Pilot keeps his feet on the ground despite 40 years of flying for fun

FLYING over Cork and beyond for the past 40 years, private pilot Pat Punch has seen not only the landscape beneath him change dramatically but the aviation industry too.

Now 61, the Douglas resident is celebrating his 40 years in the cockpit.

Part of a group of 12 who own a four-year-old Cessna Skyhawk based at Cork airport, he has flown all over Ireland and to many other countries.

“We are very privileged to be able to do what we do. There is a wonderful sense of achievement after every flight, but it is also a huge burden of responsibility.”

Mr Punch recalls his very first solo flight with the Munster Air Club in August 1971, and notes how times have changed.

“There was much less traffic in the air back then. Today, there might be 20 other aircraft passing you on a flight. And we didn’t have the sophistication that you see now. We used basic instruments and were taught through old-style instruction. Nowadays instructors have to have a commercial licence in order to become an instructor.”

Mr Punch says recreational flying is dwindling due to huge expense involved.

“Forty years ago there was a lot more people flying as a hobby. But things were very different back then and it is a highly regulated sector now.”

Although there is a big cost involved — running the Cessna costs €140 an hour — Mr Punch says that he has an enduring passion for flying. And, despite an increasing number of accidents involving smaller aircraft in recent years, he does not belive it is a dangerous pastime.

“Nearly all crashes are due to the human element, it is very seldom the aircraft.

“As pilots we are not risk-takers, we evaluate decisions and make a decision based on those evaluations.”

Mr Punch recalls an accident from his early flying years.

“I recall an aircraft I flew and trained on went into the sea at Roaring Water Bay. It was coming back from the UK — it was uncommon to go there in those days — it was getting near dusk, and the plane did not have the instrumentation to get in. It flew past the airport and into the sea.”

Mr Punch says he knows of three people who died in flying accidents over the years — in Dublin, Kilkenny and Galway — all of whom were instructors.

“I maintain I can only speak for myself, and my flying is safe; I have the instrument training so can cope with weather situations and evaluate risk,” he said.

“I would like to give a good impression of the flying community, it is a highly professional industry.

“There is a very apt saying: ‘There are old pilots, there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots’.

“We really are privileged to be able to see things from up in the air. You see housing schemes going up, road schemes, roundabouts, everything. But it’s really only when you take a photograph and put it on your computer you really see things and say ‘wow’.”