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Nearly four hundred passengers trapped in a hollow aluminum tube, traveling at over 80% the speed of sound and nearly 40,000 feet in the air. It is an act of faith that everyone involved is the best at what they do: the people who built the aircraft, the airline that operates it, the cabin crew, and the pilots. All the best. But is that true?
Much of this work of fiction has been taken from National Transportation Safety Board accident reports and the news. When major airlines start hiring pilots on things other than skill and experience, bad things happen. This is a work of fiction. Or is it?
Available now at: Amazon.
Flight Lessons
Flight Lessons is a collection of hundreds of professional pilot procedures and techniques, as they were learned by Eddie, the author’s alter ego.
Volume One, Basic Flight, follows Eddie’s first trek into aviation, up to copilot status in the United States Air Force. It includes lessons about aerodynamic force, air properties, angle of attack, the "Big Sky Theory," climb performance, the control and performance technique, course intercepts, critical mach, crosswinds, CR-3 and CPU-26 computers, fix-to-fix navigation, ground effect, holding (FAA), ILS, jet engine 101, mechanics, navigation, physics, plotting, radar, the region of reversed command, stability, thrust and drag, thrust measurement, turn performance, unusual attitude recovery, V-1 (decision speed), water injection, and wind shear. Available at Amazon.
Volume Two, Advanced Flight, follows Eddie’s progress to the left seat, to instructor pilot, and to examiner pilot. It includes: a 60-to-1 engineer-to-pilot translation, aim versus touchdown points, asymmetric thrust, cabin fires, circling approaches, course reversals (ICAO), crew resource management, descent math, equal time points and points of safe return, functional check flights, maintaining an arc, pilot psychology, principles of propulsion, range performance, rapid depressurization, situational awareness, the left seat (for the first time), v-g diagrams, visual approaches, and volcanic ash avoidance and recovery. Available at Amazon.
Volume Three, Experience, follows Eddie after a year at an Air Force leadership school when he returns to the cockpit at the 89th Military Airlift Wing to fly brand new Gulfstream IIIs. Eddie fully embraces a new philosophy of flight, based on knowing everything you can and maintaining a very high level of proficiency. Along the way he discovers the dangers of thinking you know it all by falling for it, hook, line, and sinker. But he soon discovers this way of thinking doesn't agree with his ideas of humility and the need to always learn. In the end he becomes a better pilot (stick and rudder and instrument flying) and a better aviator (judgment). Each chapter relates a series of flight experiences and is followed by a lesson that either reinforces the experiences or provides a counter-point to those experiences. Available at Amazon.
Volume Four, Leadership and Command, takes up where Volume Three lefts off. After fifteen years as a pilot in one United States Air Force squadron after another, Eddie gets his turn as a commander, leading a squadron of 150 pilots, engineers, radio operators, flight attendants, and ground support personnel. His squadron is part of a dysfunctional wing, giving Eddie the perfect opportunity to study his peers and superiors in search of the perfect leadership style. Soon after his command tour is over, the squadron crashes an airplane, killing all on board. The ensuing investigation forces Eddie to take a second look at his own leadership style, revealing the secret to leadership and command. Available at Amazon.
Volume Five, People, takes up after volume Four. After twenty years as a U.S. Air Force pilot, Eddie turns civilian. Flying large international corporations, small private owners, and commercial charter operations, Eddie learns that teaching crews to get along cannot be done with a simple class lesson or leading by example. While most pilots think they are Crew Resource Management gurus, most are blind to their weaknesses. Eddie's progress retraces the industry's evolution until, finally, he discovers the secret. Available at Amazon.
The crew of a fly-by-wire business jet find themselves on a flight across the Atlantic Ocean unable to control the aircraft's direction, altitude, or speed. The aircraft's flight control system and engines are all controlled by computers that react to pilot inputs unless something goes wrong. Something has gone horribly wrong. The captain was once an Air Force fighter pilot and should be more than capable of handling any aircraft problem. Her mechanic, an electrical engineer and former Air Force maintenance officer, is in the jump seat but is also stumped. The solution is held by the designer of the aircraft's flight control computers, but his loyalties are divided. On the one hand, he believes his organization will bring down world capitalism and using these aircraft as weapons are the means to that end. On the other hand, he learns his secret organization may not be what he thought it was. Available at Amazon.
Flying internationally can be a daunting task. “International Flight Operations” presents what the FAA, ICAO, EASA, and others have to say on a subject and then breaks that down and explains it in an understandable way that is truly applicable to what you as the pilot need to know.
The manual is organized first by the main pillars of international flight operations: negotiation, navigation, communications, surveillance, and abnormal procedures. It then presents a tutorial that takes you through the early decision-making processes, an oceanic crossing, and a flight around the world. Finally, it presents a 40-chapter appendix with everything you need to know that wasn't already covered. Topics as basic as how to plot and as esoteric as true course ten-degree tables are all part of the manual. Available at Amazon.
The lives of three brothers hinge on the outcome of the final bombing campaign of the Vietnam War, Linebacker II. Ernest, the middle brother, is an "EW," and electronic warfare officer flying B-52 bombers based in Thailand. He has complete faith in the bomber's electronic counter measures and his skill at using his technology to keep safe from the Surface to Air Missile (SAM) threat. Stephen, the eldest, is a B-52 pilot who returned from the war without a scratch and now works for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) operations staff. He has complete faith that SAC has a plan for finally winning the long war and that the B-52 will keep his brother safe. Martin, the youngest, is a college student on a draft deferment about to end. In a few months he will be drafted into the Army and sent to fight the war. He believes the war is evil and that anyone fighting the war is evil. All three brothers discover their initial held beliefs were wrong.
The Brothers Bellum are fictional but the events of the bombing campaign, the incompetence of the SAC operations staff, and the efforts of those fighting the war away from the battle zone are based on fact. You will learn about the heroism of those who fought on all three fronts, about the almost magical world of electronic counter measures, and about how three men realized their place in history. Available at Amazon.