Customer Reviews

Flying the Edge of America

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unlike the two previous reviewers I forced myself to read the entire book. I didn't get any better. Julia who is from England had very little good to say about Americans (we are all fat)or American cities. Mean while she hated flyng, took narcotics before most flights, and drank too much every night, according to her own reporting. Her spititual side to her appears to be on nature and not the creator. Julia wrote most of the book with her reviews of places they visited. David wrote the flyng parts and could have had more information and detail. As a pilot I was drawn to the book and found it far lacking of usfull information. I would not reccomend this book.

I'm not sure where to put this book. For me, it worked neither as a pilot's book nor as a travelogue. In the interests of full disclosure, I gave up on the book about a third of the way through and cannot speak to the back two thirds.

I was attracted to it as a pilot who has long thought that I'd like to fly the rim of the US. As a pilot I did not find the book technical enough. For instance, the author describes ILS approaches as flying down the radio beams. I understand his desire to make the flying experience approachable to non-pilots but it did not leave enough meat on the bone for me to read it from a pilot's perspective.

I love a good travel book, however, and hung in there for a while to see if it worked on that basis. I have to concur with the reviewer, however, that the co-author wife seems focused on the negative. I do not attribute this to any lack of patriotism but rather that she seems to approach life as a glass half empty. Not the best frame of reference for a travelogue. On the other hand, she is terrified of flying, so I give her credit for her guts at going on such a flight. I will cut her the slack that when fighting one's fears on a daily basis it may be wearing on the morale.

Hope things got better later in the trip but I decided to get off the plane and move on to other interests.

First off, I only managed to make it 37% of the way through this book. It is not poorly written, a fairly easy read. I am planning a similar trip, and thought it would be interesting. Perhaps I should have weighed more heavily the fact that the authors are from Australia and England. At each stop (in the first 37% of the book) the reader is presented with the horrible atrocities America has committed on the native people and the lands. America has cut down 96% of its Redwood forests, slaughtered the buffalo, slaughtered the Indian tribes. Mount Rushmore is described as: "... the desecration of a perfectly beautiful mountain..", and since "... the Black Hills were stolen from the Native Americans by the US government after plenty of war and bloodshed." it "should be a place where we go to weep and consider the violence of our past." Victoria, Canada is celebrated with its Universal Healthcare, vibrancy and great food. While rural Montana is vilified as being full of Obama hating Southern racists who survive on burgers and coleslaw. From a piloting perspective I was a little disappointed as lee waves and thunderstorms appear to be this pilot's first encounter with these phenomenon. It is entirely possible that the greatness of America and Americans are explored in the remaining 63%. So if you like America, and buy this book, I recommend you start there.

A very good read, exciting and insightful

The book is the story of two new Americans flying themselves around the edges of America. It is part travelogue, memoir, and adventure story. It is also available at [...] with full color pictures.

The adventure began in the summer of 2008. When it had finished they had traveled for three months, flown 10,000 miles, made 44 flights, been in the sky 70 hours, hiked 176 miles, visited 28 states, and 53 towns around the contiguous United States of America.

It was the trip of a lifetime.