Resonance

I was composing a comment about the value of storytelling from the unique perspective of rotary-wing aviators when I found myself looking back on some of my previous posts for inspiration and examples. Inevitably, I became lost in the associated pictures from what feels like a lifetime ago from someone I once knew quite well but lost contact with…

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….

Some pictures bring to mind those subtle inflections of that one intense and screaming note from the main transmission and other gearboxes/hydraulic pumps/generators which were over my head for a good portion of my prime. Not tinnitus, but resonance.

Of course, I had to look for a fitting definition; however, I was not disappointed with one in particular:

Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when the matching vibrations of another object increase the amplitude of an object’s oscillations… A phenomenon in which an external force or a vibrating system forces another system around it to vibrate with greater amplitude at a specified frequency of operation.

Those memories were, a long time ago, were vibrations… either from the mechanical interactions of gears, or the subjugation of air molecules, the slow or fast combustion of fuel-air mixtures or primer/power interactions, or even my own relaxing/patient/or pain-inducingly loud voice. However, they were all collections and combinations of resonance in one form or another.

…And those memories still resonate.

I can feel it – that body-enveloping buzz of the deafening sound of the helicopter… that excitement/fear/resolve/annoyance concoction that was flying with the best and worst of people in the best and worst environmental conditions, for the best and worst reasons possible. That addicting elixir of training, purpose, and equipment… chased with shenanigans, sorrow, and camaraderie… which inevitably resulted in the perpetual hangover aches of overdoing it when tomorrow was distant and the event was everything.  

Ha.

As I have said before: I miss it. Oh, how I miss five-dimensional movement – up/down, left/right, tail left/tail right, forward/back (“Back, not ‘aft’… oh… wait… DES changed it again?? Whatever.”), faster/slower… the guideline of doctrine blurred by the heavy eraser of reality… the contextual battle of academic versus practical… shades of gray defining shades of gray… with only the border being survival or post-mishap investigation findings.

So, I open up Word and get lost once again in a point I set out to make being overtaken by too much resonance and elaboration. More folks probably should write more. My stories are mine; at times I struggle to find the time or the flow to make sense of it all, but I still keep at it…

So should you.

And for those who are already writing, recording, or even just telling their stories: keep it up – we have to continue to feed off each other’s examples and inspire yet another related tangent from a different perspective.

To see where this particular post started, take a gander at the thread Life of a Wildfire Pilot (Encore) and go from there…