Flight through Fire

by Carol Fiore

“Shit happens, and it doesn’t mean it’s somebody’s fault. And in the test flight of an airplane, shit often happens.” - Bombardier Experimental Test Pilot Eric Fiore

On October 10, 2000, a Challenger 604 experimental test aircraft crashed on takeoff at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport, dragging a wing, before turning into a fireball. Barely alive and suffering horrific burns, test pilot Eric Fiore was the only survivor hauled from the wreckage.

He has asked his wife to promise him something.

Based on actual events, Flight through Fire is an unforgettable love story centered on a deep devotion to aviation. Carol Fiore vividly describes the aftermath of the accident, the response of a billion dollar company and an entire Kansas town, the intense pressure placed on a hospital, the tragic realities of severe facial burns, the evolution of an eating disorder in her teenage daughter, and the raw emotional pain of her nonreligious family.

Deftly interweaving the past and present, the author takes the reader on a wondrous adventure around the world with a complicated and passionate man who was born to be a pilot. Struggling with the horrors of his injuries, she confronts grief without religion, searching for strength in order to keep her promise to him.

Insightful, brutally honest, and unexpectedly humorous, this is the story of what it takes to be a test pilot, and what it costs to love one.

478 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 14, 2014

About the author

Carol Fiore is a climate activist with three university science degrees and is a licensed pilot.

Carol donates proceeds from The Skye Van Bloem Trilogy to environmental nonprofits and maintains a scholarship that sends kids to Space Camp, in her husband's memory; read about him in "Flight through Fire."

She loves to hear from readers and is happy to answer your questions. Visit her website at carolfiore.com and sign up to get her monthly newsletter.

The final book book in The Skye Van Bloem Trilogy is available for preorder now. The release date is November 7, 2020. Watch the video trailer on YouTube by searching for "The Skye Van Bloem Trilogy."

She's on Facebook@AuthorCarolFiore. Join her for memes of her puppy, Finnegan, every Monday; don't miss Word Choice Wednesday, and Book Suggestion Saturday.

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down, though I knew the outcome of the story. I liked the construction of the book, and Carol writes really well. I'm so glad that she told me about her book, that I found it, and that I read it. I recommend it!!

[PATRICIA J STILLWELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This probably one of the most beautiful tribute stories I have ever read and at the same time one of the saddest. I generally don't read reviews


of books so I was not prepared for this touching story. That being said I am so glad I read Carol and Eric's story. I feel as though I know them both would be honored to have met them. I will never look at planes and those who pilot them the same again. Beautifully written.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply moving story of grief and family.

[Gaylin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book became quite the grind to read. Really needed better editing.

[Jennifer Lynn Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down, and I'm not even into airplanes! This book transcends flight and fire because for me, it was really about love, dedication to work, family, and marriage, and perseverance in the face of torturous pain and unbearable heartache.

The writing is excellent. Fiore effortlessly weaves the present with the past, and I found myself throughly enraptured by both. Never once did I skim passages, or skip ahead. I soaked up every single word. I read into the evenings, unable to stop myself.

I cried! A lot. I also laughed. I only wish it were fiction rather than nonfiction because I'm sad the Fiore family had to go through this ordeal. This book deepened my compassion for others.

I also learned a lot about U.S. military fighter pilots, test pilots, and airplanes through the eyes of a couple who lived on Earth, but loved the skies.

Fans of Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand will most likely love this book!

[Tesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately captivated by this story from the start. I found myself rooting for an outcome, I knew was not going to happen, and found myself grieving with the family until the end. This story is just a glimpse of what seems to be a life full of living to the fullest. Both by Eric, and also by Carol, who seems to have fulfilled Eric's legacy, and continues to do so. I feel honored to have been a part of their lives if even just through the pages of this book.

[Donald Rogus · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most difficult things for a writer to do is to write an emotional account of an event very close to their own heart. It's hard to tell if the emotion is down on paper for the reader, or exists only in the writer's memory.
Fiore does a fantastic job of putting us through the emotional ups and downs in this masterful piece of work.

[Richard Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finished reading the book and must say every chapter was extraordinary reading. The detailed accounts of the daily events that happened after the crash created a reading experience that exceeded anything I had expected. This is a great story of love and devotion. I highly recommend this book.

[Kathryn Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully-written, heart-wrenching book: a tale of obsession and loss, a story of unimaginable courage and unbearable suffering, and most of all a love story--of a love that lives beyond the grave. Though fictionalized in some respects, Flight Through Fire is a true story, the memoir of Carol Fiore, a writer, scientist, and pilot, whose husband Eric, a test pilot, was killed on duty while waiting for a chance to try for the astronaut corps. It is no exaggeration to say that Eric was obsessed with flying, but it is also very clear throughout the book that just as important to him was family--his birth family, and his wife and two young daughters.

The book begins when Carol receives the dreadful news that Eric, to whom she has been married for more than twenty years, has been injured in a plane crash. The details of the accident are fuzzy, but what is known is that three pilots were involved, the other two were killed in the crash, and Eric was grievously wounded. Just how severely Eric was wounded becomes clear only gradually, over the course of the memoir.

Carol Fiore is a skilled writer, who weaves together the deep past, from the time when she and Eric met, through the “present” of the memoir, while Eric is heroically treated in the burn unit, and many memories from the life the two of them shared. Eric was charismatic, quirky, and driven, yet had a great sense of humor. His personality shines forth on every page of this book. Also evident throughout the story is how much these two loved each other, through triumphs and challenges. Throughout the story, the author is brutally honest, not sparing herself or Eric, as she reveals the fault lines in her marriage--faults that ultimately do not matter once tragedy strikes.

Flight Through Fire is compulsively readable, managing to remain suspenseful even when we readers know the ultimate tragic outcome of the story. The author admirably succeeds in creating Eric as a three-dimensional human being, a very likeable and interesting one. I must admit that I took a very long time reading the book. I couldn’t bear the thought of getting to the end, where this remarkable man would succumb to his injuries. I recommend this book without reservation.