Ryu2.mind

... what would you be and why?

I've always wanted to be a pilot, and had my vision been a bit better, perhaps I'd be jetting you guys all around the world by now. =)

I always like not only the feeling of uninhibited freedom that flying entails, and the chance to indulge my innate nerd and play around with the cool electronics that form the navigation and control system of a modern aircraft, but perhaps most interestingly, for me, aviation dovetails nicely with my interest in geography, cultures, and the countries of the world.

Not just visiting these countries, but the actual flight from point A to point B can be a cultural tour in and of itself. Case in point: when I fly United, I always try to listen to Channel 9. For those of you who don't know what it is, it lets you listen to the air traffic control transmissions live through the audio system.

On my last flight to Shanghai, I had a especially interesting Channel 9 experience, listening to a wide range of air traffic controllers. SFO ground, to tower, to NorCal departure, and then onto Oakland Center which became Seattle became Vancouver, became Anchorage, before getting into Russian airspace: Anadyr, Markovo, Magadan, Okha, Sakhalin, Khabvarosk, Vladivostok, and then onto the Far East: Pyongyang, Incheon, Tokyo, Fukuoka, and then finally Shanghai.

American pilots and controllers at nighttime when there's not too much traffic are a jovial lot, swapping sports scores, jokes, and the like. Listening to Channel 9 in Russian and Chinese airspace is always entertaining for me, not the least because you're usually the only aircraft in the vicinity whom they're speaking English to. In South Korea and Japan though, everyone speaks English, but it's fun listening to the fobby accents, usually by women controllers. Pyongyang control on the other hand, sounded like what I'd imagine a North Korean to be: a male voice, conveying a no nonsense, without emotion, almost robotic atitude.

I guess there's always Microsoft Flight Simulator to live out my dream....

How about everyone else?