Download or read book Air Traffic written by Gregory Pardlo and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: an extraordinary memoir and blistering meditation on fatherhood, race, addiction, and ambition. Gregory Pardlo's father was a brilliant and charismatic man--a leading labor organizer who presided over a happy suburban family of four. But when he loses his job following the famous air traffic controllers' strike of 1981, he succumbs to addiction and exhausts the family's money on more and more ostentatious whims. In the face of this troubling model and disillusioned presence in the household, young Gregory rebels. Struggling to distinguish himself on his own terms, he hustles off to Marine Corps boot camp. He moves across the world, returning to the United States only to take a job as a manager-cum-barfly at his family's jazz club. Air Traffic follows Gregory as he builds a life that honors his history without allowing it to define his future. Slowly, he embraces the challenges of being a poet, a son, and a father as he enters recovery for alcoholism and tends to his family. In this memoir, written in lyrical and sparkling prose, Gregory tries to free himself from the overwhelming expectations of race and class, and from the tempting yet ruinous legacy of American masculinity. Air Traffic is a richly realized, deeply felt ode to one man's remarkable father, to fatherhood, and to the frustrating yet redemptive ties of family. It is also a scrupulous, searing examination of how manhood can be fashioned in our cultural landscape.

Download or read book Sled Driver written by Brian Shul and published by Lickle Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 1991 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No aircraft ever captured the curiosity & fascination of the public like the SR-71 Blackbird. Nicknamed "The Sled" by those few who flew it, the aircraft was shrouded in secrecy from its inception. Entering the U.S. Air Force inventory in 1966, the SR-71 was the fastest, highest flying jet aircraft in the world. Now for the first time, a Blackbird pilot shares his unique experience of what it was like to fly this legend of aviation history. Through the words & photographs of retired Major Brian Shul, we enter the world of the "Sled Driver." Major Shul gives us insight on all phases of flying, including the humbling experience of simulator training, the physiological stresses of wearing a space suit for long hours, & the intensity & magic of flying 80,000 feet above the Earth's surface at 2000 miles per hour. SLED DRIVER takes the reader through riveting accounts of the rigors of initial training, the gamut of emotions experienced while flying over hostile territory, & the sheer joy of displaying the jet at some of the world's largest airshows. Illustrated with rare photographs, seen here for the first time, SLED DRIVER captures the mystique & magnificence of this most unique of all aircraft.

Download or read book Touching History written by Lynn Spencer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-06-03 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the azure blue morning of 9/11 the skies were pronounced "severe clear," in the parlance of airline pilots; a gorgeous day for flying. Nearly 5,000 flights were cruising the skies over America when FAA Operations Manager Ben Sliney arrived at the Command Center for his first day on that job. He could never have anticipated the historic drama that was about to unfold as Americans who found themselves on the front lines of a totally unprecedented attack on our homeland sprang into action to defend our country and save lives. In this gripping moment-to-moment narrative, based on groundbreaking reporting, Lynn Spencer brings the inspiring true drama of their unflinching and heroic response vividly to life for the first time, taking us right inside the airliner cockpits and control towers, the fighter jets and the military battle cabs. She makes vital corrections to the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report, and reveals many startling, utterly unknown elements of the story. As a commercial pilot herself, for whom the attacks hit terribly close to home, she knew that the true scope and nature of the response so brilliantly improvised that morning by those in the thick of the action -- with so little guidance from those at the highest levels -- had not at all been captured by the news coverage or the 9/11 Commission. To get to the truth, she went on a three-year quest, interviewing hundreds of key players, listening to untold hours of tapes and pouring through voluminous transcripts to re-create each heart-stopping moment as it happened through their eyes and in their words as the drama unfolded. From the shocking moment at 7:59 a.m. that American 11 fails to respond to a controller's call, until the last commercial flight has safely landed and military jets rule the skies, all Americans will find themselves deeply moved and amazed by the grace and fierce determination of these steely men and women as they draw on all of their exquisite training to grasp, through the fog of war, what is happening, put their lives on the line, and mount an astonishing response. This beautifully crafted and deeply affecting account of the full story of their courageous actions is a vital addition to the country's understanding of a day that has forever changed our nation.

