Weathering Storms: Flying Between Heaven and Hell

by Roger Johnson

While on his deathbed my father revealed to me a long held and very closely guarded secret, the topic of which he had never shared with another person, not even his late wife. I am convinced he became an alcoholic and closet madman due to the subject of that deathbed confession. I only wish he had told me years earlier as it would have allowed me to better understand the greatest villain, yet greatest hero, of my life. As it was, my father, a supremely gifted aviator, lived his life transitioning between the heaven in which he flew and the hell he fostered on Earth with-in his family. I suffered much collateral damage in my personal life due to the legacy of his abuse while also becoming his finest prot�g�; I too became an aviator.This memoir takes you, in fine detail, into the esoteric world of these two aviators. From flying biplanes, to F-16s, to B-777s they weathered the storms of mother nature as they circumvented the globe in whatever aircraft they were flying at the time. In addition to mother nature's maelstroms, they battled the personal storms of each other, and from with-in, as they navigated through life in an attempt to redefine either themselves or the other. The book's supporting characters are the many other pilots, both friends and colleagues, with whom their lives converged and intertwined on awe-inspiring adventures that showcased the best and the worst that the world has to offer.This is a tale that illuminates the vilest of hearts, the most jubilant of hearts, and in the final resolve how a child helped to bring his father to redemption on the last day of his life; in essence it's a story of never giving up.

482 pages, Paperback

Published April 10, 2019

Reviews

[Jamarcus Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this review, I will focus on the aviator side story, so please bear with me.

I used to be deathly afraid of flying. Once on a flight from Dallas to Amarillo, the pilot left the cockpit and leaned over my seat to look at the wings. He said there was a problem with the hydraulics system and that we may have trouble landing. We buzzed the control tower to make sure our landing gear was engaged and couldn't help noticing the fire trucks and ambulances lined up on the runway. Even the news trucks had time to get there. After about an hour of circling the sky, unsure if we had our wheels locked down, we landed uneventfully.

Another time, I was on the last flight out before a massive thunderstorm hit Minneapolis. The storm system had produced a tornado that destroyed the town of Greensburg, KS, the day before. We took off and flew sideways for a good solid minute before the pilot gained control of the plane again. A solid minute of flying sideways.

I once flew in a prop plane from Zambia to Botswana with cracked windows as the pilots used iPads to navigate and meticulously scanned the horizon for other planes. Maybe that's normal for some, but I'm not a prop plane kind of guy.

I say I used to be afraid because I'm not anymore. Crazy as it seems, each of these experiences worked to subdue my fear, and my terror is now in the past. What each of these terrors has in common is that I survived without a scrape. Call it immersion therapy or flooding; all I know is that I saw my fears up close and personal, then I walked right past them onto the other side. Visiting hours over, I descended the steps of the museum, the fear of flight hanging like a prosaic watercolor in the gallery of the past...forgotten.

Reading Roger Johnson's book opened a new chapter for me. The idea of enjoying the flight. Written with beautiful prose, Johnson, a commercial aviator, allows the passenger to enter the cockpit of a pilot's mind. And not any pilot's mind, but the mind of someone who passionately and wondrously loves their profession.

With this book, Roger Johnson opened my eyes to another dimension of flight. Beyond the unknown, beyond the fear, past the overcoming, there is a place of awe and beauty from the vantage point of a bird in flight.

[Kathy Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once a while, it's good to read a non-fiction book. At times it shows us the world as it is rather than adding a spoon of fiction and covers it with a story. Every life around us is a story.

There is a story in each one of us, waiting to be told, and waiting to be heard.

While this is a beautiful telling of the story of the two aviator's dysfunctional relationships, it goes beyond that. Roger Johnson takes us through his healing process with his father, sharing with us his thoughts and feelings about what he's discovering being a commercial aviator. This added layer draws us even further into the story as we see more of his personality, understanding why this story is important.

