Preflight

It's good to laugh as you learn

Most of you who are preparing for, or contemplating, a career as a professional pilot already know that there are quite a few excellent books available to help guide you. Several are by AOPA Flight Training contributors. Karen Kahn's Flight Guide for Success is an excellent resource. Greg Brown's The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual, coauthored with M.J. Holt, is a great primer on the operation of turbine aircraft and includes a CD-ROM. Judy Tarver's Flight Plan to the Flight Deck and Cheryl Cage's Checklist for Success also come highly recommended.

One I had not seen before was Rob Mark's Professional Pilot's Career Guide. So, when a review copy of the book's new second edition (see "Pilot Products," p. 43) landed on my desk, I wanted to read it. Now, I have no intention of seeking an airline job--or any other commercial flying position--although the very strong current hiring outlook (see "Career Pilot: Pilot Shortage," p. 51) seems to be causing a lot of folks to reconsider their career choices.

So why would you want to read Mark's book, or any other new book, when there are already so many resources out there? Mark sums it up himself: You can't rely on any one source--his book, a Web site, or anything else--to learn what you need and keep up with developments in the industry. He recommends that flying-career aspirants avail themselves of all available information. Does this sound like practical application of Federal Aviation Regulation 91.103, which provides that before beginning a flight, the pilot in command shall become familiar with all available information concerning that flight? I couldn't agree with him more, and I believe that philosophy is good advice for anything you do.

Mark, a flight instructor who has worked as an airline and a corporate pilot, hits all the information areas of importance to future career pilots, drawing from his 30 years of experience as well as that of several other pilots. Don't overlook the book's several appendices; those on flying-job interview questions and online resources alone are worth the price of admission.

If you're not focused on a flying career--and even if you are--you might prefer a more entertaining read. Dave Gwinn, a retired TWA captain and active general aviation pilot and instructor, sent me a copy of his Airways and Airwaves: Stories I Tell to Friends several months ago. I started to skim its pages and couldn't put it down. If you know Gwinn, and it's been my privilege to call him a friend, you will expect a book filled with his unique sense of humor and peppered with his many practical jokes. You won't be disappointed.

Gwinn had me in stitches by page 14--only because the forewords and introduction pushed the book's first page of text to page 12. "Being an airline pilot would be great if you didn't have to go on all those trips," he quips. "The worst ATC transmission any pilot can hear is, 'Contact the tower when you get down.' My friends, that is simply handled: Don't come down!"

Gwinn had a number of bylines in Flight Training's early days and he's been threatening to write for us again. So if you see his byline in these pages, you've been forewarned--be prepared to laugh as you learn.

When you're busy learning to fly, and keeping up with all those other things in your life--believe it or not, it is possible to forget why we're doing this.

We try to remind you about the fun of flying with departments like "Why We Fly," just inside the back cover. An online feature, "The Joy of Flight," emphasizes the adventures of general aviation that keep pilots longing to return to the skies. I liked one recent online feature so much that I asked its author--Kate Opalewski, an assistant editor for AOPA's online publications and a student pilot--to write a version for use in the magazine. Did you ever wonder what it would be like to propose marriage aloft? See "Why We Fly: A High-Flying Proposal" (p. 68). To read more "Joy of Flight" articles, see AOPA Online.

The magazine welcomes your submissions, especially for "Why We Fly" and for "Learning Experiences." If you'd like to submit an original manuscript, or would like to discuss an article idea, please drop us an e-mail.

E-mail Mike Collins, editor of AOPA Flight Training, at [email protected].