Hi there, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Cloudbase Mayhem. Happy February. This is episode 266. So with all the bonus episodes and everything else, we're, gosh, we're closing in on 300. Kind of incredible. A little over 12 years or something around 12 years now. And I got a great show for you today with Serena Raunchy. This is the second time she's been on the show. Serena is a Swiss pilot. The last time I had her on the show was March of 22. And she had won the X contest in the female category in 21 and then had a really bad crash, which is all documented in that one. And we revisit that crash in this one, just in case you hadn't listened to that show way back then, but just got swept up in really bad luck.
It was a one out of 10 day in terms of risk, a perfect day for flying, no wind. She was coming into land on a high pressure day, and then dust devil got her as her best guess and put her down from high enough up to get really broken, and went through a long bit of rehabilitation. Had to learn how to walk again. Her physical injuries are, you know, she's now able to hike and fly race and is fully back into flying, but still has some leftover physical nerve stuff from that crash. So horrific accident physically and also the emotional toll we get into quite a bit more in this one and just the fear injury of all that when she is still dealing with.
She's gotten professional help on that and gone through some really cool things to deal with fear and the rattling around of what we deal with with fear between the ears, and some great stuff for any of you who have had a fear injury or had a fear injury. An accident. She's remarkably optimistic and very good at articulating going through something like this. And I wanted to reach back out because she has been down in Sertão now in Brazil four times. Still chases it really hard. She won X contest again this year. She was third overall in the sport category and again first women and put up some big numbers down in Brazil for 69 for 41 for 36.
437, 342, 317 and a 315 as well as a big out and back from reader out with 325 flat triangle from near her home in the Wallace and reader out, which is a spectacular launch just down from fish flying over the big terrain in the Alps and the Swiss Alps. So we talk about that flight and we talk about her quite incredible recovery and just how she got there. Views flying and goals and future and Serena is fantastic. And it was, uh, I was, I've been very thankful for Ed Ewing at XC magazine to recommend getting her on the first show back in 22. And we had a great chat this time around as well.
So enjoy.
Serena, it's been a few years. It's nice to see your smiling face there. I understand you're near Lake Geneva near a flying site, a nice hike and fly site. And I think it's getting dark there and getting light here. So hopefully I'll be able to go do a little hike and fly later today after we're done talking, but it's nice to see your face again and nice to catch up again.
Yeah. Thanks for giving. I'm super happy to talk with you now.
Yeah, you, your, your name popped up cause I follow X contest and, uh, saw that you were third overall in sport this year, won the woman's again. And that was the last time. We talked, you had won X contest in March of 22. And we also, we talked about a lot of things in that podcast. So it's going to be really fun to revisit some of that, some of those things, and also find out about the Sertau and your adventures there in Brazil and your big out and back rear out this, this summer. And just what you've been doing the last time we chatted, you were dealing with a pretty bad accident. You'd had a pretty hard pass. I'm pretty happy about that. And we'll be in town and we're just starting the rehab and coming back from that.
So really happy to see you're clearly all the way back now, but just tell us again, give us the snapshot of, of the accident, what happened and get us up to speed with then and now.
So, yeah, it was in 2021. I, I dreamed of, uh, one bivouac. Tour, so I went with my BV stuff on on a little trip in the Alps, and I did a four days trip with a friend, and then I finished alone because we... it was difficult to fly with this friend together because we landed a few times in separate places, and yeah, the last day I was a little bit tired and I just wanted to to land after a few hours of flying and to to go back home.
And this day, it was a super hot day and there was no wind. I wanted to land in the in the beautiful valley with a lot of places where you can land easily and, yeah, I did my approach. I did a few turns to see the wind in the valley and there was almost no wind, maybe 10 10 kilometers hours of wind, and I saw a big grassy field and so I I was near of this field where I wanted to land but I saw some trees moving super fast and I was thinking, but what is that? Because there is no wind in the valley and, yeah, I was focused on the landing and I thought, yeah, maybe it's a it's a thermal.
