I was fortunate enough to discover my love for flying when I was very young. Lucky that some things went my way: my eyesight, for example, was good enough to allow me to become a fighter pilot. And lucky that when I left the army, I found work as an airline pilot, when such jobs weren't plentiful. I still feel lucky, after all these years, to be able to follow my passion. The airline industry has its problems, and a lot of them can be troubling, but I still find purpose and satisfaction in flying. There's some freedom you feel when you're flying above the surface of the earth, no longer limited by gravity. Even at a thousand feet, you get a wider perspective. Problems that seem large down below feel smaller from that height, and smaller still by the time you reach thirty-five thousand feet. I love that flying is an intellectual challenge. If you change the angle of the nose by even one degree while traveling at a typical commercial airliner speed of seven miles a minute, it's enough to increase or decrease your rate of climb or descent by seven hundred feet per minute. I enjoy keeping track of all the calculations, staying aware of the weather conditions, working with a team while knowing closely what the plane can and cannot do. I like the challenge of that. I also like sharing my passion for flying. It's a disappointment to me that a lot of kids today aren't fascinated by flight. I've watched countless children walk past the plane without paying much attention; they're too focused on their video games or their iPods. When there are children who eagerly want a look inside "my office" at the front of the plane, it's so rewarding to see their excitement about something I care deeply about. If we aren't busy during boarding, the first officer and I enjoy inviting curious children to sit in our seats in the cockpit , ask questions, and let their parents take photos of them wearing a captain's hat. Being a pilot has a tangible end result that is beneficial to society. It feels good to take a planeload of 183 people where they need or want to go. My job is to reunite people with family and friends, to send them on vacations, to bring them to loved ones' funerals, to get them to their job interviews. By the end of a day, I feel as if I've accomplished something. All of them have their own stories, motivations, needs -- and helping them brings a rewarding feeling. This is what gets me ready for work, and one of the things I look forward to. What makes the author feel lucky is that   _  .
he was able to find a job as a pilot his job is satisfying and totally free of trouble he began flying even when he was very young his physical condition enables him to be a spaceman