81 Lessons From The Sky

by Fletcher McKenzie

Do you want to be the pilot who comes home after every flight?

Learn from the experiences of other pilots so you don't become another air incident statistic.

81 Lessons From The Sky contains eighty-one easy-to-read, true stories from actual pilots, including what they learnt from their accidents and near misses. Eighty-one stories from around the globe, from the General Aviation community on their own near misses and their learnings.

All eighty-one stories have been selected and republished with permission from NASA, CASA and CHIRP, and include first hand pilot reports about aviation accidents from the USA, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Eighty-one lessons learnt from taxiway incidents, refuelling errors, airspace infringements, cloud base confusion, reliance on GPS systems, storm fronts, military airspace incursions, and many, many more.

Each story is short and easy-to-read, written in the voice of the pilot who lived to report back. You'll recognise the names of the aircraft, and you may have even landed at some of the airfields mentioned in these pages. Aircraft like the Conquest, the Pawnee, the Cessna 150, the 172, a Piper 6XT, even a Bird Dog, and others.

An essential read for all current and future pilots. And remember, safety first.

Genres: Aviation

386 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2019

Reviews

[Arran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great format and collection of reports, and feedback from pilots who have all been able to share their lessons learned. The short lessons and chapter layouts make the book great for lunch time reading or any other small break in your day.

[Ryan Doughty · Rating 5 out of 5]

81 Lessons From The Sky by Fletcher McKenzie is a collection of stories from pilots around the world on their general aviation mishaps. This book offers valuable information on what leads pilots to have mistakes and accidents.
It acts as a great tool for pilots to build their knowledge of aviation. The stories are different circumstances that you could encounter and should prepare for. I strongly recommend it to anyone pursuing flying in a general aviation aircraft. These emergency situations and the steps to take for avoidance of the problem are always in the back of my head while flying. Great read.

[Andrene Low · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for my nephew, but read it before I could see him due to travel restrictions. I'd say there are more than 81 lessons on offer here, with a variety of learnings. It’s a great read for pilots of all experience levels and features both short and longer stories, but all with an enjoyable, easy narrative. I especially liked being able to refer to the comprehensive glossary at the back of the book if I was unsure of anything. I loved reading the author's reflections on the people who taught him throughout his flying career, with his passion for flying evident. I'll definitely be buying more of books in this series.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of accounts that General Aviation (smaller non-commercial aircraft) pilots had written themselves. These were as a result of unexpected consequences that each pilot had been responsible for at the time of the incident.
These were written and submitted as part of their responsibilities as pilots, to provide instruction to others as to what should not be done and how best to correct such encounters when flying, or to assist with helping others with their decision-making before, or during a flight.

[Brian S · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is just a compilation of reports mainly from UK (CHIRP) and Australia (CASA) of incidents by pilots and associated persons. There is no real evaluation and you could get exactly the same benefits by reading accident / incident reports from both of the above. I suppose you can argue as Mr McKenzie would that this is a source of 'wisdom' and for pilots it is worth a read, I wouldn't say this is a bad idea but you could also read the accident reports directly and save yourself the money buying the book.

[Julian Onions · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stories if you are a pilot. If not it is quite jargon heavy.