And I was at this time quite low, maybe 50 meters above the ground, and I thought, yeah, but just hold your wing. It's it's a probably just a thermal and when I approached to land, I had no wing up on my upper me. Um, I I had a big collapse. I don't know really what happened because I had a blackout. I just remember that I was told I that I told to me, it's too low to to throw the reserve and I just felt on my two legs.
Um, and then, uh, yeah, I, I saw that my legs were was broken, and I had a lot of pain in my back, and luckily few people saw me and they come to me and and they call an ambulance, and I just told to them I think I flew I flew in a dust a dust little dust devil but I'm not sure what really happened because I had a blackout for a few seconds. So so, yeah, I had to to go to the hospital where I was operating in urgence in emergency and I had um Two vertebrae broke in my back, and one really bad, and my, yeah, two, my leg, right leg, was, was broken too.
And then I went two weeks in the hospital, and there I was waiting for a place where I could go, in a rehabilitation clinic, because I lost a lot of sensitivity in my legs. So one leg, I lost a hundred percent of sensitivity, and I couldn't move my feet. So I, I had to go in a clinic, but it was impossible to go to, go home like that. So, yeah, in the rea clinic, I, I learned to walk again and to move my feet again, and I did five months there to, to learn to
Yeah, to walk again and to wait for the sensitivity coming back in in the leg. And now, five years later, I can walk, I can run. I did not have the whole sensitivity in my foot, but yeah, I—it's incredible that I can, yeah, do some like hike and fly races and train a lot and fly again, like I flew before, because, uh, it was a hard walk to come to this point, yeah, so
The the bad vertebra fracture, you, you did have spinal damage, but the nerves have mostly come back. You've gotten most of the feeling back.
Yeah, um, I think I have, um, eighty percent of my feeling that came back. I cannot move my my
toes on one feet really well. I don't have the sensitivity of the big toe and, but I can do almost everything. The balance is a bit difficult on my right leg, but I don't need any help to to walk, yeah.
How long after the accident, what, how long was it before you were able to fly again? So...
I did my first flight six months after the accident, and I was really lucky because, uh, Chrigel offered me a tandem flight with him. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it was, uh, one of my most beautiful days in my life, and it was in the winter in February, and we took off in the snow, and I wasn't able to, to be on skis because I could not wear ski boots yet because of the movement of my feet, and for me it was not possible to, to run at this moment. So yeah, for the takeoff, I took a few steps forward, and then I sat in the harness, and, and Chrigel had to carry me to be able to take off
But luckily, it wasn't. He was on skis, so so it was not too difficult for him to to take off. And yeah, this flight was just incredible. I was shouting with joy, and I had tears in my eyes to to yes, remember this feeling of freedom and flying. I I miss it too much was
...there any ever any thought when you were going through all the rehab that did you always know you were going to come back to flying, or was there times where you thought, I don't know, I...
When I was in the hospital, the first two weeks, um, I knew that I will fly again. I did not know it if it will be in a wheelchair or not, but I knew I wanted to fly again.
Yeah, this might be hard to articulate, but why, why was it so obvious that you would fly again, or that you wanted to again? Why was it, uh, so clear to you?
because flying gave me so much joy and freedom, and for me, it's the best therapy I can have in in the world. So it's, I was sure I wanted to fly again, yeah.
And what about how long after was... was it that you flew solo? Is it pretty soon after the flight with Chrigel, or...
Yeah, it was a few weeks after I did my first solo flight. I wasn't able to run, so I, I need to find a place where I have a takeoff with wind and, um, I went on the little mountain in the middle of the flatland this day. And it was in, yeah, in the winter, but it was a fantastic day for flying because you had a cumulus clouds, clouds every day. And I took off quite easily because it was like 15 kilometers per hour, per hour of wind and, yeah, I was very stressed but very excited too.
