Larry Dighera writes:

Without intending to join the chorus, I respectfully submit, that you
have no concept of the joyous experience you are missing. Trust me.


I think it depends on what you want to get out of aviation. Clearly, many
private pilots get enjoyment out of bouncing around in a tiny airplane. They
probably enjoy roller-coasters, too (whereas I do not).

A new student pilot flying solo is at last free to wander in the third
dimension unconstrained as the vast majority of Earth bound souls are.
He soars from the surface of the Earth, and effortlessly guides his
light aircraft higher with such nimble agility, that the machine
mentally melds into his nervous system in a rapture of pure Zen
integration of spirit, mind and machine. He was born with wings, and
is as skillful and free as Bach's Jonathan. The pilot's visceral
reaction to the sights, sounds, smells, and kinesthetic cacophony's
endless bombardment of sensory input result in a unique ambiance that
is aviation. The pilot's post-flight consciousness is clear and
refreshed as though just squeegeed, and the world is a bright,
cheerful home indeed. Although he walks the same flat plane at the
juncture of atmosphere and terra as his fellows, he carries the
knowledge and experiences of the joy of flight, and the power to soar
at will.

Not quite as poetic as _High Flight_ or as direct as _One Six Right_, but a
respectable effort.

Get out to the closest uncontrolled field (I visited one north of
Othus in 2000*) at which is based an Air France Aero Club. Beg a ride
with one of the members on a fair Saturday morning. You'll thank me.

And if I discover that I don't like it?

People fly that way in France because the environment is so restrictive that
they have no other options. All they can do, from what I've understood, is
putter around in tiny airplanes at tiny airfields, as they are effectively
barred from anything more complicated or comfortable.