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Get off the ground and be free as a bird
It has always been the dream of mankind to take off to the skies: free and light as a bird. Once upon a time it was Daedalus and his son Icarus who rose up to flee the world, but they came too close to the sun and we know their sad fate. But the dream of flying didn’t let go of people, fired their imagination and finally came true. And this dream was always accompanied by music. If we weren’t able to just get up and glide through the air, the music allowed us to dream and fly anywhere in our minds: to get off the ground…
Which music, movies or just nice memories and anecdotes do you think of when it comes to flying?
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62 Replies
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…and be free as a bird.
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Even though the Montgolfier brothers, Otto Lilienthal, Gustav Weißkopf and the Wright brothers lived in different times, they were united by one desire: to get up off the ground and see the world from above. The movie “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” is a loving and humorous homage to the aviation pioneers at that time.
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I can think of a million things, but this is probably the one that started it all for me:
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Thanks David. The Bugaloos?! I once searched deep in the windings of my brain and I found: nothing. There is only yawning emptiness. Now, of course, I could consult wikipedia, but I’d much rather ask you: what (or who) are the Bugaloos David?
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Hey, Juergen!
Yeah, Wikipedia’s entries are never as much fun as what you can get person-to-person.
The Bugaloos was a children’s TV show about teenage British insect people (yes, you read that right) living in Tranquility Forest and making gentle music together, but they constantly had to ward off the attacks of an evil would-be recording star who was jealous of their talents.
I’ve come to view the show as one of the last gasps of 60’s pop culture. The world had started to move on from peace, love, and flowers, so the purveyors of hippie entertainment began sharing their message with the only audience that hadn’t heard it: little kids like me.
I really think one of the main reasons I latched onto 60’s music in the 80’s was because much of it reminded me of the Bugaloos songs I had heard as a young child and long ago forgotten. The series was re-broadcast in the 90’s, and it all came back to me.
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I’m in the loop now, thanks David. When I was a child, we had a four-part TV show “Robbi, Tobbi und das FlieWaTüt”. The story was about the young inventor Tobbi, his robot friend Robbi and their flying companion FlieWaTüt (it can fly -fliegen- = “Flie” / it can swim on the water = “Wa” and honk like a car = “Tüt”). It was a mixture of marionette puppets and real film material accompanied by a groovy title music. Unbelievable for me at that time. A real cult for some of my generation to this day:
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On a per-second basis, this is the most impressive flight I’ve ever seen:
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Thanks again David. Paul Cornu, who is regarded as the inventor of the first free helicopter flight, would certainly not have dreamed that one day, around 114 years later, an aerial vehicle that took up his idea would land and take off on a foreign planet. Truly a great moment in aviation history and a long way if you look closely at the the beginning of helicopters.
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The first song that I associate with flying and boundless freedom is written by Reinhard Mey, a german songwriter, who was an enthusiastic aviator. He published that song in 1974.
Lyrics (roughly translated):
Above the clouds
Wind north-easterly, runway zero-three / From here I can hear the engines / She passes by like an arrow / And it's ringing in my ears / And the wet asphalt trembles / Like a curtain hangs the pouring rain / Until she takes off and she levitates / Towards the sun
Refrain: Above the clouds / Must be freedom without limits / All fears, all worries / they say / remained hidden underneath / And then / Dignity what seems big and important to us / Suddenly void and small
I'll watch her for a long time / Climb the dark clouds / Until the lights gradually / Blur in the gray of the rain / My eyes already have / Lost that tiny point / Only from afar sounds monotonous / The hum of the engines
Refrain
Then everything is quiet, I go / Rain is drenching my jacket / Someone is making coffee / In the air traffic control barracks / Gasoline floats in the puddles / Iridescent like a rainbow / Clouds are reflected in it / I would have liked to fly with you
Refrain -
A beautiful song from Alan Parson’s album „On Air”:
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You mean *other* than MLT songs? Well, the first to come to mind is the *other* Wagner and Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre: https://youtu.be/XRU1AJsXN1g
But also this classic by written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne!