And when I was in the air, I was really stressed to thermal and it was, yeah, sometimes, uh, difficult because I was really excited to be flying again and catch thermals and to be under the clouds and, yeah, it was a mix of, of fear and joy. And sometimes, maybe the balance was not so good because, um, I had too much fear and so, yeah, when I had too much fear, I just left the thermals and went, um, other place and, yeah, I flew about two hours this day and I was super, super happy to, to be again in the sky, yeah.
Well, what can you describe? What, what does that fear look like? Because many people have had—we call them fear injuries in this sport—and they're not just in this sport, they're any kind of sport. And it can be from a really, really scary incident that doesn't have any of the physical side of the of an accident, or it could be like yours that had the physical side and, you know, the months and months of rehab. What is the fear? Something that you do, you imagine something bad happening? Is that what's scary? Or is it just scary to be in the air for
Me, um, I had mostly fear when I was in thermals or in turbulences because I was scared that my wing will close again. Um, I knew that it will block me to fly again in the Alps because it was where I had my accident, so it was quite okay to fly on the flatland or on little mountains. I had really no problem to take off and and just do a sunset flight. It was really, I had this fear, uh, in strong thermals, but in little thermals or just flying around my home place, there was no problem.
It was really, really in thermals and Yeah, the problem was that I wanted to fly often the whole day to do big cross-country flying, and I, I don't, didn't want just to fly on the mountain where I live and to do some little flights. I really wanted to, to optimize the whole day, so to launch early and to
land late, but for me it was super difficult because I had often to land early because of this fear, and I was frustrated how
Do you deal with that? How does it—how does it eventually go away? Is it—is it just time, or was there something active you were doing each flight, or when you're home visualizing where you were? You doing? Did anybody help you with that? So...
Yeah, I think the most important for me was to, to fly a lot in, in condition that for me were cold, and I did a lot of um groundland handling, so I in many different condition to regain confidence, maybe in line wind, in strong wind, in turbulences. I don't know, maybe I did a 50 hours of uh of ground handling, really, really a lot.
Good for you, yeah.
and I did, um, several hypnosis session which helped me a lot to feel better in in the air, so yeah, during my hypnosis session I had to feel to, yeah, to to imagine in a place where I feel really good, and while doing this I I had to do a sign with my body. It can be a touch with two fingers in the hands together. And in the sky, when I was stressed, I had to. to touch the two finger together and to imagine to be in this place so that that helped me a lot for for flying again and to be less stressed in the sky and
Yeah, in the air, when I was afraid, I, I often reassured myself by telling myself that I'm able to control my wing when I am on the ground. So why would it not be able to control it in the air? And yeah, sometimes I, I encourage myself like a sport coach, and I, when I was in the thermal, I, I told me, "Yeah, well done Serena, you are doing great. You're climbing in this amazing thermal, and yeah, the higher you climb, the safer you are. Come on, go for it! And wow, your control, your wing, super good," and things like that.
So that's positive
self-talk
yeah positive self-talk
the the tapping and imagining yourself in a in a wonderful place; it's a type of training that you you can do to retrain your your brain, that the the kind of autonomic system. If you have a PTSD kind of event like you did, am I is is this you basically what that is? You're kind of you're retraining your brain to not see this as something so negative, right? I
did that with a psychotherapist, uh, that just guided me through the hypnosis to be in this place where I feel good and give me the tricks to to do it in the air when I felt
Stressed, how long did it take to feel close to the air? When I felt close to mentally, where you were before the accident, where where you know really strong thermals, you know, which you're going to get down in the sertão, we're getting there down in Brazil, but certainly very strong conditions down there. That'd be a tough place to fly with a lot of fear. How long did it take? Was it was it weeks, months, years, uh...
I think years, and I think I'm still not, um, as good mentally as I was before the accident. I still struggle with fear, and it's maybe can be strange. Some people tell me, "Yeah, but but you do so big flights, it's not possible to be so scared," but um, I really think that I have more fear than before my accident, so it takes a lot, a lot of times, and I think I have maybe now almost 800 hours.
of flying after the accident, and I still, I'm still scared sometimes in, in turbulences, and sometimes it's, it's just irrational fear because I'm really high, I can be at a three thousand meter high, and I'm, I can be scared to push the, the speed bar. So, hmm, yeah, it takes a lot of time.
