Book recommendations, (Flying stories)

[Mark Nine]

Can anyone help me with a present for my father-in-law?
He is a student pilot with a handful of hours under his belt and has got to the point were concentrating on the lessons leaves him thinking what joy can possibly gained from this flying lark.:suspect:
As a reminder to what thousands of us see in it, I thought i would get him a good flying book for christmas. All recommendations gratefully received.
If it helps narrowing it down a little, he used to own a motor boat which was used to tour the French, Belgium and Dutch coasts, finding nice places to eat, drink etc. He plans to use his ppl for the same reasons.

Thanks in advance:ok:

[hobbit1983]

Fate Is The Hunter, by Ernest Gann :ok:

[pulse1]

AND "First Light" by Geoffrey Wellum.

[Wrong Stuff]

Fate Is The Hunter, by Ernest Gann
You're joking, surely? The guy needs a reminder of what "joy can possibly gained from this flying lark" and you recommend a book which starts with 5 pages of dedications to pilots killed in flying accidents? It's a truly great book, certainly, but I don't think it's going to spur him on through those hard lessons. He'd be better off with Chickenhawk or The Killing Zone instead ;)

[Joshwilson10]

Buy him the November 1996 edition of Aero Africa magazine and refer him to the story of Leon Stoman’s transatlantic C150 flight! Or you could just read it on the internet!

[batninth]

I suggest "Think like a Bird" by Alex Kimbell - boy's own stuff from the Aden years along with really good flying stories. Try as I might, I can't get to setting the engine rpm a long way out and then bringing it all the way home smoothly without touching the throttle like AK does in one chapter...maybe one day.

Someone else will say "Propellorhead" by Anthony Woodward - great laugh, and a good book for student PPLs as there are some valuable lessons in it.

Finally agree with pulse1 - "First Light" is brilliant, and "ChickenHawk" is very good too.

[WALSue]

I'm in the same situation as your father in law and the only books I've been asking for are ones like the PPL Confuser!

[Papa Charlie]

Anything by Richard Bach. :)

[Whirlybird]

"A Gift of Wings" by Richard Bach...a book about the sheer joy of being airborne. He'll love it! :ok:

Here's a quote at random....

"When these people talk about why they fly and the way they think about airplanes, not one of them mentions travel....Those are not really so important and not the central reason that brings men and women into the sky. They talk, when we get to know them, of friendship and joy and of beauty and love and of living, of really living, firsthand, with the rain and the wind".

One of my favourite books. Time I got off PPRuNe and started re-reading it.

[homeguard]

WIND, SAND AND STARS by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A gripping read of survival flying across the Sahara desert in open cockpit aeroplanes.
Saint-Exupery later wrote the 'Little Prince' a wonderful story for children - and grown ups. Some say the greatest book for children ever written. I still often read this book as a bible for common sense.
He spent most of his life working as a mail delivery pilot in the Sahara Desert and also the Andes, mostly between the two wars. He is inspiring for anyone that flies.

[ChampChump]

This is the one I think I'd choose for this gentleman: Flight of the Gin Fizz, by Henry Kisor. It's on my list in Amazon and added into one of the lists above, IIRC.

Well-written, fascinating, guaranteed* to inspire.


* Now there's a contentious word.

[J.A.F.O.]

Lots of great suggestions but I really think that batninth has hit the nail on the head with his two.

[Al Smith]

Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis

[hobbit1983]

You're joking, surely? The guy needs a reminder of what "joy can possibly gained from this flying lark" and you recommend a book which starts with 5 pages of dedications to pilots killed in flying accidents? It's a truly great book, certainly, but I don't think it's going to spur him on through those hard lessons. He'd be better off with Chickenhawk or The Killing Zone instead

Okay, Okay I take it back.....here, try this one instead :}

http://shop.pilotwarehouse.co.uk/product20410023catno98000023.html

[vancouv]

hobbit1983 - made me laugh!!

Nothing that hasn't been mentioned, by I read 'Fate is the Hunter' when I was a student PPL and loved it.

And 'Propellorhead' is hilarious and very relevant to a student.

[batninth]

Thought about another after I had posted - if F-I-L likes to miander along then I enjoyed "Zero 3 Bravo" by Mariana Gosnell about her flying circuit of the US in a Luscombe. It's ~15 years old now, but it makes me long to take a long holiday and fly off like that.

[Saab Dastard]

Here's a comprehensive list of threads to do with recommended reading.

The links work this time!

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42041
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104460
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99516
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39587
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36514
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36094
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=65903

SD

[dublinpilot]

While Fate is the Hunter might not be an inspirational read for someone getting bored with training, I defy anyone who loves aviation to read it and not enjoy it! :)

dp

[ChampChump]

Agreed, but the OP had a specific audience in mind. FITH is a great read, but IMHO it's a better read when one has a bit of experience.

