I had been waiting to tell 'my story' for a while now... but when you start talking about 'work' on a public forum (even a 'niche' one like Stacker News) I think it's a good idea to be discreet. My 'avenue' to Bitcoin was totally, utterly non-traditional and in fact I wouldn't have "got into" Bitcoin were it not for aviation. I wouldn't 'understand' it today... I just see so many "bad takes" on Bitcoin that are near-worthless... I wouldn't understand Bitcoin if it weren't for 1) having a strong background in Aviation and 2) being a minority (based on religion/sex/race/gender etc it doesn't matter the specific category it's all the same...)

Those 2 things - Energy and Personal Property Rights/Network Rights/Network Access for anyone brave enough regardless of color or creed changed my life. So let me start near the beginning.

I didn't go to university for Aviation but for "Liberal Arts" (LOL) and after using my liberal arts degree for a few years... I realized I wanted something different. My father had been a pilot in the Air Force, had always flown first for the government then for the "private sector..." and it was something I had been long-term interested in.

I decided to go to 'aviation school' in the 2010s and the program I went to was intense. The expectation was that you would study and fly (with an instructor if you weren't 'soloing') every day as the design of the program was "drinking from a fire-hose." A program like that is designed to either make you succeed or make you quit. Flying every day in a Cessna is really, really tiring because as a 'beginner pilot' you are
simply overwhelmed. Physically flying the airplane, communicating on the radios, understanding what and when and then executing what you are doing "time-compressed" is something that has little parallel with most other jobs in my opinion. Beginner pilots are easily overwhelmed (because they are beginners) and I was too... but if you studied enough they would keep "throwing you in the pool" and pushing you and you learned, A LOT.

I eventually earned "all my ratings" (single engine, multi-engine, instrument, instructor etc) but career-wise you don't have a lot of experience. Most 'new pilots' have around 250 hours and in the United States all you can do early in your career is teach in light aircraft (Cessna, Pipers etc) which I did.

I always looked for an 'advantage' and the opportunity to learn more, to understand how airplanes worked, how to be a better instructor and most importantly how to be safer. Teaching people 'how to fly' in small airplanes hour after hour day after day... in truth is really dangerous. Your students are unintentionally trying to kill you every day... I had a few flight-instructor friends or friends of friends who were killed over the years it's serious business and most CFIs (certified flight instructors) have the same or similar experience.

My favorite 'flying' book was (and is!) called Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators originally published by the United States Navy in the 1960s. Its purpose was (as relevant then as now) to teach Energy Management to Naval Aviators flying at a high AoA (Angle of Attack) basically low and slow while trying to land on an aircraft carrier. Taking off heavy with fuel and ordnance, completing your 'mission' then returning to the carrier to land after a long-ass-day flying is no joke... and in the 1960s a lot of Navy pilots were unfortunately killed trying to land on a big boat.

https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/00-80T-80.pdf

I remember spending hour after hour, long after I had finished 'teaching' for the day pouring over this book... it was (and is) everything that you wanted to know about aerodynamics as a pilot but were afraid to ask. To summarize a very long text, and many concepts, is to say that there is no free lunch in engineering, you can convert one form of energy to another but energy is NOT free.

Airspeed can be converted to altitude, or altitude converted to airspeed with varying levels of efficiency - you can convert one to another depending on terrain, weather, endurance, range, conditions of flight, configuration etc...

But energy is never FREE and eventually you will run out! Good engineering (and good aviation) is all about profile and risk management and how you can store and transfer energy across your equipment depending on procedure, training and performance guidelines.

The first aircraft you fly (a Cessna) has no hydraulics has no pneumatic system has no 'gear' system (that retracts or extends) and is relatively simple in construction. Eventually however you graduate to larger aircraft that DO have all these things:

• Electrical
• Hydraulic
• Pneumatic
• Chemical (for example for propulsion)

plus many other systems used to Aviate, Navigate, and Communicate in order to complete a flight safely (not my picture).

