The silver bird straightened up and sank lower, lower, until it met the sea with a sleek spray that rushed past the windows in its fuselage. M’beriali – the imperial mail bird, as it became known in Swahili – had arrived!Imperial Airways’ man at Lindi, East Africa, was Geoffrey Pett, then just 22 years old. Selected as a Commercial Trainee aged eighteen, he was posted to the middle of Africa to look after the ground arrangements for the new ‘Empire’ Flying Boat Service between London and Cape Town/Durban. His Africa postings ranged between Alexandria, Egypt, on the Mediterranean coast, Juba, now in South Sudan, and Butiaba on Lake Albert, Uganda. His war years were as traffic superintendant at Cairo (and at RAF Wadi Saidna, Sudan), handling troop movements and other priority personnel on the civilian aircraft, as well as ensuring the ‘Horseshoe Route’ between South Africa and Australia operated at its turning point, Cairo. His career continued with the new British Overseas Airways Company, through BEA into British Airways, until ill-health retirement in 1968.Geoffrey was often sought out for his memoirs of Imperial Airways in Africa. After his death in 2005, he left a box of memorabilia including his photograph album and a set of tapes dictated between 1995 and 2004. His daughter, J M Pett, has produced this book to place the information out in the wider world. “The romance of the Golden Age of flying meets the romance of two people torn apart by war.”

The romance of pre-war commercial aviation meets the romance of a man separated by war from the woman he loves. White Water Landings is the memoir of Geoffrey Pett of his early days, his recruitment by Imperial Airways, and his career with the Empire Flying Boats in Africa. It's a vision of bygone days, from the luxury of airtravel in the Empire Flying Boats, to an undeveloped country, run by tribal chiefs within the governance of a fading British Empire. A Boy's Own adventure with planes, boats, elephants, spies and an amazing romance! With a forward by Professor Gordon Pirie, Deputy Director of the African Centre for Cities at Cape Town University and Editor of the Journal of Transport History, the book is a must for aviation historians, flying boat enthusiasts, lovers of family history and African adventure, and anyone who loves a good tale with honest people and a touch of romance.

White Water Landings - views of the Imperial Airways Africa service from the ground The silver bird straightened up and sank lower, lower, until it met the sea with a sleek spray that rushed past the windows in its fuselage. M'beriali - the imperial mail bird, as it became known in Swahili - had arrived! Imperial Airways' man at Lindi, East Africa, was Geoffrey Pett, then just 22 years old. Selected as a Commercial Trainee aged eighteen, he was posted to the middle of Africa to look after the ground arrangements for the new 'Empire' Flying Boat Service between London and Cape Town/Durban. His Africa postings ranged between Alexandria, Egypt, on the Mediterranean coast, Juba, now in South Sudan, and Butiaba on Lake Albert, Uganda. His war years were as traffic superintendant at Cairo (and at RAF Wadi Saidna, Sudan), handling troop movements and other priority personnel on the civilian aircraft, as well as ensuring the 'Horseshoe Route' between South Africa and Australia operated at its turning point, Cairo. His career continued with the new British Overseas Airways Company, through BEA into British Airways, until ill-health retirement in 1968. Geoffrey was often sought out for his memoirs of Imperial Airways in Africa. After his death in 2005, he left a box of memorabilia including his photograph album and a set of tapes dictated between 1995 and 2004. His daughter, J M Pett, has laboured over the contents, producing this book to place the information out in the wider world. More content and links to archive material are on the website http://whitewaterlandings.co.uk. Praise for White Water Landings: "a remarkable and significant piece of aviation and colonial history... shining through his memoirs is a capacity to 'make do'..., and the sense of the Imperial 'family' as a source of identity, support and obligation away from home. ... he reveals anxiety and frustration,cynicism for arbitrary authority... Told fondly, plainly and modestly, with touches of humour, Geoffrey's story reads easily and lingers long. The text is equally delightful as family history, autobiography, and colonial history." - Professor Gordon Pirie, Deputy Director of the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, and Editor of the Journal of Transport History "The romance of the Golden Age of flying meets the romance of two people torn apart by war."

