Title: From the Flight Deck: Plane Talk and Sky Science
Author: Doug Morris
ISBN: 1550227653
Size: 184 Pages
Rating: 3 out of 5.
The author uses a fictional flight from Toronto to Hong Kong to demonstrate and explain some of the common questions about commercial flying. Most of the information in the book is pretty basic that most private pilots (such as my self) would already know. The books audience is tailored to the infrequent flyer.
The title of the book is a little misleading, there is hardly any science at all, if not none. Most of the information is anecdotal with simple (but sometimes impressive) facts peppered throughout the text.
That said, I still enjoyed reading the book. Some of the jokes and stories the author presents are entertaining. Here is a sample of one of my favorites:
“Apparently even Santa Clause could not escape the required flight test with a Transport Canada flight inspector…He knew the inspector would examine all his equipment and truly put Santa’s flying skill to the test. The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the reindeer harness, the landing gear and even Rudolphs nose. He painstakingly reviews Santa’s weight and balance calculations for the sled’s enormous payload. Finally they were ready for the check ride. Santa got in and fastened his seatbelt…and checked his compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa’s surprise, a shotgun.
“Whats that for?” Santa asked in disbelief.
The examiner winked and said: “I’m not supposed to tell you this ahead of time”, then he leaned over to whisper in Santa’s ear, “but you’re gonna lose an engine on takeoff”.
The author is a pilot for Air Canada, so all the facts and figures deal with their fleet. Some of the figures he quotes are astounding (The amount of fuel Air Canada purchased last year: 3.8 billion liters) and add to the interest of the text.
I will be recommending this book to a friend of mine who is scared of flying.
Blake. Thanks for the write up on my book. You’re correct in saying there is not much true science, but there is some stuff in layman’s terms. It was my publisher who thought it was better to have a subtitle, so they picked “Plane Talk and Sky Science.”
That’s show biz. F.Y.I I’m not quite a captain yet. I’m still first officer on the A340. I’m showing A320 captain on paper, but I haven’t been trained yet. Probably this fall.
Doug Morris
Hi Doug,
Thanks for the clarifications. It was still a good read and kept me occupied while on my trips into the city on the Go train.
If you were to write another book you can count on me to give it a read.