| Man has always been obsessed with flying. The | | | | hospitality in Air India. The flight was full with |
| mythical and legendary history of flying dates | | | | expat workers perhaps flying for the first time. |
| back to mimicking birds with feathered wings. In | | | | They had dreams and had left their shores for a |
| the attempt to fly and reach the stars, man | | | | better tomorrow in Dubai. There was a Gulliver |
| jumped to his death from towering heights. | | | | look on every face, an amalgamation of anxiety, |
| Wright brothers in 1903 were the first to invent | | | | excitement and a purpose to succeed. |
| aircraft controls, that made fixed - wing powered | | | | Flying has shrunk distances. A morning coffee in |
| flights possible. | | | | Mumbai, a lunch in Dubai and dinner in Frankfurt |
| In modern aviation the airlines today are | | | | would have made Wright brothers proud. The "no |
| competing for space in air. Now man shuttles | | | | frills" air lines are today making flying more |
| beyond earth and flies to space. As children we | | | | affordable. The modern flying machines are more |
| often dreamt of floating and flying. We grew | | | | pampering with luxuries as they fly skywards. |
| idolizing the flying Superman. Flying kites is another | | | | Technology has gifted man with wings and he flies |
| popular sport for children and adult. Bungee | | | | at his will. |
| jumping gives a sense of flying to the more | | | | It is not that all is well in the air. The infamous |
| adventurous young. Milkha Singh, the Indian | | | | Concorde crash left the Concorde's supersonic |
| Olympian athlete was nicknamed "The Flying Sikh" | | | | legacy grounded. Air crafts crashes and failures |
| and we do nominate success with the phrase, | | | | have often nicknamed the carrier as "killer |
| "Flying High". | | | | machines" leaving behind the "black box" and the |
| My first domestic flying experience was in the | | | | dead. Flying failures indicate that there are quite a |
| year1990, when I flew from Mumbai to Baroda. I | | | | few snags to be ironed out. |
| was excited and my friends with previous flying | | | | Bigger is better to swipe sky miles. I fastened my |
| history did little to curb my anxiety. The rumble | | | | seat belt on the super jumbo jet emirates flight |
| start of the aircraft engine had my adrenaline | | | | for a take off to a new destination. It was not |
| rush to that of a pumping station. Before I could | | | | very long ago in 1994, when I was learning to fly. |
| realize, this huge machine was swimming in the | | | | How will we fly in future? With technological |
| clouds. I felt like a suspended particle in the air. | | | | evolution taking a quantum leap, your guess is as |
| This was no less than a dream. As an obedient | | | | good as mine. The science-fiction-like pilotless |
| student I kept firm to my safety belt staring at | | | | flying bodies will dress up the sky. We will rub our |
| the smiling air hostess. Good things are for a | | | | shoulders with the "unidentified flying objects" |
| short while and the plane soon landed with a thud. | | | | (UFO). I may fly a car while you honk at me in air |
| I had disembarked from my first flying | | | | traffic. Life is not going to be easy with air |
| experience. | | | | speeding fines. Fasten your seat belts. |
| My first international flight was in the year 1994. I | | | | S. |
| flew from Mumbai to Dubai with the Maharaja | | | | |