PilotGEEK Blog

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