Download or read book For the Love of Flying written by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail and published by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail. This book was released on 2009 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book to tell the story of one of Canada's most innovative aviation companies, Laurentian Air Services, and thus fills an important gap in Canadian aviation history. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with Laurentian's presidents, pilots and ground crew, author Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail explores the company's 60-year history from its founding in 1936 in Ottawa with small biplanes through to the 1990s when it was operating scheduled flights with twin-engine Beech 99s and Beech King Air 200s. During those 60 years, Laurentian was at the forefront of air tourism in the Ottawa region and the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec as well as fly-in hunting and fishing in Canada's north. It also pioneered the use of the Grumman G-21 Goose and de Havilland Beaver commercially and provided vital air support to survey and development work for such massive undertakings as the Churchill Falls and James Bay hydroelectric projects. This book brings Laurentian's history to life through first-hand stories and an exciting collection of colour and black and white photographs, the majority of which have not previously been published. This is a long-overdue book that appeals to armchair bush flyers and aviation historians alike.

Download or read book Broken Controller written by Carl Mclelland and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BROKEN CONTROLLER is the true story of Carl McLelland's career as an Army and then FAA air traffic controller. From a tiny radar van on the battlefields of Vietnam, to the control tower and radar room in one of the nation's busiest airports, Carl tells the story of his meteoric rise in this unique career field. It isn't anything like you see on television. The men and women in charge of separating airplanes in our nation's skies are a unique breed. While their egos boast of superhuman abilities, do they see this profession as protecting thousands of human lives on a daily basis, or is it the ultimate video game? How do they handle this pressure cooker on the human psyche? Perceiving the opportunity to make phenomenal advances in simulation training, Carl transferred into an automation staff position. Yet another meteoric rise in his career, only to be crushed by the political bureaucracy when their empires were challenged. What happened when the personality of an immediate supervisor attempted to derail Carl's career? What is the truth behind the 1981 air traffic controller strike? Walk in Carl's shoes as he takes you on this unbelievable journey. During the course of Carl's ATC profession he also takes you along in his career as a commercial pilot and flight instructor. This is a truly unique book, about a truly unique individual, in a truly unique and stressful career. Don't plan anything after you open the cover of this one, you won't be able to put it down until it's been read.

Download or read book QF32 written by Richard de Crespigny and published by Macmillan Publishers Aus.. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: QF32 is the award winning bestseller from Richard de Crespigny, author of the forthcoming Fly!: Life Lessons from the Cockpit of QF32 On 4 November 2010, a flight from Singapore to Sydney came within a knife edge of being one of the world's worst air disasters. Shortly after leaving Changi Airport, an explosion shattered Engine 2 of Qantas flight QF32 - an Airbus A380, the largest and most advanced passenger plane ever built. Hundreds of pieces of shrapnel ripped through the wing and fuselage, creating chaos as vital flight systems and back-ups were destroyed or degraded. In other hands, the plane might have been lost with all 469 people on board, but a supremely experienced flight crew, led by Captain Richard de Crespigny, managed to land the crippled aircraft and safely disembark the passengers after hours of nerve-racking effort. Tracing Richard's life and career up until that fateful flight, QF32 shows exactly what goes into the making of a top-level airline pilot, and the extraordinary skills and training needed to keep us safe in the air. Fascinating in its detail and vividly compelling in its narrative, QF32 is the riveting, blow-by-blow story of just what happens when things go badly wrong in the air, told by the captain himself. Winner of ABIA Awards for Best General Non-fiction Book of the Year 2013 and Indie Awards' Best Non-fiction 2012 Shortlisted ABIA Awards' Book of the Year 2013

Download or read book The Only Plane in the Sky written by Garrett M. Graff and published by Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “This is history at its most immediate and moving…A marvelous and memorable book.” —Jon Meacham ​“Remarkable…A priceless civic gift…On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle, or make him angry, or heartbroken.” —The Wall Street Journal “Had me turning each page with my heart in my throat…There’s been a lot written about 9/11, but nothing like this. I urge you to read it.” —Katie Couric The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001—a panoramic narrative woven from voices on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma. Over the past eighteen years, monumental literature has been published about 9/11, from Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower to The 9/11 Commission Report. But one perspective has been missing up to this point—a 360-degree account of the day told through firsthand. Now, in The Only Plane in the Sky, Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived—in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, he paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet. Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker under the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down. In the skies above Pennsylvania, civilians aboard United 93 make the ultimate sacrifice in their place. Then, as the day moves forward and flights are grounded nationwide, Air Force One circles the country alone, its passengers isolated and afraid. More than simply a collection of eyewitness testimonies, The Only Plane in the Sky is the historic narrative of how ordinary people grappled with extraordinary events in real time: the father and son caught on different ends of the impact zone; the firefighter searching for his wife who works at the World Trade Center; the operator of in-flight telephone calls who promises to share a passenger’s last words with his family; the beloved FDNY chaplain who bravely performs last rites for the dying, losing his own life when the Towers collapse; and the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from trying to rescue their colleagues. At once a powerful tribute to the courage of everyday Americans and an essential addition to the literature of 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky weaves together the unforgettable personal experiences of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.

