Alligators, Freight Trains & Near Flying Disasters

Down through the years with my unusual amount of engine failures, over 18, most pilots with total engine failures usually died. Also, how many 16 year old teenagers have thumbed and hopped the freight trains to see the states from coast to coast and border to border, starting with a twenty dollar bill? Not only is this an interesting, fun read, but it has some simple rules that help to keep pilots in general aviation alive, even the best. Before retiring from the airline, I met a flight instructor that had instructed at the same airport in Monroeville years before. He was an excellent pilot. He told me he was ferrying airplanes all over the world, even single engine aircraft. I was amazed that he would fly over the ocean to reach some of the countries with a single engine airplane. The last thing I asked him, "What will you do if the engine quits?" He just laughed. A few years later his picture was on the front page of a Pittsburgh newspaper. He was flying near the Canary Islands and his engine quit. They never found him. So, if you have any pilot friends, you may want to give them a copy of this book if only to read the chapter on, "Staying Alive".