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Hi Roger
Richard Wagner wrote that piece in 1854, before any person ever flew, but he captured the feel of flight in music, which is impressive. The video is interesting with images of princes and Greek gods on horses in the sky that fit with the music, and then suddenly in one scene you see flying saucers!
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Hi Roger,
simply music. Songs from Mona&Lisa or „other“ music. As you like it. Thanks for posting „Learning to fly“. A beautiful song about the surprises that life has in store for us:
I’m learning to fly
But I ain’t got wings
Coming down
Is the hardest thing
As for Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries: I could not have described this piece of music more beautifully than Jung does.
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Thomas,
Niice one, one of Steve Millers best. 👍
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Yeah Thomas,
a very nice song: „I want to fly like an eagle. ’Til I’m free“
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Hi Jurgen
Interesting topic. I certainly dreamt about flying and being a pilot through my young teenage years with aspirations of being an airline pilot. But that never happened, and I remember the first time I remember flying when I was 21. I did fly once before when we all moved from Korea to the USA, I was barely 2, and my mom said I cried almost the whole way on the flight. I was a handful back then. But the first flight I can remember was that flight from Vancouver to Toronto in 1984. What an experience when the plane took off down the run away and then started to lift, I could feel the seat firmly planted in my back. It was faster than any car I’ve ever been in, felt that rush!!! Wow!!!.
This song kind of captures that thrill a bit I think.
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Hi Jung,
it’s a pity that you couldn’t realise your dream of flying. Haven’t you ever thought about catching up on this dream and getting a private pilot’s license? I know at some point age sets limits on things like this. Sandra felt the same as you. She wanted to be an airline pilot, but after school she decided to pursue a different course. About 12 years ago she realized her dream of flying.
Rod Stewart once sang: “The first cut is the deepest“. I would say that also applies to flying: “The first flight is the deepest“, but in a positive sense. I can still clearly remember my first flight. I went on holiday to Bavaria with my parents and my sister. I must have been around 8 or 9 years old. The accomodation was located on the Chiemsee and there was also a small flight event. There you had the opportunity to fly in a motor glider. Of course I annoyed my parents, because I would like to fly once (I was quite good at that as a child…). But what I hadn’t counted on: my father really bought me a ticket for a sightseeing flight. And there I sat, next to the pilot in a fully glazed cockpit. The plane was pulled up by a motor winch and off we went: steeply up into the blue sky, below us the deep waters of the lake with its small islands and castles. Very impressive. I had my second flight when I was 20. It was a holiday flight in a small DC 9. I remember the passengers boarded through the tail. The ceiling was low, the rows of seats narrow, but when the turbines roared during take-off, the whole plane began to trembling, shaking and I suddenly felt the thrust in my back: I will not forget this experience. In general, it is the start that I like best when flying to this day. When suddenly this enormous push sets in, you are pressed into the seat and have the feeling that it could go on like this to the moon 🙂
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Hi Jurgen
Yeah sometimes life just pulls you in many different ways and some dreams get lost along the way. It would be great to learn to fly, maybe at this point in my life, sky diving with the help of a trainer might be more realistic, MJ is certainly up for doing that thrill. Not sure what the requirements are now to learn to fly in Canada. Never say never. Thanks for sharing Sandra’s story about her getting her pilots license, that is inspiring, and kudos to her. Do you get to go up flying with her often?
What a great present from your parents with that flying experience right up there next to the pilot. A small engine plane gives another kind of more connected to the sky experience I think compared to sitting in a sealed jet airliner. I mentioned previously here about the float plane ride I took earlier in the spring that was really fun being able to sit right behind the pilot and his cockpit. I can never get enough of flying, it is always so thrilling.
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Jung we flew regularly for a few years. Sandra behind the flight stick, I behind my camera (see photos below). The Ruhr area and also the Rhineland as far as Düsseldorf and Cologne are a very varied landscape when seen from the air. Unfortunately, we haven’t taken off in recent years because helicopter charters have become very expensive. Too bad. Sandra flew to Spain with her flight instructor during her training. Once over the Alps. My longest helicopter flight was from Essen to Berlin for the International Aviation Show. It was quite windy that day and although we flew with a large modern helicopter model, it wasn’t really relaxed flying. Less gliding than rodeo riding. And I didn’t envy the professional pilots who had to complete their flights in almost any weather and always under time pressure and every day of the week. Passion gave way to routine.
