Wisconsin fried cheese curds at EAA AirVenture 2010, on the day they got engaged.