For the 2003 anniversary of powered flight i wrote a (german language) book called “Adventurers of the Air. The best Stories about Flying”. It covered the 100 years from 1903 to 2003 in a collection of stories.
The stories were: (sorry if the titels are not translated perfectly into English, no time to think about it now)
1903: In the dunes of Kitty Hawk mankind learns to fly
1919: Conquerors of the North Atlantic: John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown
1927: Solo to Paris: Crales Lindbergh
1937: Mystery of the Century: Amelia Earhart disappears
1938: Cross the Ocean by accident: The Adventures of Douglas “Wring Way” Corrigan
1944: The “Lady be Good”: The bomer in the desert
1947: Mister Supersonic: Chuck Yeager
1967: North American X-15: To the edge of Space in an Airplane
1989: Emergency Landing in Sioux City
1992: Patty Wagstaff becomes Miss Aerobatic
1995: Bomber in the ice: “Kee Bird”
2000: Concorde: The end of a beautiful dream
I think that the 12 stories i chose reflected the 100 years of flying in a good way. I tried to ake it a lively mixture of all the different types of aviation. Some history, some technology, aerobatics, adventures, accidents, mysteries … Of the (4) books i have done this one is the most successful: 5 reprints and about 30.000 sold copies didn’t make me rich* or famous but are great for a flying book, at least i think so. (*I think i got € 0.75 per book, in 12 years)
Now the publisher called me and they want to re-issue the book under the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC label (!) – which i think is a great idea (and might one day open the door to translating it to English).
They also want me to write two more stories for it. We have agreed on one (the life of an American Stunt pilot I knew well and later became friends with) … but I can’t find a good story that carries the idea of the book into present times.
What do pilots think is the greatest story aviation had to offer, let’s say in the last ten years? The first flight of the A380? The solar powered flight around the world? That’s the two i came up with (and i was actually the editor in chief of Airbus magazine when the A380 first flew) but they bozth don’t really convince me: The A380 is just another airliner, bigger, wider … (what’s the great story?) and the solar flight has not ended yet and it’s a topic i don’t really have good (first hand) information about … and I also find it a bit boring, I admit …
Any ideas? What would you like to read about in a book like this?
Is the Story of the Cirrus SR22 worth telling? I could integrate a lot about GA in general and about many topics we discuss here, and if there’s a plane that revived GA, … it’s the Cirrus (also I have pictures :-))
How about a comparison between two of the most famous accidents in recent history: The “Landing in the Hudson” and the Air France-one over the South Atlantic?
Both accidents have been covered extensively but I have not seen a direct comparison. Something along the lines of that despite all technology even airliners still have accidents from time to time but those two had a very different outcome because of the reaction of the pilots to the problem. You could continue with some outlook into the future, e.g. ideas being discussed about removing pilots from transport planes, remote controlled planes, drones.
Roland,
that’s a great idea … I have even thought about the A330 accident, but not about the Hudson River Airbus! I was a bit hesitatant though about the Air France accident because if you tell THAT story as it really happened … well that’s a VERY scary thing to tell and it might let look civil aviation very dangerous to the average reader … There’s already the Concorde accident (and the Sioux City one) in the book …
I think the Hudson River story has a lot of potential, if I can find good pictures. And maybe (idea) i could try to fly the scenario in a A320 simulator …
I don’t know enough about aviation generally but clearly the SR22 is the biggest story in the last 10-15 years.
It also has potential for controversy 
which is always a good thing for a story 
By AF do you mean AF447? Is there some new angle on it, or do you think that if you told the general public what happened they would never fly again [with AF] ?
Yes, I agree.
I just think that the AF447 story is so negative and scary that it will shed a very bad light on civil aviation … the general passenger wil think that “if that could happen with AF it can happen with any airline” … I have the Concorde crash in the book but that’s an accident that was really bad luck (the metal part on the runway lost by the preceding DC10 …) … but AF447 can really give you nightmares. My friend Rolf, an A330/340 captain for LH (with a lot experience in Starfighters and Tornados) flew that scenario in the Sim a couple of times. He said that the plabe could have been recovered eveb when it was already in the deep stall … but that’s another story
The Hudson River and the SR22 are my favourites now …. I’ll see what’s better for the book. Maybe the Cirrus because there’s so little about GA in the book.
The emergence/proliferation of drones/UAVs strikes me as a new chapter in aviation. Other possibilities might be Felix Baumgartner (the guy that broke the free fall record at 24 miles and mach 1.2) or the emergence of homebuilt aircraft (I may have the wrong impression but it seems that more RVs get built per year than Cessnas, Pipers and Cirri put together).
Can’t write about the SR22 without mentioning the Lancair Columbia and the Diamond. In other words the new certified composite airplanes.
Of course i would/could mention the new generation of GA aircraft – but remember: that’s not article for a flight magazine.
Felix Baumgartner: that’s not really a story from the history of powered flight ( no, gravity does not count :-))
+1 for UAS, unmanned aerial systems, a.k.a. ‘Drones’. This really is THE new development in aviation today.
It also depends a bit how long the piece has to be. While the Sully/Hudson saga definitely makes good copy, it’s told in relatively few words. UAS on the other hand….
OTOH you could spin AF447 and MH370 into a ‘modern aviation mysteries’ chapter. The former an amazing failure of a well-trained crew, the latter – well, we don’t know, do we.
Anyway, congrats on the NatGeo gig!
Thank you very much 172!
Thanks for the input too. As is said, AF447 (while i would like to write about it!) is really a too depressing chapter of aviation, and since i had some crashes etc in the book already i don’t want to raise the body count that much…
The Hudson River landing is a great topic, and it does not necessarily have to be short … i could tell a lot about engines (bird strikes), pilot training, Sully’s background … and i could even fly the scenario in a SIM and tell “what it felt like”, or let one of my A320 flying friends try it, … with me on the copilot’s seat or …
And i guess to a general audience the Hudson story will sell even better than the Cirrus …
Once the book is out i’ll give out some copies to the german readers here.
Thank you!