Your idea to try skydiving sounds exciting. Too exciting for me: I don’t think I could bring myself to jump out of a plane. The 5-meter diving tower, in an open-air swimming pool, used to be a real challenge for me. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll take off or levitate sometime, depending on the situation. And if not, we have a saying: “If the prophet does not come to the mountain, then the mountain comes to the prophet”. Perhaps the following video clip will inspire you:
https://youtu.be/xVgxeuK7i90?t=90
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Perhaps the following video clip will inspire you (sorry, some video links are shown here without a preview):
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Also nice singing of Fly Me To The Moon by Julie London, thanks for that.
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“Point Me at the Sky” is a single from Pink Floyd not to long after Syd Barrett was replaced with David Gilmour. 1968 That’s Dave singing the lead and he and Waters sing the chorus. Their voices sound very young. My favorite part is:
And if you survive till two thousand and five
I hope you’re exceedingly thin
For if you are stout you will have to breathe out
While the people around you breathe in, breathe in, breathe in, breathe inHere are the complete lyrics and a promo film:
Hey Jean, this is Henry McClean
And I’ve finished my beautiful flying machine
And I’m ringing to say
That I’m leaving and maybe
You’d like to fly with me
And hide with me, babyIsn’t it strange how little we change?
Isn’t it sad we’re insane?
Playing the games that we know and in tears
The games we’ve been playing for thousands and thousands and thousands andJumps into his cosmic flyer
Pulls his plastic collar higher
Light the fuse and stand right back
He cried, “This is my last goodbye”Point me at the sky and let it fly (Point me at the sky and let it fly)
Point me at the sky and let it fly (Point me at the sky and let it fly)
Point me at the sky and let it flyAnd if you survive till two thousand and five
I hope you’re exceedingly thin
For if you are stout you will have to breathe out
While the people around you breathe in, breathe in, breathe in, breathe inPeople pushing on my sides
Is something that I hate
And so is sitting down to eat
With only little capsules on my platePoint me at the sky and let it fly (Point me at the sky and let it fly)
Point me at the sky and let it fly (Point me at the sky and let it fly)
Point me at the sky and let it flyAnd all we’ve got to say to you is goodbye
It’s time to go, better run and get your bags, it’s goodbye
Nobody cry, it’s goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, goodbyeSongwriters: Roger Waters, David Jon Gilmour. For non-commercial use only
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Hi JP
Yeah a very different Pink Floyd sound from their later 70s music. I couldn’t help but feel a little Beatlesque Lucy In The Sky feel in spots. Great song, I like it.
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Hi JP,
thank you for sending us this interesting song by Pink Floyd. And thanks also for the lyrics. It’s noticeable that this song was written during a period of change for Pink Floyd. The song still sounds a bit like the album “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” but also more grown up. I think the song marks a point in their career where they literally relaunched and pointed in a new direction. They soon learned to fly, even without Syd Barrett.
A soul in tension that's learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
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Jurgen
The Beatles Free As A Bird song and video is a real dreamy gem.
You also mentioned movies and flight. Well before Top Gun, the movie scene that fascinated me the most about flight was that Star Wars Death Star trench run scene. Back then that scene where Luke dives into the Death Star trench in the X Fighter on the big theater screen looked out of this world, no pun intended. I don’t think there was any movie before that, that captured that kind of visual flight effect like you are actually in the cockpit feel. Afterwards came a slew of sci fi spacecraft flight scenes like Battle Star Galactica etc up to Top Gun, the Star Wars did it first.
I recall in a Q and A, Mona and Lisa mentioned they never watched Star Wars! If they still haven’t seen it, I hope this will serve as a convincing teaser.😜
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Star Wars was the first non-cartoon movie I ever saw at a theater. What sold me on it was in the opening scene, when the enemy ship passed overhead at the top of the screen, and you just kept becoming more and more cognizant of its enormity. That powerful sense of “you are there” set the stage for the much more astounding climactic trench run scene.
