---------------------------------------------------------- Pietenpol-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Fri 06/27/08: 2 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 10:33 AM - Weekend Pilot (Tim Verthein) 2. 11:50 AM - Re: Weekend Pilot (Jeff Boatright) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 10:33:25 AM PST US From: Tim Verthein Subject: Pietenpol-List: Weekend Pilot Just was glancing at my bookshelf, and after the recent talk about movies and books, I thought I'd recommend a book...."Weekend Pilot" by Frank Kingston Smith" Basically the story of he, a lawyer, deciding he'd like to learn to fly. So, he goes out and buys himself a plane, then goes off to learn to fly it. The book was from 1957, or there-abouts. I book I read as a young man that greatly inspired me, and it's entertaining reading as well. AVWeb had this to say about the author: "Smith wrote columns for AOPA pilot, Flying and Sport Aviation magazines and also penned the books "I'd Rather Be Flying," "Weekend Pilot" and "Flights of Fancy." He wrote a total of 16 books and more than 1,000 magazine articles and is credited with coining the term "weekend pilot." AOPA President Phil Boyer said Smith's musings helped him and countless others succeed in the left seat. "He had a wonderful way of making me feel that whatever fear or foible I experienced was OK, that it was all part of the common experience of flying," Boyer said. Smith learned to fly in 1955 as a way to relax from being a lawyer. He then realized that it wasn't that hard -- it was an acquired skill -- and he set about passing that wisdom to others. His first book was "Weekend Pilot" and it gave his down-to-earth assessment of the challenges and joys of learning to fly. " I've never bumped into a copy of the book anywhere since the copy I picked up 25 or 30 years ago, but it's a dandy if you happen to run into it, or are thinking about picking up a book to inspire someone, or help put someone else into the flying spirit. Tim in Bovey ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 11:50:45 AM PST US From: Jeff Boatright Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Weekend Pilot I second what Tim says - Weekend Pilot by Frank Kingston-Smith is a good read. Another book in that vein that I enjoyed even more is "A Sky of My Own" by Molly Bernheim, a transplanted Brit. The author was a biochemistry instructor at Duke during WWII and after. Her husband, also on faculty, learned to fly seemingly on a whim. She became hooked on flying after he got his license. Like Kingston-Smith, the writing is very down to earth (pun intended), and a lot of what she writes is what many of us have experienced. It's one of the few autobiographical books I've ever read more than once. From a period review: "In original, simple, at times poetic style, Mrs. Bernheim records her first twelve years of flying: the voyages of discovery, the brushes with danger, the technical details a pilot must master--the whole experience of being a flier, as viewed by an active, perceptive mind that will not be bound by years or convention." I found both WP and ASOMO at the Oshkosh used book stalls in the Airmart (or whatever they call all those tents now). Nowadays copies are easy enough to find at abebooks.com, where 25 of ASOMO are currently listed at $10-40, depending on condition: http://tinyurl.com/48bj5d -- _____________________________________________________________ Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD Associate Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA, USA Senior Editor, Molecular Vision, http://www.molvis.org/molvis mailto:jboatri@emory.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message pietenpol-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Pietenpol-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/pietenpol-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/pietenpol-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.