At the height of the Cold War, America's most elite aviators bravely volunteered for a covert program aimed at eliminating an impossible new threat. Half never returned. All became legends. From New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton comes one of the most extraordinary untold stories of aviation history.Vietnam, 1965: On July 24 a USAF F-4 Phantom jet was suddenly blown from the sky by a mysterious and lethal weapon--a Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM), launched by Russian "advisors" to North Vietnam. Three days later, six F-105 Thunderchiefs were brought down trying to avenge the Phantom. More tragic losses followed, establishing the enemy's SAMs as the deadliest anti-aircraft threat in history and dramatically turning the tables of Cold War air superiority in favor of Soviet technology.Stunned and desperately searching for answers, the Pentagon ordered a top secret program called Wild Weasel I to counter the SAM problem--fast. So it came to be that a small group of maverick fighter pilots and Electronic Warfare Officers volunteered to fly behind enemy lines and into the teeth of the threat. To most it seemed a suicide mission--but they beat the door down to join. Those who survived the 50 percent casualty rate would revolutionize warfare forever."You gotta be sh*#@ing me!" This immortal phrase was uttered by Captain Jack Donovan when the Wild Weasel concept was first explained to him. "You want me to fly in the back of a little tiny fighter aircraft with a crazy fighter pilot who thinks he's invincible, home in on a SAM site in North Vietnam, and shoot it before it shoots me?"Based on unprecedented firsthand interviews with Wild Weasel veterans and previously unseen personal papers and declassified documents from both sides of the conflict, as well as Dan Hampton's own experience as a highly decorated F-16 Wild Weasel pilot, The Hunter Killers is a gripping, cockpit-level chronicle of the first-generation Weasels, the remarkable band of aviators who faced head-on the advanced Soviet missile technology that was decimating fellow American pilots over the skies of Vietnam.

If you are one of over 700 million passengers who will fly in America this year, you need to read this book. The Next Crash offers a shocking perspective on the aviation industry by a former United Airlines pilot. Weaving insider knowledge with hundreds of employee interviews, Amy L. Fraher uncovers the story airline executives and government regulators would rather not tell. While the FAA claims that this is the "Golden Age of Safety, and other aviation researchers assure us the chance of dying in an airline accident is infinitesimal, The Next Crash reports that 70 percent of commercial pilots believe a major airline accident will happen soon. Who should we believe? As one captain explained, Everybody wants their $99 ticket, but you don t get Captain] Sully for ninety-nine bucks"

Drawing parallels between the 2008 financial industry implosion and the post-9/11 airline industry, The Next Crash explains how aviation industry risk management processes have not kept pace with a rapidly changing environment. To stay safe the system increasingly relies on the experience and professionalism of airline employees who are already stressed, fatigued, and working more while earning less. As one copilot reported, employees are so distracted it s almost a miracle that there wasn t bent metal and dead people at his airline. Although opinions like this are pervasive, for reasons discussed in this book, employees issues do not concern the right people namely airline executives, aviation industry regulators, politicians, watchdog groups, or even the flying public in the right way often enough. In contrast to popular notions that airliner accidents are a thing of the past, Fraher makes clear America is entering a period of unprecedented aviation risk."

Flight For Safety is an aviation thriller where fiction mirrors truth and each flight is a game of Russian roulette. Aircraft are crashing after computer failures, incidents are occurring worldwide, coming close to hull losses, with mismanagement of aircraft navigation systems, and airline training programs are being cancelled. Aerodynamic skills are failing and the new generation pilots never learned them. But when Darby Bradshaw learns what is happening at her airline, she steps into a far-reaching conspiracy where she has become the target.

An engaging coverage of Air France 447, the Airbus A330 that crashed in the ocean north of Brazil on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 persons on board. Written by A330 Captain, Bill Palmer, this book opens to understanding the actions of the crew, how they failed to understand and control the problem, and how the airplane works and the part it played. All in easy to understand terms. Addressed are the many contributing aspects of weather, human factors, and airplane system operation and design that the crew could not recover from. How each contributed is covered in detail along with what has been done, and needs to be done in the future to prevent this from happening again.

Formulas for the Air Navigation Computer is written for pilots and air navigators at all levels of experience from the novice to the professional. The book is self-help on how to use the E6-B Air Navigation Computer. An E6-B Air Navigation Computer is a circular slide rule with a wind slide on the reverse side. It is dedicated to performing all calculations related to pre-flight planning and in-flight air navigation. Every pilot has an E6-B Air Navigation Computer, which is supplied with a very brief instructional booklet when the E6-B is purchased. However, the booklet only covers a few basic formulas, and many more formulas are required for passing the pilot navigation exams at various levels and, of course, for all operational flying. Obtaining all these different formulas from various sources is time consuming, as this author has discovered over the years. They are not readily available in one book. This is the reason for writing Formulas for the Air Navigation Computer; it is a unique collection of air navigation computer formulas. The formulas are written as they appear when set up on the E6-B Air Navigation Computer. A full description on how to solve each formula is included, along with a worked example and also the methods for using the wind slide to calculate wind triangle and other navigational problems associated with the wind slide. The book is easy to follow by the novice pilot and a convenient reference source for the more experienced pilot. The book is complete with all the formulas a pilot of any level should need to know. It is laid out in a simple way with over 122 formulas and methods, covering Time, Speed & Distance, Air Speed, Altitude Navigation, VNAV, One-in-Sixty Rule, Wind triangle Calculations, Wind Finding methods, Fuel Calculations, Pressure Pattern Navigation and more.

