I, too, have flown to just about everywhere at one time or other, starting at the age of 6 months, on a C-47 (Douglas DC-3 to you civilians) in 1951. After flying all over as a GI brat, I did it for 24 years as a Combat Engineer - and sometimes to places where we weren't liked, and not really supposed to be. My last flight was returning from Desert Storm in 1990. Between the first one, and the last one, I've had engines catch fire, or puke their guts out (kind of scary, over the north Atlantic in December); had nosewheel bearings collapse on takeoff; had cargo pallets come loose on takeoff climbout in a C-130 (they don't fly well pointed straight up - I know). And don't even get me started about helicopters; they're unpleasant even when they aren't on fire and/or people are shooting at you. To top it off, part of my job (as a surveyor) was Crash Investigation, locating and plotting the bits and pieces ("WSO's lower left arm at grid location..."); doesn't make you real eager to get on a plane any time soon. I don't fly any more because I think I've used my good luck up, plane-wise, and also because of the mess they've made of the whole thing in the last 15 years.
but it was encouraging to meet someone who'd taken a positive attitude from what could have been a permanently traumatizing experience.