Do you ever feel like this is something you're forcing, or is it just... still, you get so much out of flying that it's worth it? Worth dealing with this? I mean, it's hard to fly scared. That's... that's tough. Yeah.
It's, um, it's a playing with the limits, your own limits, and sometimes it's difficult to find a limit. So, um, yeah, I had to land a lot of time, and I had to learn a lot of things, and I had to learn a lot of things of time very early because maybe the two, three first hours from the flight, it's soft, soft thermals. And then when the thermal went stronger, I, I had to land, and I had to respect the, the this fear because I know that in 2022, when I started to fly again, I asked me if I want to, to still fly, and I was asking myself, maybe it's better I, I stopped flying because I have too much fear, and I was too much frustrated, and, and, and sad because I had to land, and it gave me too much negative feelings.
So, yeah, it was not easy to find this limit of pushing yourself and to respect this, the fear. So, yeah, yeah, that's I think the most difficult thing when you have an accident and you start again to fly, to, to play with this limits, to not just be Yeah, don't want to fly anymore. And I think fear, yeah, fear is not the enemy, but it gives information about what you can handle or not. And I think it's, I choose really, for start, easy sites and soft terrain and good condition.
I did not force too much in places like the Alps where I was too scared too much to fly.
You mentioned when we first started recording that you're physically able to do pretty much everything, even hike and fly racing. How has that been? When we talked the first time, you kind of had your eye on the ex-Alps potentially before the accident.
How has that journey been into hike and fly and racing and pushing your body? Do you feel like that helps as well?
Yeah, I think that I did a few races in 2022 to be with a group of pilots and friends to try to give me more confidence. But I was very frustrated because I often landed early or I was not able to push the speedbar. And it was a good experience because I could fly slowly again in the Alps because I was with other pilots. And for me, I felt more safe. But now I don't want to do competition. So cross country competition because I have to push too much the speedbar in conditions where I don't want.
But I love hike and fly races because it's another adventure. I think you don't have to push so much the speedbar. It's more tactical. And I have a lot of pleasure with hike and fly races. But I need to... I need to listen to my body because sometimes I have pain in my ankle when I have to walk too much on the flat.
And like little races for one, two or three days, it's okay. But when it's too much, I think for my body, it's maybe not the best thing I can do.
You won X contest this year. You were third overall in sport. First woman and five of your six flights were down in the Sertau. I was surprised to hear from you that you said this was your fourth trip to the Sertau. Well, have you been going pretty much every year since you made the comeback?
Yeah, exactly. I've been almost, I think, every year because I really love to fly in the flatland. And Brazil is just amazing because in good days, you have cumulus clouds. And I love to see those clouds and to see how they develop and to choose your line under the clouds and to fly with the wind. It's super exciting for me. So I really love to fly there. But it's not... It was not easy the first time when I went again because in Brazil, you can find sometimes some dust devils. So...
So one of my... Yeah, my biggest fear now is to land again and to have a dust devil at the landing. So it was super difficult for me to pass this fear. But yeah, I had to told me that it's super, super, super rare to have a dust devil at the landing. And I don't have to stop my dreams because of my accident. Yeah.
Yeah, I was going to say that. That's easy. You just land at six every day. No problem. There's no dust devils at six.
And you like to stay in the air all day. So that's easy. Yeah, I... So this was the 2025 season. So that these were all flights at the end of 2024. But a 469, a 441, a 437, a 342. And then a 325 out and back from Reeder Alp, which I've flown a lot. That is a monster out and back. You might have to tell us about that one. And then a 317 and a 315. So how much time were you there?
Was it a good season? Was it average?
And yeah, compare it to other times. I mean, that's racking up some pretty good distance there.
I think every year is quite good in Brazil. Every day. Every day. Every year you can fly more than 500 Ks. And I just think that my skills were better and better every year. And that's why I can fly every year a bit further. But yeah.
