PilotGEEK Blog

As I sit to write this fourth review of my series I have come to realize that my reviews have actually become a book review and a personal story all-in-one. I have really started to enjoy having the opportunity to share my stories while I recommend these books which have impacted my aviation life. This month I will recommend for your reading: Wager with the Wind, by James Greiner. Like the other books I have reviewed, this book not only taught me something, it had me glued to the pages and has earned a special spot on my bookshelf.

Wager with the Wind is a book I picked up in the small town of Talkeetna, Alaska. If you have never heard of Talkeetna, Alaska, don’t worry, this is normal unless you have been there or you live there. Chances are if you have heard of the small town, you saw it on a Discovery Channel special about Mt. McKinley and the Denali Park. Talkeetna is the starting point for most explorers and climbers going to Mt. McKinley and the other peaks in the Denali range. The local airport is home to many aviation outfits that do scenic tours around the mountains. During the summer the town of Talkeetna is home to many little shops and is a big tourist attraction (big in terms of Alaska).

My visit to Talkeetna was during the end of the summer in 2008. The journey started in the spring of 2008. Two of my best friends and I were finishing our third (for two of us) and fourth (for one) years of college and we decided we needed to do something fun before we were done with college. It also happened to be the spring that all three of us were working on becoming flight instructors. Our goal was to finish our CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) training and pass our checkrides with the FAA and then go to Alaska for a vacation. We planned to stay for a week in Talkeetna and learn how to fly float planes. What else would a couple of aviation students do besides fly? So on one March afternoon I called Don Lee at Alaska Floats and Skies and paid a reservation fee for the three of us to spend the last week of August with them. We then booked our airline tickets. From Boston, Massachusetts we booked a flight to Anchorage, Alaska, with a connection in Houston, Texas (And people wonder why the airlines are always in financial troubles…)

The summer wore on and due to a series of events out of our control all three of us had our checkrides pushed back. Everything from the Piper Arrow (two of us were flying) getting a new engine, to the FAA local office forgetting our appointments, to a local small crash delayed our appointments. Finally on August 22nd, 2008 I was able to take and pass my CFI checkride. Unfortunately, my friends Brett and Sean were not able to take there checkrides before our trip. Thus, I got to spend the week in Alaska relaxing while I did my float flying, while they studied for float flying at the same time as studying for CFI checkrides.

When we weren’t flying the float plane (a Piper Tripacer) we were exploring Alaska as much as we could. At the local store I happened to pick up the book called Wager with the Wind. The book is a collection of stories of Don Sheldon. Don was considered the most knowledgeable pilot when it came to flying Denali and was based in Talkeetna. He was the person people went to with questions, and for help when it came to flying Denali. The stories of Don flying his Cub up the mountain to help and rescue people as well as to perform scientific experiments are amazing. One thing that really stuck with me after reading this book was how Don would land on the glacier and mountain in the snow on skies. With the snow being plain white he had no visual reference for the ground. He would over fly the landing area and drop pine brush to give himself a reference while he came in to land. Another story had Don landing in a river and being pushed backwards by the current while rescuing people stranded on an island the river!

The book has many great stories from his adventures all over Alaska and for an aviation enthusiast this book is a must read. I will rate the book as 4 out of 5 stars. I bought the book to have something to read on the long flights home, and the stories of Don Sheldon kept me flipping the pages though out the flight. I highly recommend trying to find a copy of this book; it really is a collection of amazing stories.

This picture is one I snapped flying the Piper Tripacer the day after passing my Commercial Pilot – Airplane Single Engine Sea add-on checkride. The mountains are the peaks of Denali. The closest is Denali itself, also known as Mt. McKinley, which happens to be the tallest peak in all of North America. If you are looking for a new aviation adventure I highly recommend checking out: www.alaskafloats.com. My two friends and I had a great time with them. The lodging cabin is awesome (literally, awesome), the training is top-notch, and the location is perfect! Within a week we each had more than 5 hours of float time and had earned our add-ons. Not to mention all of the fishing and hiking we did, plus a very cool rafting trip down the Talkeetna River! Also the caribou nachos from West Rib Deli & Pub (the red building), in “down-town” Talkeetna, are the best nachos I have ever had!

