Aviation Books

"EasyJet: The Story of England's Biggest Low-Cost Airline" is a delightful book that those interested in the growing low cost airline phenomenon worldwide will enjoy reading. EasyJet is the largest and successful low cost airline based at Luton Airport near London. The airline operates frequent scheduled services for leisure and business passengers and serves more than 200 routes between more than 65 European airports. Its founder is the Greek Cypriot entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The airline business is modelled around the successful no frills formula that has been brilliantly employed for over a generation by Southwest Airlines in the USA and its nearby rival Ryanair, based in Ireland. EasyJet and Ryanair are the largest low cost airlines in Europe, The airline started operations in November 1995. EasyJet can operate low cost flights because of its low operating costs. The airline achieves this by, among other things, flying to and from airports that offer cheaper take-off and landing fees, eliminating free meals and drinks during flights, using online and telephone booking systems to eliminate travel agent commissions, flying more often than traditional carriers, not allocating specific seats to passengers (free seating to speed up the passenger boarding process) and competing with all transport modes (especially road and railway transport).

The airline also typically opens new routes with no competition from legacy carriers and tends to target the price conscious business, leisure and visiting friends and relatives passengers. It has an aggressive marketing and pricing strategy and focus on short and medium haul traffic with high frequency of services. The airline has a strong brand.

EasyJet initially operated exclusively Boeing 737 aircraft to minimise costs. However, in September 2003 it broke with its philosophy of operating just one aircraft type, a typical strategy by low cost airlines worldwide, by ordering 120 Airbus A319 aircraft. When the last of the Airbus A319s has been delivered in 2007 easyJet is expected to have retired most of its Boeing 737 fleet.

So this is the story of easyJet, which Lois Jones related with rigour and eloquence.

Air travel in the United States was heavily regulated for many, many years. Then deregulation came and the era of inexpensive air travel came in. In Europe it was a much bigger mess. Most of the airlines were owned by the Government and had enough pull within the Government to make it difficult for new airlines to enter their protected territory.

easyJet has been able to carve a business out of the European market. Sometimes it has used, shall we say, 'creative' techniques. For instance, in trying to restrict entry into the market and protect SwissAir, the Swiss attempted to stop them by citing an obscure rule that said that that they had to offer accommodations with their tickets. easyJet's president had a tent errected on a hillside nearby and said that any passenger who wanted accommodations were welcome to stay there.

The story of easyJet is the story of our modern time as the rules of international business are changing dramatically. Indeed the whole rise of the no-frills airlines has been an interesting addition to the conventional airlines. The success of easyJet also proves that all new businesses don't have to be high-tech to succeed. There are still fortunes to be made in the more mundane businesses. The story of easyJet has lessons in it for all of us in business. As business becomes more world wide, any business needs to look at international expansion. The easyJet story is one involving a large number of countries and they did it in a different way.

I wasn't sure about reading this book--too often books about ancestors focus too much on the family, too little on the historical events with which the family was involved. But this one is a pleasant surprise. Only one short chapter about family background, then much information from interviews with men the elder Woolley served with, but not focused on him in particular. It's informative and interesting and personable. I found new insights into the state of mind of men facing death daily, often before ever encountering the enemy, thanks to unreliable aircraft. I felt almost as though I were talking to some of those veterans myself, which is high praise for the writing style.
One quibble. On page 253, Amelia Earhart is said to be "originally from the Boston area." She may have been from Boston later in life, but originally, she was a Kansas girl!

This is like "Flags of Our Fathers" goes airborne. It's all about the author's quest to understand his father's wartime experience, which here involved not raising a flag on Iwo Jima, but serving in the 95th and 49th Aero Squadrons and flying Nieuports and Spads against Germany's best.

The cultural context is intriguing here, because the war that Woolley Senior knew was fought by rich people, upperclass scions like Sumner Sewell or Quentin Roosevelt, Andover preppies who volunteered for aviation and thereby went on a sort of outward bound-like adventure in the clouds. Mr. Woolley captures this romance well and shows his winning affection for his father through this detailed, intimate storytelling. I was very taken with this reach back through the generations.