The book itself was engaging and well-written, but even beyond that, the subject matter was raw and real for me. It struck a chord. It's reassuring to know there are other people out there who had similar experiences; I'm still dealing with the repercussions and trying to unlearn the bad and keep the good.

Remarkable. Our society would benefit if every father read this book.

[Enrique Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Extraordinarily readable and fascinating. A highly recommendable, well-written aviation memoir that is as enlightening as it is entertaining.

It seems that most good pilot stories are also detective stories, and it is entrancing to watch Johnson encounter challenges, sort through the possible problems, deduce explanations, find solutions, and scrape through.

Even a pilot with limited experience can immediately discern the fundamental authenticity in the erudite voice of this aviator. Johnson writes elegantly, peppering his whimsical tangents with razor-sharp understatement. The essence of what it feels like to fly, in clear skies, in storms, and the pouring rain, is eloquently explained and examined, with an eye for that poetic and magnificent experience that attracts pilots towards flight.

Quite a magnificent book for pilots, and one that will hold the interest of others as well.

[Davian Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, heartwarming story. If I hadn't been given this book by a friend, I'm not sure I would have come across it. I am SO glad I picked it up to read. I couldn't put this one down and finished it in two days. If you choose to read this one, be prepared to experience an emotional ride.

Roger Johnson is a special guy. I doubt you'll read this book without wondering where someone like him comes from or how anybody could see the world in such a unique way. I want to drive across the country and meet him. The crazy thing is if I called and said I was a stranger in town, I'm pretty sure he'd tell me to stop over!

Weathering Storms: Flying Between Heaven and Hell shows the important paradigm shifts in his life, filtered through his faith, and wrapped in wonderful stories.

This is a book every pilot should read, no matter how many hours he or she has under his or her belt. A great read and informative.

[Donte Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the course of a person's life, there are a handful of books that leave an indelible impression on their heart. For me, these books consist of Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments from My Life by Mae C. Jemison, Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry along with a small, elite group of others I'll not mention here. Being a writer, I've read many books, most of them consisting of entertaining stories and lessons learned. Good reads, but not life changing. That is until I picked up a copy of Weathering Storms: Flying Between Heaven and Hell by Roger Johnson.

Roger Johnson's writing is pretty good, aside from his over-the-top use of similes, which became grating after a while.

This gave me a lot to think about, and I'm grateful to Johnson for putting together the story of his life. If you've never read a firsthand account of what it's like to be an aviator's son, this is worth a read.

[Valentin English · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for an inspiring aviator memoir, this is absolutely it.

I liked the book because it had a nice balance between the good and the bad. There were a lot of sad stories but also some humorous ones. Additionally, I enjoyed the writing style. It was easy to read and flowed nicely.

I also liked how honest the book was. It never felt like the author was overly harsh or exaggerating. Going back to the balancing aspect, he even highlighted a few horrible memories/incidents with some of the people who added his depression in the past (like some guy bullied him). He showed his situation as truthfully as possible.

As a side note: If you're one of those folks that like to read books like this in one sitting, which is fine, I would suggest not doing so with this. I would read this in stages and spend some time thinking about what's here. I would read this book in 80-page increments, so you don't glass over the details. This is a good book and deserves consideration.

[Leonardo Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a powerhouse of emotion. I have read many books in my life, but there has been only a small number that I had to keep reading without putting them down once; this is one of those jewels.

I was drawn to Johnson's story by the complete honesty in the sharing of this deep and painful part of his life. As I read along, I was him. I felt his fear, his loneliness, his powerlessness, and the terror he experienced he did not want or ask for. The end of the story was beautifully complete; I felt honored to have followed in Johnson's footsteps for those 482 pages.

The book is incredibly positive and hopeful. Its overall message is overwhelmingly motivating, that life is good, that terrible things can happen and that there can be hope and healing and goodness yet to come. I flew through it and would recommend it to anyone.