I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but - as interested as I genuinely am in learning to fly one day, why is it that so many flying-related articles tend to crop up on HN over the months?
From the article, the most salient part for me was the "World War II attitude". There are tons of regulations for flying, but in end one is truly in charge of the vessel. Pilots and engineers are among relatively few professions where one can answer 'unable' and presume that the rest of the conversation will take this as fact. You may have to deal with the consequences later, but in the moment you are the expert in control.
There are also few things that are more refreshing after you've been sitting in front of a computer all day than flying to the coast, popping open the window at 4,000ft and taking in a California sunset.