This book is for anyone who's interested in either WWI fliers, or where our current generation of pilots gets their heritage (nice drawing of an F-15 Eagle on the cover is a signal that the publisher thinks that's part of the market for the book----they're probably right).

A great read -- recommended highly.

In keeping with the Centennial of Flight -- Rebeccasreads recommends this book as a look at how Eddie Rickenbacker, an Ohio farm boy with Swiss roots, grew up to become a World War 1 Flying Ace, a founder of our commercial aviation, a pioneer racecar driver & the owner of no less than the famed Indianpolis 500 Speedway.

Originally published 80 years ago, Patria Press is re-issuing the Young Patriot Series -- all fine stories about the childhoods of many of our heroes & heroines.

Very nicely written for the young reader by Kathryn Cleven Sisson, Eddie Rickenbacker: Boy Pilot And Racer is the latest of the Patria Press "Young Patriots Series", a collection of biographical books celebrating the achievements of youthful American heroes and heroines. Children will avidly follow the daring exploits of a young man with flying in his blood, who would one day become a World War I Flying Ace and winner of the Medal of Honor. Enhanced with black/white illustrations by Cathy Morrison, Eddie Rickenbacker: Boy Pilot And Racer is an upbeat and inspirational biography for young grade-school level readers which would make a welcome addition to any school or community library collection!

This book is a great reference guide. I used it with the video Human Factors & Pilot Error and it helped me to recognize lots of things I do that can affect my concentration when I fly. I recommend it to every pilot, especially flight instructors who want to teach their students right.

Well-publicized accidents only draw attention to how many factors play into our ability to control an airplane. Rarely taken into account is the type of foods eaten or not eaten prior to flight, the chemical exposure of the pilot, the ionization of the atmosphere and even jet lag symptoms. This book is a wonderful guide that all pilots from Cessna 150 flyers to 747 drivers can benefit from. They will get food for thought and information that can keep them at their top physical and mental condition before and during their flight. The book can be used as a text book along with an instructional video...Human Factors and Pilot Error that was filmed at an FAA Safety Seminar in 1999.

Covers the gamut from first world war to modern aircraft. Good photo's and illustrations, with informative text

I liked this book very much. It had almost all the modern military aircraft in the world.

Enduring Echoes was written by my father so I am a bit biased, but this is truely a book worth reading over and over. My dad's collection of short stories (all of which are loosely based on actual life experiences) and poems are not only entertaining, but have a whole new meaning and value in "post 9/11" society. From Vietnam to the Cuban Missle Crisis, the Cold War and beyond, this book tells what it's like to be an American and why it is so important to value and protect the freedoms that we have learned to enjoy and that we take for granted. The book has tales of war, romance, family, and much, much more. It will make you laugh, make you cry and make you proud, but most of all it will make you think about what we have, how we got it, and why we must fight to keep it. I feel it is a "must read" for any military serviceman, veteran, or anyone that values the sacrifices our young men and women make every day in the name of freedom and the American way of life. A great gift for any military member, especially those serving overseas and in harm's way as it is a powerful source of inspiration and a reminder of why they are there and what they are fighting for!

Before reading Enduring Echoes I didn't have any idea about how truly dangerous the Cuban missile crisis was to all of us.And how it changed our history.The stories and writings in this book made me at times laugh,and at other times made me have to hold back my tears.It educated me,made me sad,made me happy.It also made me proud.It gave a new understanding of human beings.I'll never again jump to conclusions about people I don't know.I do know I will go back and reread parts of this book over and over again.It is worth more than five stars in its ratings.It is always enlightening and a pleasure to read a book such as Enduring Echoes

Sincerely

Norman Deloge

Ok, I was very skeptical. I've bought several "professional" pilot resources, most have been disappointing. I kept considering this book, it is pricey, but finally ordered it.
It is absolutely the best single source regulatory/AIM professional pilot oriented review in existence. If you disagree with an interpretation of a regulation, Mr. Lengel has thoroughly documented his sources so you can easily check the source yourself. Plus (and this is a plus) there are indeed a lot of cheesy graphics to keep the text entertaining, plus a few wry comments on some of the questionable regs our wonderful FAA has imposed upon us.
I can't recommend this one highly enough. I am an ATP with 9000+ hours, currently flying for a night cargo airline, spent 18 years flying heavy transports in the ANG as well, plus some time as a Part 121 airline driver. Mr. Lengel has done a great service for all professional pilots, choke up the money if you are serious!