What are you flying? What's your equipment?
I flew in 2024 the Ozone Photon.
And now this year I flew. So last year I flew the Marathon. I flew the Marathon from the Sky Power Glider. I changed because I felt better on the Marathon than the Photon. I think it's a more easy sea glider, two-liner gliders. And it's more soft to fly. So it's less physical with the turns and the speed bar. I'm less tired with the Marathon than with the Photon. Hmm. But I want to fly. I want to stay with the sea glider because I think I have a lot of... I can learn a lot with the sea glider still because of my fear.
And yeah, I think pushing the speed bar, I could learn to push it more with my glider that I have now. And I don't want to change for a D glider. So I think I have flown... Yeah, maybe eight. About 800 or 1,000 hours with the sea glider. But I still feel that I can learn a lot with my sea glider.
Hmm. When you're... You're always towing in Brazil or are you doing the foot launch over at... I forget the name of the place. Yeah, Quixadá. Asu and Quixadá. Yeah, well, Quixadá. But isn't there a foot launch place that's kind of near Caico as well? And there's... Well, there's Tissima. That's the only place I've flown. The only place
I've flown
is Tissima and Quixadá. I've only been down there once. But... And all mine were foot launches. I never... I was never lucky enough to get the tow set up. But are you always towing or are you doing both?
I mostly tow. Sometimes I flew in Quixadá when I did a big flight and I wanted to fly the day after. I took off in Quixadá. But... Yeah. Yeah. The takeoff can be... It can be quite tricky because of the strong wind. So I really prefer to tow. But I think if the wind is light, Quixadá is a super nice place to fly because you can soar at the beginning and wait for the good condition to start your flight.
Yeah, it's pretty. It's cool. Nice little hotel there with the pool. And... Yeah. You don't see many flights out here. It's not like Quixadá anymore. It used to be the big thing, but people keep going east.
What's the big pull to return there? It's just the flatlands?
Yeah, it's the flatlands. And the friends now I have that I want to see every year. And I've... Yeah, the people who live there in the Cerro Tao, they're such kind, so kind. And when you land... Early or not, you are super welcome to be with the people who live there. And they open the door with big arms and they give you water, a chair, they give you food and you forget, you bomb out when you're invited to the house of the people, the Brazilian.
Do you enjoy more? You know, the flight you had from Riederalp, when you look back on your 2024 year, the 2025 X-Contest season, which flight or flights really stands out?
Yeah, this flight I did from Riederalp, we had amazing conditions. So it was a day where you can start really, really early with cumulus clouds the whole day. And the thermal where... Yeah, strong, but not turbulent. So you can, you could fly really fast and you can, you could fly straight for a lot of kilometers. And for this flight, I went to Chamonix and then it was so easy that I thought, oh, maybe I can go further. And I tried to go further. I did not know the area, but I just discovered a new area.
And then I went. And I went back and it was, yeah, I was in the flow and everything was super easy. I just had a little moment with a little tricky part because for me, it was so easy that I was so high that I wanted to cross the Rhone Valley over Martigny in a straight line. And the line was too straight. I almost landed in the... I was in the valley before Chamonix and I was there for, I think, almost half an hour trying to go higher and higher because I was too low in the stability. So I lost a lot of time in this valley because, yeah, the conditions were so good that I thought I can fly straight.
But, yeah, the flights in the Sertau, they're just magnificent too because... In the afternoon when you are 3,000 meters over the ground in the sunlight, it's just an incredible feeling because, yeah, you have clouds in front of you and you just follow the clouds. And it's a feeling that you cannot have in the Alps.
That kind of straightforward flying in the flatland. Mm-hmm. Where you just follow the clouds, drift with the wind. It's pretty special. Yeah, like you said, it's pretty easy to find a nice flow state and it goes for a long time.
Mm-hmm.