Download or read book Secrets from the Tower written by Bob Richards and published by Ithaca Press (GB). This book was released on 2007 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful, rare and original look into the important world of a Chicago O'Hare air traffic controller. Secrets from the Tower is a terrific, thrilling, well-written, funny read, for its fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of an air traffic control tower, and will be enjoyable for anyone who's ever traveled by air. It's entertaining for its anecdotes, informative about air traffic, and also poignant, in terms of the life lessons the book delivers, and its tales of love and loss. Author Bob Richards gives the reader an inside look at the life of an air traffic controller at one of the world's busiest airports.

Download or read book Deep Listening written by Oscar Trimboli and published by . This book was released on 2017-06-10 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 55% of your day is spent listening; yet only 2% of us have been trained in how to listen. What is poor listening costing you? Do you rush from meeting to meeting, your head buried in the last conversation you had, without time to think of the next? Or feel frustrated with unproductive discussions where the loudest in the room adds limited insight and drowns out everyone else? We usually think of these situations as communication problems; that we have not spoken our needs correctly or clearly. Yet, conflict, chaos and confusion are the costs of not listening. Many communication and listening books say the most important person in a conversation is the speaker - not true! This pocket-sized guide will help you to reconnect with your innate gift of deep listening, to create the right space to listen to yourself before you listen to others. You'll learn to listen beyond the words that are spoken, to add context and meaning and listen in to what's not being said. Deep Listening will help you move from confusion and conflict to thoughtful, insightful and powerful discussions that will transform not just your work, but your whole life.

Download or read book Air Traffic Controller written by Nancy Robinson Masters and published by Cherry Lake. This book was released on 2010-08-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of the Career and Tech Education series, this book explains many aspects of the job of a Air Traffic Controller, including training and skills needed.

Download or read book Confessions of an Air Traffic Controller written by Danny Mortensen and published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2019-01-30 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An autobiography of a young impertinent FAA controller in the seventies culminating in the PATCO strike of 1981, and his subsequent adventures and exploits in aviation through the years. An entrepreneur, educator, author, radio talk show host, motivational speaker, master of ceremonies, aircraft builder, risk-taker and air race pilot, world record holder, corporate pilot, and airline instructor are just some of his unique accomplishments. With his involvement with Bill Phelps’ Airline Ground Schools as an instructor and later as president, Dan lead a premier cadre of retired airline captains responsible for the worldwide training of more than 59,000 pilots and aircraft dispatchers. His innovations in aviation education and training materials are admired by many. Danny earned the moniker Mr. Lucky after walking away from a 200 mph crash at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, in 1983. His miraculous survival is attributed to the structural integrity of his Burt Rutan-designed AMSOIL Racer and the stronger-than-steel composite materials used in its construction. In 1990, he won the Gold at Reno and retired from pylon air racing after fifteen years of competition. Two of his race planes now hang in museums. Now retired, Danny reflects on his challenges, accomplishments, and some funny stories along the way.

Download or read book Dead Reckoning written by Diane Vaughan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vaughan unveils the complicated and high-pressure world of air traffic controllers as they navigate technology and political and public climates, and shows how they keep the skies so safe. When two airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, Americans watched in uncomprehending shock as first responders struggled to react to the situation on the ground. Congruently, another remarkable and heroic feat was taking place in the air: more than six hundred and fifty air traffic control facilities across the country coordinated their efforts to ground four thousand flights in just two hours—an achievement all the more impressive considering the unprecedented nature of the task. In Dead Reckoning, Diane Vaughan explores the complex work of air traffic controllers, work that is built upon a close relationship between human organizational systems and technology and is remarkably safe given the high level of risk. Vaughan observed the distinct skill sets of air traffic controllers and the ways their workplaces changed to adapt to technological developments and public and political pressures. She chronicles the ways these forces affected their jobs, from their relationships with one another and the layouts of their workspace to their understanding of their job and its place in society. The result is a nuanced and engaging look at an essential role that demands great coordination, collaboration, and focus—a role that technology will likely never be able to replace. Even as the book conveys warnings about complex systems and the liabilities of technological and organizational innovation, it shows the kinds of problem-solving solutions that evolved over time and the importance of people.