Fuel is ignited using STORED energy in a battery, in order to START a TURBINE generating HIGH-PRESSURE AIR - THEN used to START other turbines (aka ENGINES) which provide hydraulic, pneumatic, and electrical sources of energy...

1. to operate the landing gear, flaps, and other equipment
2. generate electrical power to lights, communications, and avionics
3. and provide thrust ultimately to convert chemical ENERGY to AIRSPEED or ALTITUDE.

As a matter of fact... an aircraft is similar to a "big battery" wherein chemical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and electrical systems act interchangeably... one form of energy is stored and/or converted to another. Sophisticated airfoils (WINGS) are added and flight results.

Fast forward a few years later, my crew and I had just completed a transatlantic flight from the United States to the UK... flying a CRAZY amount of freight during COVID. Flights were all freight no passengers basically. It was the first time I really seriously started to think about money and finance, not because I was interested in stonks (I had ZERO interest in the stock market) but because I knew I couldn't save in dollars that lose value every year (somehow a remarkable number of Americans don't realize that... they think that prices are just supposed to go UP every year???)

My entire professional outlook, as a pilot at least, revolved around energy and the scarcity of fuel, range, and aircraft endurance... WHY would I save in paper money that could be created without energy OR scarcity?

In addition I saw growing up what unchecked power and centralization of control could do to people who were unpopular due to race, skin color or religion. It was something I experienced and witnessed, large groups of people who 'meant' well but did terrible things...

I read about it, studied it, history is replete with such examples... for example everyone 'knows' the history of the Soviet Union but few technologies can tie together Energy as well as Property Rights as well as Bitcoin in my opinion.

My crew and I landed in the UK in the morning, went to the hotel of course and we were exhausted. We agreed to rest up, meet up later on the way to a pub, enjoy a few drinks that night (UK beer is awesome) because we didn't leave till the following night.

I had never heard of Bitcoin, I didn't know anything about it, knew nothing of its history or price etc... I started from zero. But reading CNBC or the Wall Street Journal i figured (hoped lol) that I could understand "what was going on..." and what that had to do with money or finance. I can't save in pieces of paper so what else?

There was an article about Bitcoin (there were no ETFs at that time) and I thought... OK what is this Bitcoin thing? CNBC didn't explain much so I googled it.

Then read. And read some more, and more, and more...

I stayed up tired as I was, sat on the hotel room bed for NINE HOURS. NINE HOURS STRAIGHT.
I was astounded. I had no idea anything like Bitcoin existed.

It's hard to convey to non-pilots the importance of fuel, aircraft range, and aircraft efficiency especially when flying long distances over water... You are trained to monitor and manage fuel consumption very carefully to always make sure you have enough. Not having enough fuel over water (for ANY contingency) is unacceptable.

And here was Bitcoin, a way of converting energy to Digital Capital, 'Digital Fuel' that could be stored, saved or transferred across the internet. How cool is this ****!!!

I was hooked immediately.

To this day, every time I make a Bitcoin transaction I think about that flight, about the relatively short history of Bitcoin and what it could become. Without energy and the ability to store it across our civilization, our planes trains and automobiles wouldn't work. Energy therefore is the great filter, with it you can climb or speed up, turn on the lights or provide pressurized air....

The storage and transfer of energy across civilization is fundamental to who we are and what we can accomplish.

I wanted to post this in 'flying' but there is no 'flying' category so I'm posting it in 'Bitcoin' instead... and with the uploaded files it 'costs' me 1000 Sats. Someone had to "mine" those sats, create heat, energy, and light in the process but its worth it.

Noone can 'take your sats' without your keys, and Sats cannot be created 'for free'. In that way they remind me so much of the airplane... energy can be converted from one form to another across our civilization... but it cannot be 'wished' into existence out of thin air something cannot 'come from nothing'.

One day our civilization will also reach that conclusion logically and fundamentally, and our civilization will run on Bitcoin. I pay these 1000 sats with pride and with appreciation for Stacker News.