Fasten Your Seat Belts! History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin [Hardcover]

Valerie Lester (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Paladwr Pr; First Edition edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962648388
• ISBN-13: 978-0962648380
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,593,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far more than a book of Airline Anecdotes, April 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fasten Your Seat Belts! History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin (Hardcover)

Pan Am airlines passed away in 1991, that's too bad, as there's no more where this came from. Val Lester's book is a series of stories from Pan Am's history, from the perspective of it's cabin crew, that gives you the impression that PA had a far more level headed group of people running it's planes than it did in it's management at the end. It includes the stories of the earliest flights of the airline back in the days of the flying boats of the 30's, the jet age, including the Pan Am-run presidential flight at Dallas Airport on the afternoon of the Kennedy assassination, Dorothy Kelly's account of the collision at Tenerife (Featured on Channel Four's "Black Box.") that has to be read to be believed and an incident in the Syrian Desert that involved Gene Roddenberry, and is a must for Star Trek fans. It ends with an account of Pan Am's shipping troops home from the Gulf in 1991, at a time when the airline was running out of money. - The US government then promptly refused to assist the airline and thus drove it out of business. Lester openly admits she is partisan in terms of blaming the government and lazy managers, but if these accounts of the cabin crew are typical, I can't see who else got rid of one of aviation's great brands. I really can't recommend this book enough - F*cking superb!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And consider this, August 18, 2002

By 

James Lester "sherpa jim" (Hingham, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fasten Your Seat Belts! History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin (Hardcover)

Since ... can't track every review of every book offered, here's a brief look at some of the professional reviews of Valerie Lester's book.
(Airways Magazine, Nov/Dec 1995:) Airliner cabin attendants are the focus of this fond review of Pan American's development, compiled by a writer and teacher of classical literature who served as a Pan Am stewardess in the 1960s. Lester writes well and has good material to work with...This is no mere 'coffee, tea, or me' treatment.
(American Aviation Historical Society:) An interesing, informative and different side of the story of the life and death of Pan American World Airways. Well worth the time to read and enjoy this well told historic series of tales. A book not to be missed by any airline history buff.
(Airliner Magazine:) Even the most learned student of Pan Am will reap a great deal of knowledge from this book....very well written and extremely interesting. It will bring back memories for those who worked long hours in the cabin and add insight for those who enjoyed the service administered by the men and women of Pan Am's flight attendant corps.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing but the best for the Clipper, July 30, 2000

By 

Becky (Rocky Mountain West) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fasten Your Seat Belts! History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin (Hardcover)

This is the absolute best book about Pan Am that I've ever read. It has great stories and a good history synopsis. I wish I was born 15 years earlier so maybe I'd been able to work for Pan Am. Oh, well!