Ron Gluck, bush pilot and international relations liaison, glances back in time, anecdotally revisiting flying, language gems, and conversation slices occurring from 1963 to 2007 in Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

He flew five thousand accident-free hours mostly in single engine planes over uncharted mountainous terrain of Papua New Guinea and later in charted Cameroon. The safety he attributes to God's grace and to superb maintenance by fellow JAARS specialists.

The incidents revisited were central to events that took place but were never scrutinized. Dismissed as coincidence, they were accepted as "how things worked out." In his review, Gluck suggests a continuing role of the Creator in the world today in ways seldom discussed, but alluded to with these questions.

Is not the living God, maker of heaven and earth, still involved in weather, ideas, timing, and answering prayers?

Doesn't He who gives life also sustain heartbeats and breathing in every living being, including those reading this profile?

"What a precious manuscript ...just now finished reading it and did not want it to end."

--Linda Hancock, librarian

"Reading your book at same time as John 7:18. You've glorified Him."

--Kenneth Gray, PhD, Economic Research Service, USDA, retired

"Your Lamnso story showed how Bible translators have given one isolated culture after another a giant step forward, reducing their speech to texts that can then be read by others. No wonder the Lamnso were thrilled, and deeply grateful "

--Robert Park, professor emeritus of law, the George Washington University

Come take a flight with Pan Am Captain Bill Travis - from Tennessee farm boy to high school dropout, working in the Detroit car factories, to professional pilot and captain for Pan Am. Hear from the cockpit of a Pan Am Boeing 747 what really goes on behind the scenes: the banter, the problem passengers, the celebrities, the scary moments. This is not a story of how one man got lucky and achieved his dream - Bill had a method - and in this book he shares it with the reader alongside the fascinating story of his life. Much more than just a reminiscing retiree, Captain Bill shares the secrets of his success - a success that continues to this day. Not a man to slow down, Bill followed up his piloting with a career as a professional musician, running his own 17-piece dance orchestra in San Francisco. Now living in Phoenix, Arizona, Bill divides his time between managing his own real estate business and writing. Read his first book, "Pan Am Captain: Aiming High" and be inspired by the journey of Captain Bill Travis. He will motivate you to Aim for High Goals

Much has been written in the West on the history of the Soviet space program but few Westerners have read direct first-hand accounts of the men and women who were behind the many Russian accomplishments in exploring space. The memoir of Academician Boris Chertok, translated from the original Russian, fills that gap. In Volume 1 of "Rockets and People," Chertok described his early life as an aeronautical engineer and his adventures as a member of the Soviet team that searched postwar, occupied Germany for the remnants of the Nazi rocket program. In Volume 2, Chertok takes up the story after his return to the Soviet Union in 1946, when Stalin ordered the foundation of the postwar missile program at an old artillery factory northeast of Moscow. Chertok gives an unprecedented view into the early days of the Soviet missile program. With a keen talent for combining technical and human interests, Chertok writes of the origins and creation of the Baykonur Cosmodrome in a remote desert region of Kazakhstan. He devotes a substantial portion of Volume 2 to describing the launch of the first Sputnik satellite and the early lunar and interplanetary probes designed under legendary Chief Designer Sergey Korolev in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He ends with a detailed description of the famous R-16 catastrophe known as the "Nedelin disaster," which killed scores of engineers during preparations for a missile launch in 1960.

The four volumes of the encyclopedia of Cameroon aviation law are intended for students, lawyers, judges, scholars, and readers of all backgrounds with an interest in aviation law and to provide the definitive corpus of relevant national and regional legislation, including global aviation treaties and legislation, to enable all readers, without exception, to develop the background, knowledge, and tools to understand local, regional, and international aviation law in a contextual fashion. The first volume has a detailed text of country legislation, including national cases and materials, while the second volume focuses on international aviation law treaties, international cases and materials, and Aircraft Refueling Indemnity (Tarbox) Agreements.

An expert examination of the evolution of military aviation and its profound impact on warfare—from the employment of balloons during the French Revolutionary wars to the use of aircraft in World War I. Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact is a detailed, authoritative exploration of the role and development of military aviation, from its beginnings to the conclusion of World War I. Military history scholar Justin Murphy carefully illustrates the impact of aircraft on military warfare, examines the different types of aircraft, and includes a wealth of photographs and descriptions. Organized thematically, the work covers everything from the origins of military aviation and the impact of aircraft on World War I to the role of reconnaissance missions, auxiliary aircraft, fighters, and bombers. Each chapter highlights key individuals, advancements in aviation technology, industrial organization and aircraft production, and the influence of aircraft on military tactics and strategy. Murphy also demonstrates how aircraft contributed to the development of total war and blurred the lines that had traditionally separated combatants and noncombatants.

At a May 1981 "Proseminar in Space History'' held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC, historians came together to consider the state of the discipline of space history. It was an historic occasion. The community of scholars interested in the history of spaceflight was not large; previously, well-meaning but untrained aficionados consumed with artifacts had dominated the field, to the exclusion of the larger context. At a fundamental level, this proseminar represented a "declaration of independence'' for what might be called the "new aerospace history.'' In Retrospect, it may be interpreted as marking the rise of space history as a recognizable subdiscipline within the field of U.S. history. Bringing together a diverse collection of scholars to review the state of the art in space history, this proseminar helped in a fundamental manner to define the field and to chart a course for future research. Its participants set about the task of charting a course for collecting, preserving, and disseminating the history of space exploration within a larger context of space policy and technology. In large measure, the course charted by the participants in this 1981 proseminar aided in advancing a very successful agenda of historical research, writing, and understanding of space history. Not every research project has yielded acceptable results, nor can it be expected to do so, but the sum of the effort since 1981 has been impressive. The opportunities for both the exploration of space and for recording its history have been significant. Both endeavors are noble and aimed at the enhancement of humanity. Whither the history of spaceflight Only time will tell. But there has been an emergent "new aerospace history'' of which space history is a central part that moves beyond an overriding concern for the details of the artifact to emphasize the broader role of the spacecraft. More importantly, it emphasizes the whole technological system, including not just the vehicle but also the other components that make up the aerospace climate, as an integral part of the human experience. It suggests that many unanswered questions spur the development of flight and that inquisitive individuals seek to know that which they do not understand.