Zero 3 Bravo was one of my top choices, along with Propellorhead, Think Like a Bird (and several of the others frequently mentioned in the lists) but was pipped at the post for me by the Henry Kisor book. If you want to know why, I urge you to seek it out. Trust me, I'm a....well, ok, just read it.
:ok:

[Mark Nine]

Thanks very much for all the great suggestions so far, quite a few are getting more than one vote, which is good.
To narrow it down further, the wife has suggested that the book should n't be about the military or slumming it! Ideally it should be about touring in comfort.

[Genghis the Engineer]

That brings us back to Richard Bach I think.

I'd certainly second Whirly's suggestion of "A gift of wings" which I think is the best bit of aviation writing I've ever come across.

Alternatively, his "Stranger to the ground" is a wonderful story about flying an old biplane across the USA.

Propellerhead also I think is a great read about learning to fly in the UK.


But of them all, I'd still go with "A gift of wings" as the most supreme bit of writing.

G

[tigerbatics]

Someone has to like Richard Bach's writing I suppose. I find it over sentimental, gushing in a very American way and, well.... almost unreadable Totally vomit inducing in fact.

After that I don't suppose anyone will be interested in my proposal but try 'Airymouse' by Harald Penrose. Your Wife would approve given her suggestion.

[Chris Royle]

I don't think that's the same "Stranger to the Ground" that I've read. The one I have read is about flying an F-84 from England to France at Christmas time.
A wonderfully evocative book.

[Troy McClure]

I clicked on the link to this thread whilst looking at my copy of 'Fate is the Hunter' which (I promise you this is true) is sat on my coffee table not 3 feet from me, planning to write something about this truly magnificent book (not quite finished it, but compellling reading).

Then I read the post and decided that maybe its not the best suggestion.

Imagine my surprise (now there's an expression you don't hear much these days, much to my chagrin), to read it in the first response.

Classic.

Trainee PPL - read it. Anyone else - read it. Great book.

[18greens]

Propellor head is a great book covering the journey and the pain and joy to be had from getting a licence.

Theres another book Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck about two boys crossing america in a Cub they built themselves at the age of 16. Very inspiring book.

I loved Fate is the Hunter (but maybe a little hard core). I especially remember him landing a DC3? in IMC with the captain lighting matches in front of his face to improve his concentration.

I never got on with Richard Bachs stuff.

A book I enjoyed years ago was Chuck Yeagers biography 'Yeager'.

Non of these are about delightful touring in relaxed comfort though. More camping on a motorbike and back to roots style.

[DBo]

"The Pre-Astronauts, Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space" by Craig Ryan.

Its about the high altitude balloon flights made in the 1950's & 60s in the run-up to the space programme. Gripping stuff, including Joe Kittinger's 103,000 ft parachute jump.

Unfortunately its out of print, but its available through abebooks.co.uk etc.

Incidentally there's a programme about the atmosphere being shown at 7pm BBC2 tomorrow (sunday) night including a bit about Kittinger's jump. The programme has already been shown on Discovery & is supposed to be good.

Dave

[Troy McClure]

That was already on Tuesday on BBC 2. Repeat tomorrow. That high altitude balloon jump was awesome. Maybe one day... :rolleyes:

or check:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81gn2oLeC_U&feature=related


Troy.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

"A Gift of Wings" by Richard Bach...a book about the sheer joy of being airborne. He'll love it!
Here's a quote at random....
"When these people talk about why they fly and the way they think about airplanes, not one of them mentions travel....Those are not really so important and not the central reason that brings men and women into the sky. They talk, when we get to know them, of friendship and joy and of beauty and love and of living, of really living, firsthand, with the rain and the wind".
One of my favourite books. Time I got off PPRuNe and started re-reading it.

It was 'Gift of Wings' that inspired me to get my PPL back in the late '70s. It really celebrates the joy of flight - sounds like just what he needs.

Bach has written a few god books and some turkeys (Jonathan seagull, and the wierd books). But 'Gift' is just wonderful.

I'd also recommend Penrose's 'Airymouse'.

But touring.... well, that's not such an inspirational subject as the pure joy of flying. Probably why if there are any such books, I can't think of one right now.
SSD

[ericferret]

Try some aviation fiction as well

Any of Brian Lecombers novels and for a really good read Gavin Lyall's "The most dangerous game". First adult book I ever read, re-read so many times since I have lost count.

Fate is the Hunter was my recommendation to a friend who's father flew Lancastrians over the atlantic after the war. Marks out of 10 from his father 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chickenhawk also gets my vote.

[5footface]

Three excellent WW2 books are:

The Big Show by Pierre Clostermann
I flew for the Fuhrer by Heinz Knoke
Lancaster to Berlin by Walter Thomposn

Fantastic story of what is possible in a light aircraft

The Flight of the Mew Gull by Alex Henshaw

Lovely stories of the sheer joy of flying

Flying for fun by Jack Parham
Happy Landings by Group Captain Edward Mole

heartily agree with the recommendations of Lecomber, Chickenhawk and FITH etc

[ChampChump]

What I probably ought to have added to my vote for Flight of the Gin Fizz was that it's written by a chap who learns to fly when not in the first flush of youth, is deaf and has to work out a way of effective communicating in the aeroplane and who then uses his Certificate (American) to great effect.

