This is a book of first-person stories written by old pilots, those who flew the old airplanes in the old air force. These are personal stories of growing up in a different America, their lives before political correctness, back when airplanes were dangerous but flying was fun. The group calls themselves the Friday Pilots. They gather at McMahon's Prime Steakhouse in Tucson, Arizona, every Friday for lunch. There are those who finished careers as generals and colonels and majors and captains and even first lieutenants. They laugh. They exchange stories, some true. They have become legends in their own minds. There are fighter pilots, bomber pilots, airline pilots, corporate pilots, and astronauts. They have run large companies and been on boards. They have been rich and they have been poor. They have landed gear up and gear down. They have ridden huge rockets into space. They have crashed and burned. They have been to war. They have been blown from the skies, have run through jungles, and have parachuted into oceans. They have been captured and imprisoned as POWs and horribly tortured. There are heroes at the table, but none will admit it. They will tell you they have flown with those who were. It seems everyone talks about writing a book. The Friday Pilots have done something few do: they have written their stories for their families and friends. Strap in, hold on, and enjoy the ride!

This is a book of first-person stories written by old pilots, those who flew the old airplanes in the old air force. These are personal stories of growing up in a different America, their lives before political correctness, back when airplanes were dangerous but flying was fun. The group calls themselves the Friday Pilots. They gather at McMahon's Prime Steakhouse in Tucson, Arizona, every Friday for lunch. There are those who finished careers as generals and colonels and majors and captains and even first lieutenants. They laugh. They exchange stories, some true. They have become legends in their own minds. There are fighter pilots, bomber pilots, airline pilots, corporate pilots, and astronauts. They have run large companies and been on boards. They have been rich and they have been poor. They have landed gear up and gear down. They have ridden huge rockets into space. They have crashed and burned. They have been to war. They have been blown from the skies, have run through jungles, and have parachuted into oceans. They have been captured and imprisoned as POWs and horribly tortured. There are heroes at the table, but none will admit it. They will tell you they have flown with those who were. It seems everyone talks about writing a book. The Friday Pilots have done something few do: they have written their stories for their families and friends. Strap in, hold on, and enjoy the ride!

First person stories of The Friday Pilots of Tucson Arizona. Lessons learned flying the old airplanes in the old Air Force, Army and Navy in peace and war. They crashed, they burned, they laughed, they cried, they soared. These pilots are the REAL DEAL. They’ve been there, done that. You’ll enjoy.

"Rules and Procedures for Aviators, U.S. Department of Transportation, From Titles 14 and 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations"--Cover.

A poetic and nuanced exploration of the human experience of flight that reminds us of the full imaginative weight of our most ordinary journeys—and reawakens our capacity to be amazed. The twenty-first century has relegated airplane flight—a once remarkable feat of human ingenuity—to the realm of the mundane. Mark Vanhoenacker, a 747 pilot who left academia and a career in the business world to pursue his childhood dream of flight, asks us to reimagine what we—both as pilots and as passengers—are actually doing when we enter the world between departure and discovery. In a seamless fusion of history, politics, geography, meteorology, ecology, family, and physics, Vanhoenacker vaults across geographical and cultural boundaries; above mountains, oceans, and deserts; through snow, wind, and rain, renewing a simultaneously humbling and almost superhuman activity that affords us unparalleled perspectives on the planet we inhabit and the communities we form.