You Fly Like a Woman

Betty Greene coaxed her Grumman seaplane to two thousand feet..... Suddenly, silence—total silence. The plane engine had stopped! Her passengers gasped, but Betty knew she must remain calm. They had only a slim chance for survival: the twisting jungle river below them.

Former Flying Magazine and EAA Sport Aviation editor Lane Wallace has flown plenty of unique flights, from the Swiss Alps to Key West, from a Piper Cub to a U-2 spy plane. In this fascinating book, she recounts her 10 best - in the process, she reminds all pilots why we fly. Written with Lane's trademark style and sense of wonder about the world she experiences and explores, and filled with insight about the emotions and life lessons flying evokes, it's ideal for both pilots and non-pilots.

Millions of words have poured forth about man's trip to the moon, but until now few people have had a sense of the most engrossing side of the adventure: namely, what went on in the minds of the astronauts themselves - in space, on the moon, and even during certain odysseys on earth. It is this, the inner life of the astronauts, that Tom Wolfe describes with his almost uncanny empathetic powers that made The Right Stuff a classic.

On a foggy summer night, 11 people - 10 privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter - depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: The plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are the painter Scott Burroughs and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. Was it by chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something more sinister at work?

It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies, indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler.

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the East Coast of the US, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space and requires a much-larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York’s drive to become the first lady astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

Twelve miles above the Pacific Ocean, a missile strikes a jumbo passenger jet and leaves the flight crew either crippled or dead. This is the story of how three survivors must achieve the impossible and land the plane. Master storyteller Nelson DeMille and veteran pilot Thomas Block collaborated on Mayday, the most terrifyingly realistic air disaster thriller of all time. Also available abridged.

Mira Slovak was born in Czechoslovakia and endured both the Nazi occupation and the brutal Russian liberation. He joined the Czech Air Force, rising to captain by the age of 21. When he could no longer tolerate life under the Communists, he hijacked an airliner and flew across the Iron Curtain to freedom. He outlasted communism, and when it collapsed in 1990, he returned to his home, only to realize his true home was and always would be the US.

Captain Laura Savino takes you directly into the cockpit for an exclusive look into the boy's club of airline pilots—told through the eyes of the first female pilot many of them ever flew with.

Punk’s War reveals the inner workings of the US Navy as only an insider can. An authentic and riveting thriller, it is a highly acclaimed novel of a fighter pilot’s experience in the era just before 9/11. As the US military enters another postconflict period, the themes of leadership during crisis and accomplishing the mission make Punk’s War more relevant than ever.

What's it really like to be a new airline captain? How does it feel to be ultimately responsible for a jet, its crew, and the lives of its passengers? And how does one remain calm while battling mechanical malfunctions in the flight simulator, thunderstorms in Mexico City, or blizzards in Chicago? Find out for yourself when you strap in to the extra flight deck jumpseat and fly along with 31-year-old Korry Franke in this vivid and fast-paced memoir about his eventful first year as a United Airlines 737 captain.

Mike Larson's fascination with the Cessna airplane began at age 12 with a test flight at the Cessna Aircraft Company factory. Mike became a professional pilot, starting his 50 year career in aviation with a pilot's license, an old plane and a dream. From shuttling skydivers in a Twin Beech 18 to flying the Douglas DC-8, follow Mike's adventure-filled journey from plane to plane and around the world.

Falling like a stone from six miles up, a brand new C-500 crashes in central France, killing two pilots aboard. When French officials take over this highly public investigation, they call in the best there is: they call Frank "Jammer" Davis.

A retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Davis is part of the NTSB's "go-team". With a reputation for getting things done - and for steamrolling anyone who gets in his way - Davis starts to dig.

After losing her high-octane job as an entertainment blogger, Noelle Hancock was lost. About to turn 29, she'd spent her career writing about celebrities' lives and had forgotten how to live her own. Unemployed and full of self-doubt, she had no idea what she wanted out of life. She feared change - in fact, she feared almost everything. Once confident and ambitious, she had become crippled by anxiety, lacking the courage required even to attend a dinner party - until inspiration struck one day in the form of a quote on a chalkboard in a coffee shop.

TOPGUN instructor Luke Henry quits the Navy to start a private aerial combat school in Nevada. A lucrative contract with the U.S. government brings him 20 Russian MiG-29 fighter planes with the condition that he train a group of Pakistani Air Force Pilots hand-picked by the Department of Defense. Luke is hesitant to train fighters from another country in the skills he learned at TOPGUN, but he cannot open the school without agreeing.