The silver bird straightened up and sank lower, lower, until it met the sea with a sleek spray that rushed past the windows in its fuselage. M'beriali - the imperial mail bird, as it became known in Swahili - had arrived! Imperial Airways' man at Lindi, East Africa, was Geoffrey Pett, then just 22 years old. Selected as a Commercial Trainee aged eighteen, he was posted to the middle of Africa to look after the ground arrangements for the new 'Empire' Flying Boat Service between London and Cape Town/Durban. His Africa postings ranged between Alexandria, Egypt, on the Mediterranean coast, Juba, now in South Sudan, and Butiaba on Lake Albert, Uganda. His war years were as traffic superintendant at Cairo (and at RAF Wadi Saidna, Sudan), handling troop movements and other priority personnel on the civilian aircraft, as well as ensuring the 'Horseshoe Route' between South Africa and Australia operated at its turning point, Cairo. His career continued with the new British Overseas Airways Company, through BEA into British Airways, until ill-health retirement in 1968. Geoffrey was often sought out for his memoirs of Imperial Airways in Africa. After his death in 2005, he left a box of memorabilia including his photograph album and a set of tapes dictated between 1995 and 2004. His daughter, J M Pett, has produced this book to place the information out in the wider world. "The romance of the Golden Age of flying meets the romance of two people torn apart by war."

White water safety and rescue for canoeists, kayakers and rafters. A completely revised new edition now in full colour throughout. You can find presentation resources of the photos and illustrations below. The writing of this book started when I tried to put some notes together as course notes for the safety and rescue courses I was running at Plas y Brenin. It soon became clear what a huge topic it is and in sheer frustration I explained to a friend that I would have to write a book to cover it properly. His answer was, "Why don't you?" This is the result. I hope you find it enjoyable and informative. What's new in the 2nd Edition? Full colour and new photos throughout. The text has been completely revised and numerous small but significant improvements have been made. The principles of safety and rescue have been unified and the mneumonic CLAP adopted. This is to make it easier to remember them and fall in line with current practice in the teaching of white water safety. The rescue section has been reorganized to fit in more closely with the TRTTG 'low to high risk' model. The rafting sections have been completely rewritten by Geraint Rowlands. The chapter 'Planning a Descent' has been extended to cover factors to be considered when travelling abroad. One-handed signals as used by Paul O'Sullivan in his chapter in the BCU Canoe and Kayak Handbook have been adopted.

This literary memoir will appeal to anyone--man or woman, married or single--who has lost a loved one. Both touching and revealing in its exploration of the numbness of grief, Noel's achingly beautiful account of the hard work of coming to terms with the loss of someone who is deeply loved will console and educate those trying to comprehend the tremendous finality of loss.

Over 120 black and white photographs, sketches, and maps illustrate the history of steamboating on the White River from the early 1800s through the Civil War and 1900s. This keenly researched study pays lasting tribute to the golden age of steam travel.

Vivid and evocative, this is a moving novel of a unique time and place from one of New Zealand's favourite authors. The Whanganui River at the turn of the twentieth century is a busy thoroughfare, taking sightseers through the spectacular landscape by paddle steamer and acting as highway for the sparse scatterings of settlements along its twisting length. The people who have made it their home are a diverse collection, from Samuel Blencoe, trying to forget his past life as a convict, to the hoteliers at Pipiriki, the nuns at Jerusalem, the Maori families, the Chinese market gardener and the farmers, like Danny and Stella, trying to tame the wild bush. There's also Bridie, the strange, silent girl, who haunts the banks of the river where the accident occurred that robbed her of her mind. Like the tributaries that trickle down the mountains and join the mighty river, so the lives of these people come together in this vivid and moving tale of a stunningly unique place.

Greg confronts his own fears and assumes a leadership role when his father is bitten by a rattlesnake during a white-water rafting trip.