A couple of years ago I came across a YouTube video of the trench scene synchronized with someone’s surreptitious audio recording made in the theater in 1977. People in the audience actually cheered and applauded when Han showed up, and when the death star exploded. When’s the last time you experienced something like that in a movie theater?
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Hi David
Oh yeah I remember that opening scene you see Leah’s fairly large space craft, and then you feel dwarfed by that massive spacecraft chasing it. Never seen anything like it on the screen before, and it became one of Star Wars signature effects. It was a revolutionary movie in space effects and space craft, that looked and felt so real. And what a climactic ending. I don’t think any theater did not fill up with the sound of cheers and clapping like in Star Wars at the end. The only other time I recall that kind of cheering was when Sheriff Brody blows up the giant shark in Jaws at the end. 😁🦈
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The only other time before Star Wars I got that seat of the pants thrill ride like you are flying was in the cockpit of Steve McQueen 68 Stang, where this slow green beatle keeps popping up.
https://youtu.be/no7XR7s8Z7o?t=69
Sorry, I digress but couldn’t get this scene out of my head after watching the Star Wars trench scene.
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Wow, Star Wars. Goosebumps feeling. Darth Vader who was looking for his asthma spray for 90 (film) minutes and couldn’t find it. The manic and constantly chattering C-3PO. The lovely but snappy Princess Leah. The notoriously badly coiffed Chewbacca and of course Yoda, whose wisdom and insight makes Confucius look like an amateur:
„When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. For the dark side looks back“
-Yoda-I must have been around ten years old when I saw Star Wars in the cinema for the first time. From today’s point of view: a surprisingly little plot, but an endless fun factor. After that, Battlestar Galactica was shown in the cinemas. Not as good as Star Wars, but food for my young, inquisitive soul. I was actually hooked by the TV series Star Trek. Still absolutely worth seeing today (even if partly trashy). After that, “Space: 1999” was broadcast. I can’t remember the content, but I can remember the strange spacecraft called “Eagle”. My friends gave me one of these for my birthday (no, just a model…). I still own that today.
The following aircraft from the newer science fiction era still inspired me:
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Ah, yes, and my all-time favorite Cylon quote…”We did not crash…we were flying along and the ground came up and hit us.”
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Roger, that reminds me of what the Hitchhiker’s Guide said about flying: “The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
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Ah, yes! Star Trek, Space: 1999, and Battlestar Galactica were all formative experiences for me as well. I was too young for Star Trek when it originally aired, but I watched Space: 1999 before Star Wars came along. It was about a moon colony that was sent into deep space when an explosion knocked the moon out of its orbit. A very typical 70’s sci-fi premise: utterly lost with no hope of salvation. Star Wars changed all that.
Battlestar Galactica was a TV series here, so I was surprised to hear that you saw it at the cinema. My brother recently went to one of those comic con things and got Dirk Benedict’s (Starbuck’s) autograph.
Hey, remember Tron? That was awesome as well, although now we’re getting into the early 80’s.
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David, at the same time as the series launch of Battlestar Galactica in the US, a slightly shortened version of the pilot plot was shown in cinemas in some countries. Including Europe, Canada and Japan (according to wikipedia). I saw this version in the cinema in 1978. At least that fits into my personal chronology. The series was broadcast in our country much later (as usual, because the film rights had to be acquired first and the whole thing still had to be syncronised). Sometime in the 80s the time had come. Which brings us to Tron. Yes, I also saw it in the cinema. An impressive and great movie at the time. Even if the computing power was not yet sufficient to depict the evil MCP as computer animation.
In the 60s, Germany even produced its own science fiction series: Raumpatrouille Orion (I know, nobody here but me will know it, but I mentioned it once…). The whole thing reminded me a little of Star Trek. It was a real Blockbuster.