Download or read book Collision Course written by Joseph A. McCartin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-06 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In August 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) called an illegal strike. The new president, Ronald Reagan, fired the strikers, establishing a reputation for both decisiveness and hostility to organized labor. As Joseph A. McCartin writes, the strike was the culmination of two decades of escalating conflict between controllers and the government that stemmed from the high-pressure nature of the job and the controllers' inability to negotiate with their employer over vital issues. PATCO's fall not only ushered in a long period of labor decline; it also served as a harbinger of the campaign against public sector unions that now roils American politics. Now available in paperback, Collision Course sets the strike within a vivid panorama of the rise of the world's busiest air-traffic control system. It begins with an arresting account of the 1960 midair collision over New York that cost 134 lives and exposed the weaknesses of an overburdened system. Through the stories of controllers like Mike Rock and Jack Maher, who were galvanized into action by that disaster and went on to found PATCO, it describes the efforts of those who sought to make the airways safer and fought to win a secure place in the American middle class. It climaxes with the story of Reagan and the controllers, who surprisingly endorsed the Republican on the promise that he would address their grievances. That brief, fateful alliance triggered devastating miscalculations that changed America, forging patterns that still govern the nation's labor politics. Written with an eye for detail and a grasp of the vast consequences of the PATCO conflict for both air travel and America's working class, Collision Course is a stunning achievement.

Download or read book SR 71 Blackbird Stories Tales and Legends written by Richard H. Graham and published by . This book was released on with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feel the Mach 3 power generated by Lockheed's incredibly fast SR-71 Blackbird! Former SR-71 pilot, instructor and wing commander, Richard Graham, presents the most intriguing SR-71 stories ever told. This once highly classified program is fully revealed through the words of pilots, commanders, mechanics, and instructors involved in the Blackbird's creation and flight-testing. From grueling reconnaissance missions to the Persian Gulf conflict, this insightful book tells stories of bravery and daring determination.

Download or read book Hijacked written by Dave Hirschman and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unbelievable true story of three pilots flying a routine Federal Express flight who must call on their inner courage, strength, and ability to stop a bitter, suicidal hijacker from killing them, and thousands of people below. David Sanders, Jim Tucker, and Andy Peterson had taken off on a regular “out-and-back,” delivering and picking up packages for FedEx’s next-day service. They had one jumpseat passenger, an off-duty colleague who they assumed was simply taking advantage of the FedEx perk allowing virtually all employees to ride the company jets for free. The shock came twenty minutes later. Before the plane had reached its normal cruising altitude, the lone passenger attacked the pilots with hammers and a spear gun. He’d had his diabolical plan in the works for months: by crashing the plane into the Federal Express Memphis hub, he’d ruin the company, which he felt had treated him unfairly. With superhuman strength fueled by sheer fury, the attacker struck the pilots again and again. What he didn’t count on was the skill and intelligence of the pilots. While Sanders and Peterson tried to stop the relentless battering, copilot Tucker swung the aircraft into dangerous flight maneuvers in an attempt to literally knock the man off his feet. In Hijacked, Dave Hirschman vividly re-creates this hair-raising battle of wills, giving each pilot’s point of view and drawing on his own experiences as a pilot to take us inside that fateful day.

Download or read book Cleared for Takeoff written by Potter and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Short background on childhood and education, then detailed account of military and pilot experience leading to a full career with FAA's air traffic service

Download or read book Air Cops written by Billy Robbins and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2006-11 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a retired air traffic controller, Air Cops: A Personal History of Air Traffic Control takes a closer look at this adrenaline pumping occupation. Author Billy D. Robbins draws on his experience in this profession to describe navigation systems, past and present. Robbins started his training as a military control tower operator in the U.S. Air Force in 1950. His first job began during the Korean War at the March Air Force Base in southern California. It was there that he learned the daily activities of running a control tower, not all of them pleasant. Boredom, coupled with spurts of intense stress, created a difficult working environment-one that not everyone could handle. Robbins, however, thrived on the life of an air traffic controller and continued in the aviation profession for the next forty years. From the tense moments of dealing with airplane hijackers in Florida to the introduction of automated computer systems, Robbins's research and experience produces a sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic view of the air traffic control profession.