Book Description

From a former commercial airline pilot and British Airways captain, a memoir about life in the cockpit, offering insider information about flight safety. How do you know if the airline you are planning to fly with is safe? What should you be worried about? Is it, Turbulence, lightning or that the pilots might be asleep while the aircraft flies on, on autopilot? Does a pilot’s life conform to the cliché; a life of foreign adventure with off duty hours spent by the pool in some tropical paradise surrounded by attractive members of the opposite sex? Or is it a life of commercial pressure to cut corners to keep the show on the road irrespective of the rules? Is it true that pilots have to jack up a seventy-ton aircraft themselves and change a wheel when they get a puncture? Ever wonder what really happened during the Concorde’s only crash? This and other mysteries of flight travel are analyzed by a twenty-year airline industry veteran and presented in a highly readable form. Terry Tozer gives readers cockpit view of a series of real flights. Some result in accidents and incidents that demonstrate what the priorities for good safety are. Others are experiences from the author’s own flying career in both passenger airline flying to long haul cargo, with its hidden world of global commerce, military operations and more. Finally, Tozer offers a suggestion that helps passengers easily choose safe airlines. Confessions of an Airline Pilot is an engrossing read from an industry insider, perfect for aviation buffs and anyone hoping to understand the real calculations that contribute to aviation safety.