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Book Reviews
Brian Milton
Global Flyer
Brian is a journalist, and it shows, he has a skill with words as he has with his microlights. It is pretty clear from reading the first few pages of this book that he could be a difficult man to get along with, by the time you have read the book you have lost count of the numbers of people he has fallen out with! Personalities and problems aside it is a cracking good read. It is a book that can easily be read more than once and each time you will be amazed by the courage of the man who was determined to fly around the world in a flexwing microlight. His battles against bureaucracy and the elements mean that his achievement is all the greater. He has made (or attempted to make) other epic flights and written other books. If you buy no other, buy this one.
Colin Mackinnon
On a Wing and a Prayer
I had hoped that this book would leave me with a desire to emulate, it failed. My overall impression was that this trip was conceived with no real purpose (most other trips at least have had a charitable element) by a pilot without the level of experience that should have been a prerequisite and completed on a messy, leg by leg basis. I was very disappointed that most of the story is about conditions on the ground, missed meals and taxis, very little seemed to be there to give an impression of what the flying was actually like, that's what the book should have been about. Read it by all means, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Antony Woodward
Propellerhead
The author has managed to convey in a most amusing way his trials and tribulations as he tried to get his pilots licence. He wanted to fly so that he could attract girls! He describes the highs and lows of his training and his adventures once he had his licence. A brilliant read for pilots and non pilots alike. You can see the author change as flying becomes more than just a means to an end, it becomes a most important part of his life. If you have already read a book about a man in a tartan flying suit and been put off microlighting books, get your faith renewed with this book. I read it in one sitting.
A must for Thruster pilots who will have even more in common with the author.
Brian Milton
Chasing Ghosts
I was looking forward to reading this book. I have read and re-read Global Flyer a number of times and no doubt will read it again, I hoped that this book would be just as rivetting. I was not sure though how an adventure that failed to pan out as planned would make a good story but I was convinced that Brians skill as a writer would see him through. I have to say I think this book would have been better not written. I should qualify my comments by saying that I have not read the book all the way through, however, the fact that I had to put it down out of sheer boredom half way through should mean something. Too much time has been spent going over the activities of the likes of Lindbergh etc and also revisiting his previous adventures which have all been subject of books before that I tired of ever reaching the details of this adventure and put the book down. I have heard Brian speak of this adventure and it is obvious he wishes to lay the blame for its failure anywhere other than with himself. He feels aggrieved that rules not previously enforced were for him on this occasion so feels victimised, that may well be so but attempting to fly in a seriously overweight machine in conditions that were just not fit were what put paid to this trip, pilot error is the reason the trip failed, forced into a bad decision after a brush with authority. I won't be picking this book up again.
If you have any books that could be of use to a microlight pilot and that I have not reviewed, send me a copy!
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