Flying magazine 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 new book, she recounts her 10 best, and in the process, 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. Includes 8 pages of color pictures. If you like Lane's column, you’ll love Unforgettable. Approx. 160 pages; paperback.
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Reviewed On:
July 21, 2010 Would You Recommend This Product:
Yes.
Overall Rating
Value
Pros
If you have a love for flying and can't quite find the appropriate words to express it, read Lane's books. She has that rare combination of flying skills, astute observation and the heart of a romantic. When you read her stories, you come away feeling as if you had been in the right seat with her all along. Strongly recommend this book.
Cons
No Cons Listed From This Reviewer.
General Comments
Reviewed On:
March 4, 2010 Would You Recommend This Product:
No.
Overall Rating
Durability
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Pros
I have always enjoyed Ms Wallace's writings in Flying Magazine which may have elevated my hopes for this book. The stories covered a broad range of experiences.
Cons
Poor editing
Way to high for a paperback book.
General Comments
Not a book I would want to share!
Reviewed On:
February 18, 2010 Would You Recommend This Product:
Yes.
Overall Rating
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Expectations
Pros
See below
Cons
It is only ten flights!
General Comments
For many, flying is suffused with romance, and authors have often portrayed the emotions of flight in grand, bold brushstrokes using lofty, poetic imagery. Saint-Exupery sketched vivid scenes that crossed vast expanses of sand and mountains. Ernest Gann brought us blue collar visions of the early years of commercial flight, bumping along at night in the winter turbulence at low altitudes over the Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Lane Wallace, conversely, shows us the mystery and wonder of flight realized in our youth when we first discovered airplanes. Both pilots and aircraft filled us with awe and wonder, and just the sound of an engine aloft would take our hearts and minds longingly to the places of our dreams.
Wallace brings a well-nurtured skill to her writing that, in its unadorned sophistication, carries us effortlessly back to those simpler times in our memories when none of the adult encumbrances like danger or cost or the labors of mechanical maintenance sullied the flying we loved. In her tales, she liberates our wistful imaginations and gives them wings.
Her deceptively complex book seems so simple on its surface. Wallace merely recounts ten flights that defined and shaped her flying experience. The beauty of her flying is that most of it has been in airplanes flown at airspeeds that could best be described as low and slow, and that is where the charm of her flying lies. She is not the sexy aviatrix in the little black dress with too much mascara beneath dyed hair flying in a near-Mach speed luxury jet. No, she is bedecked in blue jeans and a sweatshirt, and she recounts her flying tales with neither pretense nor selfish motive. Yet, the paradox is that in her plain and direct language, she paints flying in all of its resplendent grace and beauty. Reading Wallace is like sitting on the back porch in your grandmother’s swing catching up with an old friend. She talks without pretense or boasting, and we listen intently, the simplicity of her prose transporting us magically to places where our minds and hearts have always wanted to go.
Wallace can make us understand with equal vividness the vast expanses of the Alaskan wilderness or the homey simplicity of a small community airport in rural Ohio. She amazes us with harrowing tales of heroism while flying relief supplies in war-torn Sudan on the African continent. She dazzles us with her improbable flight in a U-2 spy plane to the near edges of space at supersonic speed which even she admits is a bit unbelievable for a woman who normally flies a Grumman Cheetah at 100 miles per hour very close to Mother Earth. During every retelling, she brings us the sights, sounds, and emotions of aviation that both she and we cherish in the retelling.
Through it all, we neither envy nor covet her experiences. We simply want to listen to her tell her campfire tales and soak in every word, reliving her adventures through her childlike eyes. Perhaps not surprisingly, this woman whose flying has spanned the globe can find adventure in the simple act of flying her parents over the California countryside at sunset, allowing both them and us to take in all the beauty of flight from the perspective of her small airplane cockpit that harkens back to those simpler times. She speaks of a “visceral joy” that comes to her from flying which she captures in these colorful narratives that marry human emotion to aeronautical artistry and carry us away to the lofty places in our souls.
This little book is for the romantic adventurer who slumbers in all of us, who sees the grandly elegant in a simple circuit around a grassy runway, who understands how small and simple airplanes can strangely ennoble the slightly reluctant among us and create aviators where only pilots dwelt before. Even for those who have never yearned to guide their crafts through footless halls of air, Lane Wallace can bring the firmly earthbound to embrace the elegant wonder that is flight in simple, unencumbered crafts.
Reviewed On:
February 9, 2010 Would You Recommend This Product:
Yes.
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Pros
every pilot likes to read about flights....thats a fact....this is a good book for that
Cons
none
General Comments
Reviewed On:
February 5, 2010 Would You Recommend This Product:
Yes.
Overall Rating
Durability
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Expectations
Pros
No Pros Listed From This Reviewer.
Cons
No Cons Listed From This Reviewer.
General Comments
I have been reading Lane's column in Flying since she came onboard. I bought her book so I could reread her columns. I have books from Gordon Baxter and Len Morgan and Peter Egan so I can reread their columns, I enjoy rereading Lane's work just as much.
Reviewed On:
January 26, 2010 Would You Recommend This Product:
Yes.
Overall Rating
Value
Pros
Excellent piece of writing. As usual, Lane has captured the magic of why we fly - in 10 very different aircraft, venues and situations. Fun read for anyone even remotely interested in aviation.
Cons
Paperback - a hard copy version would make a nicer gift for fellow pilots.
General Comments
Reviewed On:
December 8, 2009 Would You Recommend This Product:
No.