Matthew Elia is a certified flight and ground instructor. Currently he works for SOLIDFX as a technical support associate for the company which provides electronic chart options for pilots who use Jeppesen terminal charts. On the weekends Matt is an active flight instructor for King Aviation Mansfield at the Mansfield Airport in Massachusetts. Mr. Elia’s writing can also be seen from time to time in Mentor magazine by the National Association of Flight Instructors.

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This month we will look at Capt. Jepp and the Little Black Book. This book is one which really made an impression on me. I can honestly say that this book changed the way I think about flying. I really have a whole new outlook on aviation because of this book.

Before I get into the story of this great book I want to tell you why it has made such an impression on me. In October I left the flight line as a full time flight instructor and took a full time job. I was sad to not be at the airport everyday but I was very excited about my opportunity at a new company. I work for a company called SOLIDFX and we sell e-readers which are capable of displaying Jeppesen charts. Our FX10 product is the only way a pilot can display Jeppesen charts electronically in the cockpit other than on an aircraft screen or a full-blown laptop computer. I was very excited to be working at an aviation related technology business and this book really motivated me. The gentleman who founded our company, who himself is an instrument rated private pilot, asked me one day, “Matt have you ever read Capt. Jepp and the Little Black Book?”

I replied, “No, I’ve never even heard of the book before.” A long conversation ensued about how it was a great story. Within a few days a copy of the book was delivered to our office and I was off-and-reading! Just like the few other books I really enjoy I read through this book in just a handful of days. After reading it I had a renewed motivation at work. I realized how important what I do really is, how important approach plates really are to pilots. For this reason the book has earned a special place on my bookshelf.

The book features the life story of Elrey B. Jeppesen who truly was an aviation hero in every sense of the word. Mr. Jeppesen did it all and the story from his humble beginnings to an illustrious aviation career is really a portrayal of the American Dream. Elrey started out by living in a small hangar and flying for an aerial circus. From there he went on to do many things and eventually build one of the most well known aviation businesses in the world. This book is not just about Mr. Jeppesen though, it is really three stories in one. The life of Elrey is the main story and tied with that are the history of aviation in the United States as well as the history of aeronautical charts.

As someone who collects charts, one of my prized possession is the sectional chart from when I started taking lessons, this story peaked my interest continuously. The stories of Elrey climbing mountains with altimeters on his back pack to make enroute charts really took me into the story of his life. Then there were the stories of Elrey pacing out how far farm silos were from runways so that he could make safe descents into airports when the visibility was low. I could write on and on about everything from this book or I could just say go order the book and read it. Also, please order the book directly from Jeppesen, do not buy a used copy online or in a bookstore. The reason why I feel so adamantly about this point is because Jeppesen donates a portion of the profits from the book to the Jeppesen Aviation Foundation. In hard economic times the number of new pilots is very low and as flight schools struggle across the country this is a great thing. The Jeppesen Aviation Foundation provides scholarships to young aspiring pilots. Not too long ago I was an aviation student in a college program and I have seen a good deal of really skilled young pilots drop out of a flying programs in school because of a lack of funding. So please, for me, if you want to read this book, buy it directly from Jeppesen.

At the end of the day whether or not you are an instrument rated pilot and whether or not you have ever used Jeppesen charts the story of Elrey B. Jeppesen will keep you turning the pages. Just like the two previous books I have reviewed I can say this is a great read. I will rate Capt. Jepp and the Little Black Book as a five out of five stars of my aviation book review scale. If you can read this book through and not want to go hop in a plane, even just for one lap around the pattern, I’d be very surprised!

Matthew Elia earned his instrument rating with Delta Connection Academy at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. As a young college student he would tell his parents he wanted a one-year subscription for the New England states from Jeppesen for Christmas. Now because of his job he has an FX10 chart viewer with the entire world of Jeppesen charts included, but he still keeps his genuine cowhide binder of the six New England States. If asked he will admit that he likes to have the binder on his aviation book shelve because it adds a classy look with his Delta Connection manual binders. For this reason we have Matt writing book reviews for the PilotGEEK blog!

