Deadly-serious predicaments and hilarious escapades tumble through this real-life story of a pilot struggling for his place in the sun . . .
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403 pages, quality paperback |
. . . My earliest memory is flying with Mom before I was four. I remember the sound and smell of the airplane and the image of the sunlight reflecting off the instruments. She uttered a squeal of delight when she let me have the yoke of the Taylorcraft. I pushed forward as hard as I could and loved the floating sensation . . . |
| I Must Fly is Johnny Moore's
riveting memoir of an action-filled career spanning 38 years and 23,000 hours aloft. It
starts with a thrice-flunked Private Pilot exam and ascends to the highest civilian
pilot rating: Airline Transport Pilot. Along the way, readers join him at the controls of B-17 and C-119 fire bombers, Alaskan bush transport C-46's, crop-dusting bi-winged Stearman's in the sweltering heat of California's San Joaquin Valley, and navigating a float plane between the tall ships on San Francisco Bay. Along with plenty of adventure stories, Johnny liberally dispenses valuable technical and career advice as he becomes a commercial pilot, aviation mechanic, flight instructor, pilot examiner and airline transport pilot. Adventures include: |
| Thundering down deep canyons in heavy multiengine fire bombers through raging firestorms. | ||
| Taking off blind in night fog from a dangerous mountain airport when suddenly something goes horribly wrong. | ||
| Simulating a catastrophic crash into a pristine High Sierra lake for a Hollywood movie. | ||
| Spectacular air-show loops and rolls ending in near-disaster in a glider. | ||
| Flashing under lines and around power poles night spraying in crop dusters. | ||
| Landing a forty-eight thousand-pound C-46 on a frozen arctic lake in the savage Brooks Range. | ||
| Candid, comprehensive advice on piloting skills and career management including airline pre-employment tests. | ||
| Historical insights into aviation from W.W.II to the present. Personal glimpses of colorful, outrageous characters. | ||
| The biggest risk of all: sheer determination and sweat equity start a successful aviation business. | ||
| "I finally wrenched your
book from Dot and have finished reading it. You have produced a fine book,
Johnny--especially interesting to pilots. You've certainly been involved and have
skillfully recounted many episodes in a most interesting career!" Signed, Jim Magoffin, with whom Johnny flew, founder of Interior Airways, Alaska International Air and MarkAir and author of Triumph Over Turbulence. |
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. . . Suddenly we were all hanging from our belts in severe turbulence with jolts so hard you couldn't read the instruments. Outside it turned dark with a greenish hue and I struggled to get my panel lights on. The 206 was quickly becoming a cake of ice, heavy stuff that was building at a breathtaking rate. We were literally falling out of the sky at twelve thousand feet. I called Center and told them as much, as we slammed our way through ten thousand . . . Editor Bill Lavender comments, "If you're interested in reading a truly aviation-oriented book, then...I Must Fly! is just one book. Moore's antics through his aviation career are spellbinding to say the least. What I can't figure is how Johnny Moore survived his own pilotage skills, especially during his years as an ag pilot; not that he was any less of a pilot, but to all the adventures in aviation that he was exposed." -AgAir Update- "Ride along with Johnny Moore as he learns to fly, buys his first plane and makes a living as a commercial pilot. Avgas, adrenaline, and determination are the only things that keep this cool young pilot headed toward success. Johnny and Judy marry and begin their family as he works as a crop duster, fire bomber pilot, and Alaska bush pilot. The ups and downs of flying create an adventure on every leaf of this...autobiography. The stories contain advice and lessons, some learned the hard way. There are safety tips for those who are willing to learn from the mistakes of others. Excellent reading for the pilot or would-be pilot. You will not want to put this book down until you reach the last page, then it will leave you wishing for 'Moore.' I enjoyed this book immensely and was impressed with the author's honesty and frankness. I felt that I was in the cockpit with him as he frantically searched for a place to land his crop duster as he is trapped in a killer ground fog. I shared his grief at the loss of friends or a favorite plane. The cycle of fate predicts whether or not we succeed or lose. Johnny Moore succeeded. Read the book to find out how he did it." John Hein, Former Alaska Bush Pilot and Aviation Safety Consultant |
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SUGARPINE AVIATORS Gansner Airfield 70 Spanish Creek Road, P.O. Box 1450 Quincy, CA 95971 phone 530-283-2600 |