It's nice when you're not fighting. Often when we're cross country flying, we're fighting. Yeah. It's nice to just cruise. Mm-hmm. Did you, Serena, are your goals, you know, was your goal last year to chase X contest or is that's not a problem? Is it more part of it? Is it more that just happened?
No, it was not a goal. My goal was really to feel better in the sky years after years and to gain more confidence.
And when you have more confidence, less fear, you have more pleasure. So that's one of my objectives this year too. I don't have, yeah, big objectives. I think everything is coming with a good flow and just listen to my limits. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. What does your community look like there in, are you near Geneva or, I know you're near the lake, but are you west or east?
I'm east next to Montreux. Sorry, I'm west next to Montreux. Okay. So where I live, it's not a good place for cross country because it's a, it's a southwest takeoff. So when I want, if I want to fly the whole day, I have to move in the Jura or in the valley. So yeah, that's my, or the Berner Oberland. But where I live, it's good for hike and fly for training and sunset flights, but not for
flying. Okay. The whole day, yeah. What's your favorite place in the world to fly? If you could, if you could pick the time of the year and the place and go there right now, where would you go?
I would go to Brazil.
Really? Yeah. Yeah.
I would love to discover a lot of places and I would love to go to, to Colombia because I love a condition that are humid and cumulus clouds. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can have one week with no clouds and the condition are more tricky to fly. But I think I like to fly in Switzerland too when you have good condition and clouds and no wind. But Brazil is really special.
Are you pretty picky about your conditions? Is that, is that kind of a part of the prerequisite of dealing?
Dealing with the fear and stuff? Are you trying to, are you really only trying to fly good days?
Um, yeah, I, I try sometimes I'm, I'm not sure about the, the condition. So I go, I try and if I don't feel good, I, I land and I have no problem now to land because I have a fear or I don't feel good or I think I'm better to swim in the lake than flying. Um, so it's, it's quite. It's quite cool because I'm, I'm super motivated to move in different places. But if it's not good, I, I just land and do something else. Maybe a hike and fly.
What's your day job? What, what do you do when you're not flying?
I'm a school teacher, a part-time school teacher. I work, um, in a school for little children from eight to 10 in a primary school. And next to that, I do some tandem flights. I was able to realize my dream for sharing passion after my accident. It was one of the biggest thing I did, uh, yeah, after my accident. So I'm super happy to, to share this, this passion. Uh, I work mostly in Interlaken where there is a lot of work and a lot of tourists. And, and sometimes I do little flights at my home. And I would love to, to do cross country flights with the tandem.
So it's, um, it would be some coachings I can do with pilots who want to know how it's working. And I think this summer I will do that, um, little coaching with the tandem in the Alps or in the Jura. Because I think it's an easy way to explain. Um, um, life, what you do, what you have to do when you do a cross country flight with, uh, under the pilots.
Hmm. Tell me about teaching eight and eight to 10 year olds. What, uh, have you been doing that a long time?
It's now it's, uh, 10 years that I'm a school teacher and I started to work. I was 21 and I love this work because, um, yeah, I love the job.
It's a job where you don't see the time passing, you're always in action and that's, that's super cool. But I couldn't do that a hundred percent because you're really tired after a day of working to think about a lot of things and you have a lot of agi administrative to do, um, at home. So it takes a lot of time. And. Yeah, it's cool to have this balance between tandem flying and, and school teacher, but I'm thinking about to, to quit my job, uh, next year to do, uh, more, uh, flying more tandems and traveling more to discover new, uh, countries and to do maybe, um, a big, uh, bivouac, uh, trip in, in the Alps.
So. Hmm. Let's see.
Yeah, that sounds exciting. That sounds, that sounds fun. Back to the fear things. I know that's going to be really interesting to many listeners because it's, it's not uncommon in, in this sport. When you look back at all the things you've done with, uh, uh, psychotherapists and, uh, visualization and, uh, the visualizing being in a better place and. Time. What, what advice would you give to someone who's been through something similar? It may not be the physical accident, but just is battling irrational fear. Like you said, you know, when you have this irrational fear, it's just the stuff between your ears. And what do you, when you look back, what, what has been the
most important thing in terms of making progress?