It's a well-told tale of personal achievement on several levels, with the 'touring' box also ticked.

I commend it to you all, to go with all our other favourites...

[Human Factor]

Not sure if he's written any books but Bernard Chabbert's articles are always beautifully written. Particularly since English isn't his first language.

[Fitter2]

One more vote for Richard Bach 'A gift of wings', although his cross country wanderings in old biplanes might be more described as touring in only moderate discomfort.

Captures better than anything else I have read why we (or at least I) fly.

[Arclite01]

Dragon Lady By Chris Pocock

About the U2 spyplanes - absolutely incredible stuff


Arc

[mark sicknote]

Chickenhawk is a great read...honest, open and gives a real insight into what these guys faced in Vietnam.

Personally, I'd like to compile a safety related book for PPL pilots. I'm a new PPL and "lap up" pearls of wisdom from those who have experienced interesting situations and walked away.

Maybe worth a new thread....any takers?

Best,

Sicknote:ok:

[JOE-FBS]

I recently bought a second hand copy of a book titled "They Called it Pilot Error". Although written by an Amercian with an agenda which is not to my taste, if you see past that, it's full of educational fictionalised stories of how real GA pilots managed to kill themselves. Mostly, the disease seems to be pressonitis although there are some quite barking ones as well (for example, a group of Good Ol' Boys, tanked on booze crash and die while trying to shoot birds while flying).

Being newly started on PPL training, I would be grateful for other suggestions of educational but readable stuff to complement the emotional delights of Richard Bach et al.

[Whirlybird]

One of myfavourites in the educational but readable category is "The Naked Pilot", by David Beatty. The best book ever written on the role of human factors in aviation accidents, IMHO.

[Windy Militant]

Cloud Cuckooland - Harald Penrose
The Cannibal Queen - Steven Coonts
Flying for Fun, I can't off hand remember the Author but it was an autobiographical tale of an army officer between the wars who bought an Aeronca C3 IIRC, It was made into a film by Channel 4 circa 1989.
The Lonely Sea and the Sky by Sir Francis Chichester.
You Want To Build And Fly A What??? by Dick Starks.

Edited to add That 'A gift of wings' has a very good bibliography which led me to the works of Ernest K Gann, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Bert Stiles 'Serenade to the Big Bird' so to me it was worth it's weight in gold just for that.

[JBGA]

Although it focuses primary on gliding I would highly reccomend 'The Platypus Papers' by Mike Bird. The book is an amalgamation of anecdotes written in his regular column 'Tailfeathers' in Sailplane and Gliding magazing. One of the most hilarious aviation-related books I've had the pleasure to read.

[Flying Lawyer]

Two books I'm happy to highly recommend - very different but both excellent.

Hot off the press ........

The Wind Beneath my Wings - John Hutchinson, Concorde Pilot
Published by Speedman Press.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/Rotorheads/JohnHutch.jpg

I've posted a review here: http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/455846-wind-beneath-my-wings-john-hutchinson-concorde-pilot.html

IMHO, a 'must read' for anyone interested in aviation generally and Concorde in particular.
It's the best aviation book I've read since ........


A View from the Hover: My Life in Aviation
by John Farley
Published by Seager Publishing

http://www.waterstones.com/wat/images/nbd/m/978095/327/9780953275250.jpg

Not only a very readable account of the career of one of our most distinguished and highly respected test pilots but a fascinating insight into an exciting era of aviation history.
As we've often seen in various PPRuNe forums, John has the rare gift of being able to explain the most technical matters in a way that can be understood even by those who, like me, are not naturally technically minded.
It concludes with highly informative thoughts for GA pilots - guaranteed to improve the flying skills of even the most experienced PPL.
If you missed the first edition, the second is now available. (They are the same except for some minor corrections and indexing changes.)


FL

[dirkdj]

I would recommend 'Stick and Rudder' by Wolfgang Langewiesche. I know, it is old and not very good reading but it may help him immensely understanding the basics of flying.

[airpolice]

Chickenhawk and Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

By the time he's read them both he'll be keen to get back into the confuser.

[LD1Racing]

A couple that I've enjoyed recently, though they may not suit the OP's brief:

Empire of the Clouds: When Britains Aircraft Ruled the World, James Hamilton-Paterson. A readable and interesting account of the British aircraft industry post WWII.

Vulcan 607, Rowland White. The raid on Stanley, one of the most outrageous bombing missions of all time surely, and one of my favourite quotes:
"air-to-air refuelling is like pushing wet spaghetti up a cat's arse".
Long distance touring, not much comfort.

Finally, my current bed time book is The Spirit of St Louis, Charles Lindberg. A fascinating read, surely the ultimte tale of human endurance and pioneering spirit. Moreso even than the Mercury Astronauts IMHO.

[24Carrot]

"West With The Night", by Beryl Markham.