Skyfaring - a journey with a pilot

If you are like me and you can´t seem to make up your mind about how you feel about flying, then this book is definitely worth reading! Even if you are just slightly curious about the world above the world, then this book is fantastic!

This book is not a novel, or a thriller. It is a non-fiction book about Mark Vanhoenacker, who is a pilot about absolutely loves his job. In this book, he shares his love of flying and explains how the plane works, why pilots do what they do, the physics of lifts and flight paths. He tells the reader about how he fell in love with flying and how he has always been fascinated and wanting to be a pilot.

The book is divided into nine chapters and it was very fascinating to read about how pilots actually see more water than any sailor does and a pilot becomes very attached to the type of aeroplane they fly.

Wind, to the earthbound observer, suggests a local event against a default background of stillness, a breeze passing over a fixed point on earth; over us. But higher up, the air itself, the reference frame of flight, is almost always in motion. Once I leave the ground I no longer think of wind as a flow of air that passes over us; rather, it carries us whole, as a river or an ocean current. (Vanhoenacker, M. (2015), p.144)

I am fascinated, curious, anxious and worried about flying, but it doesn´t seem to stop me anyway. But I do spend a lot of time (more than I am willing to admit) wondering about how the airplane stays in the air. And even though this has been explained to me several times, it still fascinates me and I don´t really think I understand it. But the pilots understand it, and they know what they are doing.

This books explains so much and what happens in different weather and why the pilots do what they do. We live in a world where we travel all the time, all over the world, and I think people have become more curious and slightly anxious about how this big machine works.

I would recommend reading this book if you read this and also have so many questions about flying and airplanes. It really did answer many of my questions and seeing as travelling is one of my greatest passions, it is great to know a bit more about this particular way of travelling. And let´s face it – you can have some spectacular views from the window seat.