Oh yes, and then there was Buck Rogers (1979-1981 series). Unfortunately, only the pilot film was broadcast here. But it was very entertaining. And of course „2001: A Space Odyssey“. I still haven’t really understood the movie, but fortunately I’m not the only one…
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I liked Battlestar Galactica, I thought it was a great off shoot of Star Wars. Was sad when the networks cancelled Battlestar Galactica because of the Star Wars copyright lawsuit against Battlestar Galactica that won out. Another big SciFi movie of the late 70s that came out after Star Wars was Alien. Loved the scene of the guy searching for his cute tabby cat in the spacecraft, only to encounter a much bigger and more vicious creature than he bargained for.
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When Mike Oldfield’s album „Five Miles Out“ was released in 1982, it received negative reviews: Mike Oldfield had dared to include chart-worthy songs in his album. „Five Miles Out“ was my first LP by Mike Oldfield and it is still one of his favourite albums for me: not because of the singles, but as a complete work: once started, a wild ride through space and time begins, which unfortunately ends after 50 minutes.
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Cool topic! In typical fashion, I’m a tad late to the party and you guys have mentioned so many related compositions, I can’t think of one to add to the list.
But it does tug at the heart strings for me being a former commercial pilot. I never got a seat in any of the big birds, but few many piston twins and larger single engine aircraft in my time. But while the work of flying did replace some of the joy (romance?) of being in the air, moments alone in my little bug smasher were often magical.
A night flight with the Aurora Borealis putting on their display cones to mind. If you have ever seen “Always” with Richard Dryfus and Holly Hunter there is a scene with her in the plane in a rather surreal mystic situation is a lot like that.
I also had another more active experience with some scattered cumulus “puff balls” returning from Edmonton. Now granted, a 150hp Cessna isn’t a high performance plane by any means, but dipping and swooping around between those misty cotton balls was as close to dancing the controls of a fighter jet I’ll ever know. Before anybody goes tattle tail on me, I was alone in uncontrolled airspace during my fantasy ride so no rules or safety parameters were cotravened. But you can rest assured that the strains of John Cay and Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride were coursing through my brain.
It’s been 15 years since I sold my plane and gave up my active flight status, and I do miss it.
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Hi Daryl,
the party isn’t over until all the lights are out and the last guest has left. Thanks for the photo: a very nice machine. I can well imagine that you really miss your time as an active pilot and that you can certainly tell many exciting anecdotes. You’ve probably also seen wonderful landscapes from above (although as a commercial pilot you certainly didn’t always have the time to enjoy the view). What did you fly: passengers or cargo? Did you only fly in the North West Canada area or did you have other flights as well? I think small planes often give a much more intense and direct feeling of flying than the big machines can do.
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I flew freight and crew changes to remote fields in northern Alberta in Cessna 206 singles and Piper Navajo twins. The occasional executive charter in the C90 King Air (co-pilot only on the turbine). Used my 172 for private use and sight seeing tours. Single engine ops mistlyvsingke pilot and regulated to daylight hours and visual conditions with passengers, and twins were dual pilot (mostly), especially in instrument and night conditions. Unlike the big airliners, we almost never flew auto-pilot, all hands on control. None of the small fields had instrument approaches anyway so it was all visual.
Bush flying you love to hate at times. When it’s good, it’s really good. But when it’s otherwise it can be pretty mind boggling. Certain rules get, shall we say…”customized” out of necessity just to get the job done.
Oh for sure, there are some “interesting stories” I could recount ;>)
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Hi Jurgen,
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I remember seeing Star Wars at the local mall cinema the summer it came out. It may have been opening day, but I can’t say for sure. I was ten. My friend Dan and I went to a matinee show. We were pretty pumped that we were allowed to go by ourselves, and young enough not to be embarrassed having our Mom’s drop us off. I remember what you described. The big screen and the surround sound made that flyover feel like forever.
Floyd’s Learning To Fly sounds great at 11. The band claims that the backing track of the pilot speaking on his radio is actually a recording of drummer Nick Mason’s first solo flight. It was around this time that he and Gilmour got their pilot’s license. I have always struggled with one line from that song. “A soul in tension that’s learning to fly….” I hear it as, ”A sole intention, that’s learning to fly” LOL I think the latter makes more sense.
JP
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