So You Want To Be a Pilot, An Autobiography

by R. Smith


Formats

Softcover
$17.49
$12.50
Softcover
$12.50

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 5/19/2006

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 84
ISBN : 9781425924119

About the Book

This book contains the interesting and entertaining events over one pilot’s career along with some insights into the perks and pit falls of an aviation career.  The author has chosen the form of an autobiography to offer a framework on which to present operating philosophies and advice of interest to young and future pilots considering aviation as their own careers.  Written in layman’s language it will be interesting to pilot and enthusiast alike.

 

Most of a pilot’s flights are quite monotonous with some notable exceptions.  Of course, boredom is a good thing for a pilot, it means nothing is going wrong.  Some very unusual experiences are contained here…everything from first sight of an aircraft, to a in-flight UFO encounter, to a simulator session in the Space Shuttle and on to a stolen jet.  There are a number of photographs that help illustrate some of the events described here.  Unfortunately there were no cameras present for the UFO encounter.


About the Author

RH Smith has been flying airplanes since 1966, when at the age of 13 he started working at the local airport, pumping gas and washing airplanes.  By the age of 20 he was flying professionally.  Smith has flown nearly every kind of aircraft from small single seat, single engine planes to the modern large airliners of today. He has experience in most areas of operation from flying the US Mail through the night in the mountains of the Northwest, to chauffeuring business personnel and celebrities, including some former US Presidents in private jets, to 15 years in the airline industry.  Now with nearly 25,000 hours of time in the air, he would like to share some of his thoughts on the lifestyle of pilots.  Not so much the technical aspects, there are several books in the market place that discuss these issues, but the more general philosophies, the perks and some of the bit falls in the industry that should be considered by young pilots entering or thinking of entering an aviation career.

 

Smith has chosen to make the frame work of his message an autobiography.  Not all of his experience is written here, just some of the more interesting or entertaining events.  As one of the oldest cliché’s in aviation (and other fields too) say’s….”flying airplanes is hours of boredom interspersed with moments of shear terror.”  Well perhaps not terror, but 25,000 hours of normal everyday operations would be enough to put anyone to sleep and is not really the point of the book.  Smith has made every effort to write in a language that will be understood by the general public, in hopes that everyone will find the book at the very least interesting.

 

Smith currently flies a mid-size corporate jet, lives in a mountain cabin on a Lake in the Central US.