Aviation

A person's identification card for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, showing personal details, a black and white photo, and various official markings and dates.
A man sitting in the cockpit of a vintage military jet aircraft, looking at the camera, with the aircraft's propeller visible in the foreground.

"Even a monkey can be taught to fly."

Those were the first words spoken by my very first flight instructor. I was sixteen years old, and my mother had given me a flying lesson as a birthday present. Little could she have known that her gift would ignite a fascination that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

Two years later, in 1980, I was called up to undergo selection tests to become a fighter pilot with the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Some of my most memorable flying experiences came later, with the Royal Netherlands Air Force Historical Flight. Its remarkable collection brought together aircraft from another era: the powerful Mustang, the Yale, the elegant Tiger Moth and an old Piper. For a while, there was even a legendary Spitfire, until a general managed to write it off completely.

The dream of flying is almost as old as humanity itself. In Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son Icarus escaped from Crete on wings fashioned from feathers and wax. Centuries later, Leonardo da Vinci studied the flight of birds and filled his notebooks with designs for wings, ornithopters, parachutes and a remarkable aerial screw, a distant ancestor of the modern helicopter.

That ancient fascination has never faded. Perhaps it never will.

Flying is fundamentally different from driving a car or sailing a boat. While a car or boat moves primarily in two dimensions, an aircraft moves through three. A pilot can turn left or right, accelerate or slow down, but also climb, descend and manoeuvre freely through the sky. This makes flying more complex, yet it offers an extraordinary sense of freedom.

Learning to fly demands discipline, technical understanding and respect for the elements. But the basic principles are within reach of almost anyone willing to learn, just as my instructor assured me all those years ago.

After all, even a monkey can be taught to fly.

Black and white newspaper page featuring an article about a vintage aircraft, with a large photo of a fighter plane's nose and propeller, a photo of a man and a woman standing in front of the plane, and smaller images of a pilot and a woman at a desk. The headline reads "IN HOGERE SFEREN" in large blue letters.
A man lying on the grass with a yellow biplane in the background on an overcast day.
A person crouching next to a vintage aircraft, posing on a wing.
A man sitting on the wing of a small private airplane parked on an airfield. There are airport buildings and equipment in the background under a clear blue sky.
Two men in flight suits standing in front of a fighter jet on an airstrip. The man on the left is holding a helmet and some papers. The man on the right is holding a helmet with both hands, and they are posing for the photo.
Man wearing military-style green jacket with sunglasses standing near a fighter jet at an airfield.
Military pilot wearing helmet and sunglasses sitting inside fighter jet cockpit, preparing for flight.
A man in a flight suit standing on an aircraft, smiling, with a cloudy sky and hangar in the background.
A man flying an airplane, wearing sunglasses, headphones, and a white shirt, with farmland visible through the cockpit window.
Two pilots in aviation uniforms examining a map on the wing of a small aircraft on a grassy field during daytime with partly cloudy sky.