This book is totally amazing. In a CFI class of 8, one person bought it the first day. We all were skeptical, it was a little bit more money than your average pilot handbook. By the end of the week, 6 of the 8 had it. By the end of the second week everyone had it. It is so incredibly easy to read and understand. As it states on the cover, "Plain English" that couldn't be more accurate. I own a long shelf of pilot books but this one is the only one that seems to sum everything up. The part I love about this book the most is its quick reference qualities. That day you're sitting around wondering about something or your student asks a question and you draw a blank, all you need to do is crack this book and the answer is right there in bold letters (literally).
This book probably wouldn't be of much use for someone who isn't already familiar with the material however.

I've read a few Special Forces books but this one is by far and away the best one yet. There's so much in it that one doesn't usually hear about and also I enjoyed 'Billy's' sense of humour which crops up now and again. Tremendous read.

Similar in some respects to Mike Curtis' 'CQB', this is an account of the author's SAS career, having joined via the parachute regiment in the 1970s. It divides up into three distinct battlefields - Oman, the Falklands the the Gulf, with the meat of the book taking place in the latter area. The first two sections are fairly run-of-the-mill, although it's interesting to compare the Falklands section with Max Hastings' 'Battle for the Falklands' and the aforementioned 'CQB', as one particular moment - in which an SAS soldier shoots down an Argentine aircraft with a Stinger - pops up in all three books, each from a slightly different perspective.
It's the coverage of the Gulf war that's particularly interesting, though, as Ratcliffe took part in an SAS operation that's been gone over comprehensively in other books, books which he has read. Consequently, like some real-life 'Rashomon', he points out the exaggerations and untruths in 'Bravo Two Zero', 'Sabre Squadron' and others, all books which you can find elsewhere on Amazon.com. Whilst he seems slightly petulant at times (his account of leading a patrol gives the impression that he was blissfully unaware that he might come across as being, well, smug), it makes for fascinating reading...

Mr. Thomas has compiled an excellent historical account of the units and aircraft that provided aerial reconniassance over Asia in WWII. Particularly valuable are the color illustrations and black-and-white photos of the various aircraft used in PRU roles. This an excellent reference for historians and modellers alike. Highly recommended!

Mr. Thomas has compiled an excellent historical account of the units and aircraft that provided aerial reconniassance over Asia in WWII. Particularly valuable are the color illustrations and black-and-white photos of the various aircraft used in PRU roles. This an excellent reference for historians and modellers alike. Higly recommended!

Warren Thompson has done an excellent job both pictorally and verbally describing one of the lesser known but most effective weapons of the Korean War, The F-84 Thunderjet. I think the F-84's in Korea may have flown more sorties than any other type. I flew 55 missions in the F-84G, took one AA hit in the wing and it brought me home safely as it did many pilots. Since so many of our G models were given to NATO countries, this model which was the best of the straight wing models, can rarely be seen in a museum today in the U. S. I am buying two more books to send to both the small USAF detachment at Taegu Air Base and the 110th Korean Fighter Squadron for their history of the base which I recently visited after 48 years. ...

Osprey and author Warren Thompson have done it again! An excellent combination of sharp, vibrant color photos, historical narrative and personal stories makes the third in the "over Korea" series an exceptional book for any aviation or Korean War history buff.

The reader is immersed in the details of operational missions, as well as the historical context of the war, giving a unique view of the conflict.

As in the F-86 issue in the series, the type face chosen for the main text is "petite", but otherwise, I highly recommend this volume.