Ego disappears in a flash, and its reduced to what your options are, and how much time you have left to carry them out. Several airline pilots, knowing they were doomed, have made comments on the flight recorders that illustrate just how clearly they understood their fate, and the lack of options. It has been the traditional last words for generations of pilots, from the First World War, up to the Space Shuttle Challenger's pilot. So, the last thoughts and words tend to be reduced to just those two syllables. The day comes, usually without any forecasts of dread or doom.
Flyers tend to love to fly, so they approach their birds with anticipation and a light heart.
Only rarely does the aircraft give any prior indication that today might be its last. Probably the closest I came to checking out in an aircraft was during a flight from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, to an Embassy in Moqadishu, Somalia. The extreme distance involved means that every flight includes a fully-loaded aircraft, often straining under the weight of extra fuel, passengers, and essential cargo. The fifteen crew and passengers strapped in tight, all eager at the thought of a trip into Africa, and the pilot let go of the brakes. Diego Garcia is a tiny coral atoll just below the belt of the equator, straight South from India.