Aviation/Pilot Book Recommendations?

[markc80]

Hi all,

I'm an avid reader of the FL390 (http://flightlevel390.********.co.uk/) blog, and wondered if there are any other blogs, but preferably books which give a narrative of being a pilot?

TIA

[sevenstrokeroll]

FATE IS THE HUNTER...EK Gann

[spacegrand]

THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY GANN

[donnlass]

From The Flight Deck Plane Talk and Sky Science: by Doug Morris.

[squeaker]

First Light by Geoffrey Wellum

[Jumbo Jockey]

I agree with all the preceding suggestions. Here are a few more...

If you're interested in the historical perspective, another personal favourite is Sir Gordon Taylor's autobiography "The Sky Beyond" with some excellent tales of derring-do. He learned to fly in WW1, navigated on some of the early trans-Tasman flights for Kingsford-Smith and trailblazed some early trans-Pacific routes on Catalinas during WW2.

For a slightly more modern viewpoint, you might try "Croydon to Concorde" by Ron Gillman, who learned his flying in the RAF in WW2 then got into the airlines after the war on De Havilland Express Airliners for a company which was later swallowed up into BEA. As well as flying everything from those De Havilland biplanes through Vanguards and on to Tridents operationally, he also flew lots of other aeroplanes in the process of doing flight-test reports for magazines, so has an interestingly broad range of experience.

A still more up-to-date account of a pilot's life is contained in Trevor Vellacott's recently-published autobiography "The Things That Are Unseen". I'll confess an interest here as I've known Trevor a long time, but even allowing for any personal bias on my part, I thought it was a very entertaining read with some excellent stories. He started his career bush-flying in Cessna singles for a mining company in north-west Australia and went on through crop-dusting to (believe it or not) BOAC, Saudia and Virgin.

Enjoy!

JJ

[markc80]

Apologies for the delayed reply but many thanks to all who posted.

This is my way of dealing with my FPP rejection :{ Actually I'm really pleased that I didn't get through - my new day job has me flying business class fairly regularly which is a nice treat.... Plus my naive bubble of what it's like to be a pilot in these times has not been burst