So I'm, I'm asking myself if I won't be maybe more. fast to regain confidence, if I would have bought a wing less difficult than the wing I flew when I had my accident. It was a sea wing, and I bought the Alpina 4 after the accident, a new wing because I, I did not want to fly the same wing that I have my accident, but it was still a sea wing, and I bought this wing because I, I tested it before the accident and I felt good under it, but I think I could have done more progress with a high B wing, but
At this time, I was, I was not conscious about my fear, but now years after, I think buying a wing that is, that is more easy, could be a good advice, and for sure ground handling a lot. This, this helps a lot to, to regain confidence, and then to look at good conditions to go in places where you feel good, so little mountains maybe, or flatland places that were easy to fly to, fly with a, easy to fly with a, good advice, and for sure ground handling a lot.
This, this helps a lot to regain confidence, take off easy, landing, then it depends if you have your accident while flying, or while taking off, or landing. It's, I think, every accident, every fear is different, so um, I think it's really important to, to listen to the fear and to find the balance between pushing and listen to the fear. And I tried to do some SIV after the accident, but it was super difficult. I was really, really stressed, and you need to find a coach, um, yeah, professional that can listen to, yeah, that can understand your fears and not pushing you too.
I had the luck that, um, the, how can I say, the coach in the, in the SIV, they were always gentle and they understood my fear, so I could do little exercises and to Just, yeah, pushing a little bit more, but to respect the fear, and it took me three years to do a full stall again in the SIV, and I did SIV every year to try to be able to full stall again, but I, I really wanted to do it, but in the sky it was not possible for me. I cried because I was on over the lake and wanted to do it, but it was not possible physically and mentally to do it.
So, so it, it just take time, and you have to respect this, and if you push too much, I think you, you stop, and yeah, you have to do little, little steps, and sometimes you will have day when it's all going Going good, but sometimes you may be more tired and it will be more difficult to to fly, and you have to land and accept that. But it's not easy, and maybe to to see a psychotherapist could help too, because you can, you could do hypnosis with him, and that helped me a lot. Yeah,
When you view your accident now and think back to it's been five years, um, you, you hear from people who have bad accidents, they'll often say something along the lines of, "I'm glad it happened." Is there any, do you share any of that? Is it, is it could have been worse, but it could have been better, you know? Would you? But often, I guess what I'm getting at is, it can be really hard to learn the lessons that come out of an accident without having an accident, you know what I mean? That we, we, we all know that it's risky, but in, in ideally you have a, uh, cheap—we call it a cheap accident—where a very close call that teaches you, "Oh, okay, this is, I can't do this," or "I can't push in there," or "I should, I need more margin." But is there any bit of you that's happy this happened, or no, this is just all bad, yeah?
I, I often ask myself about that.
because i
think it's
Very difficult to answer this question, I think. Now I enjoy more the moments than before because I know that life can be, uh, sometimes, uh, super hard and in a super fast way. And I think I want to just work as, as, as much as I need to enjoy, uh, the life because I don't know how long I would be able to do everything I do because of my back. So I, I just want to, to enjoy the life the most possible, as, as possible. And maybe if I did not have this accident, I would, uh, work too much, I don't know, and enjoy less.
I don't know, it's, um, yeah, difficult to, to say that.
is difficult
I thank you, thank you for sharing your personal, very personal journey and difficult journey, and I think many people will really appreciate—I certainly do—just this inside look at something that happens in our sport, since something that most of us will grapple with at some point, unfortunately. So, uh, but thanks, thanks for your guidance, uh, and insights into into all of it, and congratulations on yet another huge year and all the big flights and all the little flights. But thanks, I appreciate you coming on the show. Yeah,
Thank you, Gavin, for me. It's, um, it's important to, to talk about fear, and I'm happy if, if it can help some other pilots to overcome the fear and coming back after an accident. Thank
you if
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