Flight Check!


Book Description

Traces the history of flight inspection, instrument flight procedures, and aeronautical charting from the early days of aviation to 2002.




Comm Check...


Book Description

On February 1, 2003, the unthinkable happened. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated 37 miles above Texas, seven brave astronauts were killed and America's space program, always an eyeblink from disaster, suffered its second catastrophic in-flight failure. Unlike the Challenger disaster 17 years earlier, Columbia's destruction left the nation one failure away from the potential abandonment of human space exploration. Media coverage in the immediate aftermath focused on the possible cause of the disaster, and on the nation's grief. But the full human story, and the shocking details of NASA's crucial mistakes, have never been told -- until now. Based on dozens of exclusive interviews, never-before-published documents and recordings of key meetings obtained by the authors, Comm Check takes the reader inside the conference rooms and offices where NASA's best and brightest managed the nation's multi-billion-dollar shuttle program -- and where they failed to recognize the signs of an impending disaster. It is the story of a space program pushed to the brink of failure by relentless political pressure, shrinking budgets and flawed decision making. The independent investigation into the disaster uncovered why Columbia broke apart in the sky above Texas. Comm Check brings that story to life with the human drama behind the tragedy. Michael Cabbage and William Harwood, two of America's most respected space journalists, are veterans of all but a handful of NASA's 113 shuttle missions. Tapping a network of sources and bringing a combined three decades of experience to bear, the authors provide a rare glimpse into NASA's inner circles, chronicling the agency's most devastating failure and the challenges that face NASA as it struggles to return America to space.



















Flight Path


Book Description

A gripping novel for young adults that captures both the daring and the everyday realities of serving in the Air Force during the Second World War. Pete and Paul yelled together. 'Bandit! Nine o'clock! Bandit!' Jack spun to stare. There was the Messerschmitt on their left, streaking straight at them. Eighteen-year-old Jack wanted to escape boring little New Zealand. But he soon finds that flying in a Lancaster bomber to attack Hitler’s forces brings terror as well as excitement. With every dangerous mission, he becomes more afraid that he’ll never get back alive. He wants to help win the war, but will he lose his own life? My Brother’s War: '... there are stories that need to be told over and over again, to introduce a new generation of readers to important ideas and to critical times in their country's history ... Hill's descriptions of trench warfare are unforgettable.' from the Judges' Report of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2013




Flying Magazine


Book Description




USAF Flight Test Engineering Manual


Book Description

n the late 1940¿s and early 50¿s, planes flew higher and faster than anyone had dreamed possible. The jet age had arrived, and along with it came turbojet and rocket-powered aircraft capable of flying beyond the speed of sound. To assess these aircraft, the Air Research and Development Command developed a series of data reduction methods, and then compiled them in this Flight Test Engineering Manual. It served as a standard technical reference for the flight test engineers, program managers, pilots and support teams for many of the X-plane programs of the 1950s. This reprint represents the first time in over fifty years that this book has been available, and the first time it has ever been made available to the public. it¿s a unique time capsule that provides insight into the era of ¿The Right Stuff¿, when slide rules and punch cards were the cutting edge, and a must-have for anyone interested in the technical aspects of flight test.