If you would like to recommend a book for reviewing email Matt at:EliaAviation@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

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by Matthew Elia

This month’s book, the second in my review series is Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck. To be perfectly honest I thought of having this be the first book I reviewed and decided I should try and hold it off for a while. I soon realized that this was a book which I could not wait to review. As you may have picked up in my first piece I am not a big reader, so the idea that I could read this book cover-to-cover three times is simply amazing. Flight of Passage is by far the best book I have ever read!

Unlike Beyond the Checkride this book is really a memoir of author Rinker Buck, but it is more than that. The story about Rinker and his older brother Kern has mesmerized me three times over. Each time I was constantly not wanting to put the book down, just turn the page. I do not want to go into to much detail, however I do want to tempt you enough to go and pick up a copy of this book. Reading this story is well worth it. The story (which is true) is set in the 1960’s and involved these teenage brothers (Rinker and Kern) rebuilding a Piper Cub and then embarking on an amazing journey.

Also, this book actually has a PilotGEEK history. Tom Nery, the original PilotGEEK, recommended this book to me a while back during one of our usual flights to dinner. After he gave me a brief synopsis of the story I knew it was a book that I needed to read. I ended up tracking down a copy and requesting express shipping since my local bookstores did not have a copy on hand. Once I had the book I read through it in just a few days.

The story of the book, Tom, and I goes even further. During the spring of 2009 I happened to be sitting in the flight school at the Mansfield, MA airport on a sunny Sunday between flights. Tom had just returned from a flight and after securing his airplane and the usual cup of coffee he was off to the bathroom before he went home for the rest of the day. I was thumbing though a magazine of some kind, just after Tom stepped into the bathroom, when a gentleman asked if there were any flight instructors available. I replied that I was qualified and free at the time. The gentleman’s son was writing something for school about flying and needed to interview a flight instructor and a student. I spent a good 15 minutes answering the child’s questions hoping to give him some “good stuff” for his writing piece. At the end of the interview I shook hands with the child and his father. I didn’t remember the father’s name and I am big on faces and names incase I ever bump into someone in the future. I inquired to hear his name again and when the man replied Kern Buck, I was struck. I could not place it immediately but the name which was unique defiantly stood out in my mind. Mr. Buck then said you may know my name from the book Flight of Passage. I could not believe it weeks after reading this amazing story I was standing face to face with one of the main characters of the book, which I thought was amazing. We talked briefly and I could not believe I actually met the then teenager who flew a Piper Cub from New Jersey to California. By the time Tom had exited the bathroom I was in the middle of the interview with Kern’s son in a different room in the flight school and Tom left just missing the opportunity to meet Kern himself. That day is one I will not soon forget. It is that connection I have with this book which makes it very special to me.

The story is much more than the rebuilding of an airplane and the subsequent flight, the book goes deep into the relationships between the brothers and there family specifically there father. As an aviation enthusiast I was totally in love with the story. My only complaint of Flight of Passage was that it ended. I wanted the story to go on and on and on… When I finished reading the book I was actually sad that it was over, the story was so good and entertaining that it really took hold of me. Thus I went on to reread the book twice! I will rate this book five out of five stars and would really encourage anyone I meet to read it. The book has something for everyone, especially aviation enthusiasts. Please go pick up a copy of this book and read it, you will not regret it.

Adding to the entire experience of this book, I recently found a couple of video clips on the ever-popular website YouTube. Below are three links to videos which can be found when searching “Kern Buck” on the YouTube website. The first link is to a video of Kern’s first solo flights! You will notice two different aircraft in the video. In one of the first couple of chapters in Flight of Passage Rinker describes the scene and events on the day of Kern’s first solo. The second two links are footage from an old television show which featured Kern and Rinker Buck after they flew across the country! I really enjoyed these videos as I’m sure you will as well.

