Hard Air: Adventures from the Edge of Flying

by W. Scott Olsen

Hard Air  is a book about extraordinary flying—flying under conditions that keep fighters on the carrier deck and rockets on the launch pad—a book about rescue missions and long, lonely flights to gather urgently needed information, about flights to places where no one should be into hurricanes, firestorms, and deep, engine-killing cold. As a pilot himself, W. Scott Olsen brings to these tales a sense of wonder and adventure as well as a genuine, firsthand understanding of the dangers and rigors of such flying.

 

In prose that deftly conveys the grit and grace of his subjects, Olsen transports us into the air with hurricane hunters who fly into the planet’s fiercest storms, with helicopter pilots racing emergency patients to clinics, with Canadian pilots who fly supplies to the Arctic, and with heavy air tanker pilots who drop water and slurry on remote wildfires. Their stories afford a rare look into the working lives of pilots whose methods are extreme and missions are get there, do the job, and get out alive.

246 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about the less glamorous side of flying with bush pilots in Alaska, Hurricane Hunters, civilian medavac helicopters and fire fighting tankers. A nice read for an aviation enthusiast.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't have an opportunity to finish before I had to move on. Liked it, though.

[Rachel Bayles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary and educational. The writer tried and succeeded at doing something important and useful.