After a ten-year leave, Kathryn Jacobs has been invited back to the N.T.S.B to investigate a series of unexplained airline crashes. But her husband, Captain Bill Jacobs, has his concerns. While her twin daughters are off at camp, and Bill is actively campaigning for the Pilot Union Presidency, Kathryn secretly begins her investigation. What she learns will shock the nation. Flight For Control is a thriller that reads like a mystery. But to Kathryn, there is no mystery on the condition of the airline industry-it's broken. Planes are crashing. Pensions are lost. Pilots are financially and emotionally bankrupt due to fatigue, furloughs, and loss of seniority. It's time that someone takes control before it's too late-unless it already is. Your life is in your pilot's hands. Do you know who's flying your plane?

Three thousand feet above the Zambian bush, the DHC2 Beaver had only ten minutes' fuel remaining. Night was drawing in; ground features were indiscernible. I could not raise anyone on the radio. Would this be the end? John Flexman knew he wanted to be a pilot from the moment he saw an RAF flypast as a boy of eight. At sixteen he joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, getting his 'wings' in 1961 at the age of 18. From there on he never looked back. His flying career took him around the world, from the Far East to Africa and back again. John came within seconds of disaster on several occasions and often encountered tragedy, losing several friends and colleagues in flying accidents. During his years in Africa he flew the dictator Idi Amin several times, while on the ground he was able to witness the barbaric results of Amin's regime. He went on to fly an assortment of prominent businessmen, politicians and pop stars, from Norman Tebbitt and Rupert Murdoch to Phil Collins and Paul McCartney. John finally retired at 60, having narrowly survived a 42-year career spanning 17,800 flying hours. Aviation at the Edge is his story.

When Britain's brilliant aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland first proposed the Mosquito, the Air Ministry greeted the idea with skepticism. Powered by twin Merlin engines, the bomber would be constructed almost entirely of wood and handle like a fighter. Stripped of heavy defensive weapons and armor, its advantage was its light weight and high speed, which would allow it to escape pursuing enemy aircraft. De Havilland's critics were silenced when the prototype flew in November of 1940. The plane quickly proved itself one of the fastest and most versatile military aircraft in existence, and production of the type commenced immediately. The "Wooden Wonder" (or "Mossie" as it was sometimes referred to) entered widespread service in 1942 and flew as a fast bomber, fighter-bomber, night fighter, path-finder, maritime strike aircraft, and fast photo-reconnaissance aircraft. The plane became particularly famous for set-piece attacks including a raid on Gestapo HQ in Oslo, an attack on a power station in Holland, and Amiens Prison. It also participated in the Normandy Campaign and D-Day. Created by the R.A.F., these notes were standard issue circa 1944. They contain fascinating information about aircraft operation, handling, and emergencies.

This is the current official army U.S. Army Field Manual, unchanged since this edition completed 7th May 2007. Field manual (FM) 3-04.203 presents information to plan and conduct common aviation tasks for fixed- and rotary-wing flight. However, it has become more inclusive and its scope broadened to reduce the number of manuals used by Army crewmembers for reference. One of the underlying premises of Army aviation is if crewmembers understand 'why' they will be better prepared to 'do' when confronted with the unexpected. FM 3-04.203 endeavors to ensure that crewmembers understand the basic physics of flight, and the dynamics associated with fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. A comprehensive understanding of these principles will better prepare a crew member for flight, transition training, and tactical flight operations.

In a provocative and sometimes controversial style, this guide starts where standard-issue flight training manuals leave off. The Thinking Pilot guides you deeply into topics that weren't taught in flight training-everything from how to really do a preflight, through keeping your passengers happy, scud running, precautionary landings, and how to survive a crash. It includes a detailed introduction to flying floats, skis, aerobatics, and classic airplanes; probes some of aviation's dirty little secrets, explodes myths, and presents the best, most succinct guide to flying tailwheel airplanes ever written. Rick Durden was once described as aviation's Renaissance Man. He is an Airline Transport-rated pilot with experience in some 200 types of airplanes, a practicing aviation attorney who has been involved in hundreds of aircraft accident cases, writer, aviation magazine editor, safety counselor, flight instructor, volunteer pilot in remote areas of the U.S. and Central America, and has been the executive director of a nonprofit conservation organization making use of aircraft and volunteer pilots throughout much of North America.