Kern’s solo flight video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR3fjA49d4w

To Tell The Truth Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Idy0A-PJaA&feature=related

To Tell The Truth Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya8tJeJ56Q8&feature=related

Our Reviewer Matthew Elia

Matthew Elia enjoys writing about his own flying and instructing experiences in his spare time. Though he has never flown from coast to coast, Matt is known for writing about different aviation adventures he has had. Some notable adventures he has written about (mostly in the form of a blog) include a trip to Tennessee, a flight from Mansfield, MA to St. Louis MO for a national collegiate flight team competition, and most notably his Alaska blog. During an eight day trip with two of his good college friends, soon after becoming a flight instructor, Matt and his friends went to Talkeetna, Alaska, to learn how to fly seaplanes. The trip included run-ins with grizzly bars, rafting the Talkeetna River, and getting the best view from an airplane in the United States: The Denali Range!

Link to Matt’s Alaska Blog: http://www.thoughts.com/m1elia/blog/browse/2008-8

This month's Recommended Reading for PilotGEEKs - Beyond the Checkride

This post marks the first in a series of monthly aviation book reviews and recommendations. Every month I will be writing a review of an aviation-related book to recommend for pilots. These books will not be text books but rather aviation related books. Usually when I walk into a pilot shop I simply gloss-over if not completely walk past the book section unless I am specifically looking for a book on a certain topic. Usually the non-textbooks in pilot shops get walk past all day. But the goal of my monthly review is going to be to point out some of these aviation related reads which I recommend for other pilots and aviation enthusiasts.

As a flight instructor I put a good deal of thought into which text books I recommend and which books I incorporate when I teach ground schools. When it comes to pleasure reading I have never been very good at reading books cover to cover. I love to read textbooks about aviation systems, maintenance, and maneuvers but other books can be hard for me. Thus the books I review here will be books which I could easily pick up and read through without losing any interest in the reading.

Beyond the Checkride is the first title for which I can write a glowing review! Before we start with a brief review, first let me tell you how I came to read this book. This past May I graduated from college, where I was studying aviation. During the fall semester of my senior year a friend of mine and I were in the college book store and he picked up the book and remarked he thought it seemed interesting. Beyond the Checkride had been made required reading for the flight instructor ground school after my friend and I had both taken the course. Intrigued we both purchased a copy and soon I was flipping the pages as quick as I could. I could actually take concepts I picked up from the book and implement it directly into my flight training on the same day. This was absolutely amazing, it was a great read.

The cover of Beyond the Checkride features the quote “What your flight instructor never taught you.” This is a perfectly tempting catchphrase for the eyes of any pilot. For flight instructors it is very appealing because they, like I, want to know what we should be teaching our students that we are not. This book is not just a good review of the basic concepts such as the idea that an addition of power with NO change in pitch is in fact a change in the angle of attack. The idea that you can change your angle of attack with out changing pitch is a basic concept which a lot of pilots tend to overlook.

One chapter which I found very interesting was the chapter titled, “Other good stuff.” This chapter is one where the topics go above and beyond anything a flight instructor will normally teach there student. Yet these items can be very important to new pilots. One of the main topics of the chapter is “How to buy a used airplane.” This is something flight instructors are not usually involved with, thus it is something they usually do not teach. Yet many students will go on to buy there own aircraft during there training or after there training is completed. Another great part of this chapter is, “Should you take Fido?” Again this is a topic which flight instructors usually do not cover but many pilots have pets which they are eager to take along on a flight.

I do not want to give away any more of the great insight from author Howard Fried. Quite frankly I can highly recommend this book to anyone even marginally interested in aviation. From student pilots up to flight instructors, pilots of all certification levels can learn something from the book. For my final rating I will give this book four and a half stars out of five! If you are looking for a good aviation book to motivate you to get back into flying or are an active pilot looking for a really good read try Howard Fried’s Beyond the Checkride.

Matthew Elia is a certified flight and ground instructor. Currently he works for SOLIDFX as a technical support associate for the company which provides electronic chart options for pilots who use Jeppesen terminal charts. On the weekends Matt is an active flight instructor for King Aviation Mansfield at the Mansfield Airport in Massachusetts. Mr. Elia’s writing can also be seen from time to time in Mentor magazine by the National Association of Flight Instructors.

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