Customer Reviews

Flying the Edge: The Making of Navy Test Pilots

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

 

 

Whilst the author had unprecedented access to an entire course as aviators earned their Test Pilot certification, i was really dissapointed by the very vague nature in which the book actually details 'flying on the edge'. With the exception of 2 -3 chapters there is very little detail behind the actual flying part of the course. Their exists even less detail on the thory and the author does not even go to the trouble of actually informing the reader of what the course elements are. There is little detail on rotary wing operations also.

I wanted to read about test flying and test pilots. Instead the author provides mere glimpses of the flying and seems happier to discuss the politics of test flying and the Navy - he gives a whole chapter to the Tailhook scandal which has nothing to do with 'flying the edge' in my opinion.

If you want hard core flying and test flying action look somewhere else

There is no point in discussing the many problems with this book in any depth, because one would have to write a book about them. Suffice it to say that Wilson, clearly a non pilot, had all the benefits of access based on his position and made the least of them. Readers who are interested in finding out more about Naval Aviation and its inner truths should read Paul Gillcrist's terrific FEET WET, and his follow-on VULTURE'S ROW. 'Gator' is the real thing, a PAX graduate and immensely experienced in the cockpit, from piston-engined aircraft of the '50s to the F-14, and his books are everthing that EDGE isn't.
It's not a matter of 'close, but no cigar.' EDGE isn't even close. Sorry, Wilson, no sale (anyone want my copy, which is being used alternately as a coffee-mug coaster and door stop?).

As a Navy engineer working at Pax, a graduate of the Navy's Test Pilot School and a person intimately involved in the flight testing of the Navy's premier fighter aircraft, I read this book with great interest. Several of my friends were mentioned in his previous book, 'Supercarrier' and I knew several others who attended TPS while Mr. Wilson was there. This book captured the very essence of life at Pax without the embellishment typically found in storytelling. The lives of the engineers and test pilots seem simply ordinary to those who work at Pax, yet George Wilson finds a way to capture the flavor and excitement of our work and present it in an incredibly readable and accurate way. This was an excellent book and I recommend it to all who have an interest in aviation and especially, the field of flight test

A very thorough, well-written book about Test Pilot School, where daring and usually cocky pilots are turned into Engineers/Pilots. George Wilson spent a whole year with Class 100 at TPS and describes all they had to go through in breath-taking detail.

Mr. Wilson even describes the history behind the School and explains the struggles encountered by the first aviators testing airplanes.

A definite buy for the military airplane enthusiast.

Wilson is a former reporter with Av Week who later moved to the Wash. Post. In an earlier book, "Supercarrier," he wrote about his experiences during a year-long cruise aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy. In this book, Wilson follows a class of students through the Navy's Test Pilot School at Pax River, Md. George is good at making the technical accessible to even liberal arts majors. And there's enough detail to make sophisticated readers happy. Wilson does a pretty good job capturing the personalities of the modern naval aviators who are attending the school. There is adequate material about their off-base lives, family, etc. For drama, Wilson describes several major accidents -- one of which led to the suicide of a senior TPS officer. As a case study of how the aircraft test system works (or doesn't) Wilso focuses on the tests of the Goshawk TA-45 trainer. Finally, Wilson includes a brief chapter on the Tailhook scandal, including a verbatim reprint of Paula Coughlin's affidavit to the NIS