Confessions And Memoirs Of An Airline Pilot

Captain Enrique (Henry) Horta was born the third child of the Horta Family in Ventura California. He lived in various places such as, Los Angeles, San Diego, Mexico, Germany, Mauritius, New Zealand, Japan and Jordan. While spending some of his teen years in Mexico he learned about survival and the importance of appreciating and doing the best of what resources he had. When he returned to California he was a skinny kid with dreams and plans to be a Pilot, traveler and adventurer. His wild dreams of becoming an Astronaut and going to the moon where replaced by more realistic dreams such as wanting to become an Airline Pilot. When he turned 18 years old he parted from his parents and had to join the working rat race starting out as a bag-boy at a local Safeway store. His plans to finish College were halted by his traveling bug so he took a break from school, sold his motorcycle, and went back-packing to Europe with only $1,000 Dollars in his pocket, a Euro-Pass train Ticket for a month, and a return airplane ticket home. Unexpected fatherhood in Germany at a young age made him become more responsible and serious about his dreams. When he returned to California he was now a young family man while working as a carpenter in construction and attending evening University and Flight School on weekends. His positive thinking methods, scholarships, grants, and student loans paid off and he graduated with an Airway Science Degree in addition to all his Pilot ratings and Certificates. Thereafter, his life became more of an adventure and he travelled around the world working for various Airlines as a Contract Pilot.

From a former commercial airline pilot and British Airways captain, a memoir about life in the cockpit, offering insider information about flight safety. How do you know if the airline you are planning to fly with is safe? What should you be worried about? Is it, Turbulence, lightning or that the pilots might be asleep while the aircraft flies on, on autopilot? Does a pilot’s life conform to the cliché; a life of foreign adventure with off duty hours spent by the pool in some tropical paradise surrounded by attractive members of the opposite sex? Or is it a life of commercial pressure to cut corners to keep the show on the road irrespective of the rules? Is it true that pilots have to jack up a seventy-ton aircraft themselves and change a wheel when they get a puncture? Ever wonder what really happened during the Concorde’s only crash? This and other mysteries of flight travel are analyzed by a twenty-year airline industry veteran and presented in a highly readable form. Terry Tozer gives readers cockpit view of a series of real flights. Some result in accidents and incidents that demonstrate what the priorities for good safety are. Others are experiences from the author’s own flying career in both passenger airline flying to long haul cargo, with its hidden world of global commerce, military operations and more. Finally, Tozer offers a suggestion that helps passengers easily choose safe airlines. Confessions of an Airline Pilot is an engrossing read from an industry insider, perfect for aviation buffs and anyone hoping to understand the real calculations that contribute to aviation safety.

This is my storythe story of a pilot who flew airplanes for some thirty-seven years: ten years in the United States Air Force, primarily in jet fighters, and then twenty-seven years flying commercial jet airliners. I was inspired to write this story after reading the autobiography, a few years ago, of Gen. Chuck Yeagerhe being the world-renowned test pilot, World War II fighter ace, and first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. My story is the story of an average pilot, an average guy who survived several close calls, had many interesting experiences along the way, and often wondered, Am I still here because I was especially good or because I was especially lucky? I think the answer is definitely a combination of the two, just as Yeager says or implies in his book. With him, it may have been a larger contribution of skill, but as he said, The secret of my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day. I have to echo that comment. While flying around the country with American Airlines, during hours of complete boredom (as we say), we pilots often traded our war stories of our flying (and other) experiences. I often thought that I had many tales that were similar to some of Yeagers and that I should put my experiences down on paper, even if it would only be my family who might read it. So this, then, is my story, my life, primarily, as it revolved around my aviating experiences over some thirty-seven years, from the viewpoint of a pilot who has no particular claim to fame but who has survived to fly another day. One of the best descriptions of a flying career says: You start out with a big bag of luck and an empty bag of experience; you want to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck! I guess I have done that.

How do you know if the airline you are planning to fly with is safe? What should you be worried about? Is it, Turbulence, lightning or that the pilots might be asleep while the aircraft flies on, on autopilot?Does a pilot's life conform to the cliché; a life of foreign adventure with off duty hours spent by the pool in some tropical paradise surrounded by attractive members of the opposite sex?Or is it a life of commercial pressure to cut corners to keep the show on the road irrespective of the rules?Surely it can't be true that the pilots have to jack up a 70 ton aircraft themselves and change a wheel when they get a puncture.Find out what really happened with the expert investigation into the only crash that Concorde had. This and other detective stories that puzzled investigators are analysed by the author and presented in a highly readable form.Your questions are answered by providing the reader with a fly in the cockpit view of a series of real flights. Some result in accidents and incidents that demonstrate what the priorities for good safety are. Others are experiences from the author's own flying career in both passenger airline flying to long haul cargo, with its hidden world of global commerce, military operations and more. Finally, the author offers a suggestion that would offer the passenger an easy way of choosing safe airlines; it could be the answer to equate choosing a flight with choosing other life altering purchases that are already in place.

A collection of aviation stories spanning the 37-year career of pilot Roger Thompson.

The true story that is Amazon's #1 aviation new release: who didn't want to be a jet pilot as a kid? Yet for most, life gets in the way and charts a different course. But what if? Here's your chance to live the dream, the real story of a childhood passion for airplanes and flight to the rigorous military college that lead to Air Force pilot wings, to years as a USAF pilot in the Pacific and Asia, then into the cockpits of the world's largest airline, and decades as a captain. Live the struggle, the adventures, the flying, the ups and downs of airline crew life from an insider perspective. An airline pilot's life: strap in, hang on--it's a wild ride.