US price: $15.95     UK price : £18.01            
Format: Paperback
Size: 6 x 9
Pages: 268
ISBN: 0-595-18257-7
Publication Date: Jun-2001


The book covers Mike Tuson's experiences in almost all forms of helicopter operations, including military, oil field support, mountain and desert flying in Oman.

It takes a mild form of insanity to expose oneself to the rigours of helicopter flight in the midst of flying bullets -- at one point the author even had his toe shot off! -- but Mike Tuson's rich and varied experiences as a helicopter pilot constitute a very full, if somewhat precarious existence! This is not a manual on how to fly a helicopter, yet, in a very readable and exciting narrative form, it will introduce the reader to all the theory and essentials of flight regarding fixed wing aircraft as well as, and especially, helicopters. Apart from involving the reader in the escapades, narrow escapes and accidents in his flying life, the author examines the advantages of helicopters over fixed wing aircraft. Which, for example, is safer if the engine fails, or if the aircraft has to be ditched in the sea? This is a book for the layman as well as the experienced pilot. In either case it is an entertaining and enriching experience.

From the first paragraph of Chapter One:

Flying has been described as ninety-nine percent boredom and one percent stark terror. I prefer the word monotony to boredom, and have had my share of it. I have also been terrified -- most pilots have, even if they seldom admit it other than to themselves. I learned to live with the fear and used it to improve my flying and to stay alive. I have always been a firm believer that complacency lies in ambush for the pilot without fear, and that complacency leads, inevitably, to a very sticky end.