Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    A Pilot Turns 360
    Unavailable
    A Pilot Turns 360
    Unavailable
    A Pilot Turns 360
    Ebook154 pages1 hour

    A Pilot Turns 360

    By Brian Christofferson

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The early '70s were a tumultuous time for many people in the United States. For one young man, the Christmas gift he received in December of 1974 was an early out from his commitment to the United States Air Force so that he could enjoy the holidays with his family.
    From there it was back to college on a full-time basis with the intention of applying to med school and as a back up, working towards completion of his flying credentials in case becoming a doctor was not an option.
    The book opens on a cross-country flight where the fledgling pilot was building flight hours on a weekend trip to visit his long-time girlfriend. Pushed along by a stronger-than-forecast tailwind, he arrives confident in his abilities. The return trip is a battle against the elements with more than enough time left over for consideration of alternative career choices. By the end of the first chapter, the plucky airman has conquered substantial odds with both the help of his new-found skills and more luck than one person should be allowed to have.
    On returning to college after his time in service to his country, the aspiring doctor's counselor paired him with a real doctor who was willing and able to show him the day-to-day life of a physician after that physician received schooling and accreditation. It was important for the young student to understand how the physician made the diagnosis, the method of treatment and the care of the patient while he or she was undergoing treatment.
    For a time, this young man rose early to attend early morning briefings at a local hospital before biking over to the university for college classes on a full-time basis. The afternoon might include going on rounds with his mentor and then going out to the airport for flight lessons that would lead to a commercial ticket from the FAA, a totally different track than that of the medical world. A dry as it might sound, there were many people in this young man's orbit willing to provide inspiration on a daily basis. Many professors at the University of Montana had done their post-docs in other locations, but had chosen to live in Missoula because of the life-style it afforded. It was the same for many in the medical world. At the airport, the pilots were of a hardy breed that flying in the mountains seemed to engender. The manager of the flight school took our young hero under his wing and instructed him in the manner he had learned as chief pilot of a commuter airline.
    When the young man found himself with a few hours of unscheduled time early his first summer, he did the only logical thing he could think of and applied for a job as an operating room technician at a local hospital. It allowed him a chance to mingle with other professionals in the field, practice his people skills and watch a limited amount of surgery between tasks. It was complete and utter immersion in both worlds.
    For a break in his cluttered life, the young pilot invited a friend along to fly into a small airstrip on the edge of the famed Bob Marshall Wilderness. That flight was an adventure and a lesson about perceptions and abilities. The book tells other stories of aviation excitement and how a careful pilot might need to make decisions and take actions that are outside the realm of normal and expected responses.
    Tragedy struck and the young man took a break from his newly minted job as a flight instructor to fly as an observer for the Montana State Forest. The plan was to perform a simple job and empty his mind and his life of complexities. The goal was to make the decision of where his path would take him from that point forward.
    Because the State Forest pilots were bored with flying at that time in their careers, they asked the young man to take the controls on many occasions.
    On a low-level buzz of a Forest Service lookout, our hero got a tiny peek into the future.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrian Christofferson
    Release dateJan 29, 2012
    ISBN9781465901446
    Unavailable
    A Pilot Turns 360
    Author

    Brian Christofferson

    Brian Christofferson was born in northern Idaho, grew up in Oregon and Montana and graduated from high school in Eureka, Montana in 1969. While on an adventure to Hawaii he found that he won the Vietnam Lottery. Faced with draft number 29 he elected to enlist in the Air Force. After three years, ten months, two weeks, four days, six hours and some odd minutes in service to his country he moved to Missoula in 1975 to pursue a degree in pre-medical sciences while taking a job as a flight instructor as his "Plan B." The process of acquiring the rest his certifications that would allow him to be a professional pilot, that is, to fly for compensation or hire, provided the grist for A Pilot Turns 360. When the opportunity arose to fly airmail in a twin-engined plane, he made the leap. On the first of April 1977 he drove north for the start of another adventure which was the seed for his book Montana Freightdog. Finding the woman of his dreams and helping to raise three children led him to write Montana Freightdog II. After thirty years of flying professionally, he retired in 2007. He and his wife moved to Panama where they enjoy beach time, meeting new people, playing the piano and writing.

    Related to A Pilot Turns 360

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Business and Pleasure

      Mar 1, 2022

      Business and Pleasure
      10 min read

    • Article

      Backwoods Brotherhood

      Apr 1, 2021

      Backwoods Brotherhood
      9 min read

    • Article

      Maggie Shipstead Interview: ‘I Went To The Arctic Five Times While Writing Great Circle’

      May 26, 2021

      American novelist Maggie Shipstead spent seven years researching her third work of fiction, Great Circle. The result is an almost 600-page epic, about a woman who attempts to fly around the globe in 1949, and the Hollywood actress who plays her in 20

      7 min read

    • Article

      We Shall Never Surrender

      Mar 6, 2024

      At 103, people often ask me if I have any rules that allow me to live so long. I can't say that I do, but the thing is to go on enjoying myself and try not to think about how many people I depend on. Since I first fell over, cracking all sorts of bon

      4 min read

    • Article

      Big Adventures

      Jun 11, 2019

      Big Adventures
      8 min read

    • Article

      An UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

      Dec 15, 2021

      An UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP
      5 min read

    • Article

      Interview: ANNA WAGNER

      May 15, 2021

      Interview: ANNA WAGNER
      14 min read

    • Article

      Motocross Americana

      Sep 6, 2023

      Motocross Americana
      9 min read

    • Article

      Road Trip Diaries

      Sep 28, 2021

      Road Trip Diaries
      5 min read

    • Article

      NOT riding Route 66 PART ONE

      Dec 30, 2020

      NOT riding Route 66 PART ONE
      7 min read

    • Article

      Matt James

      Oct 29, 2020

      didn’t really know about Motoring News until the I mid-1980s, and my discovery that day has changed my life. That is not an understatement. I was on a family holiday in North Devon, and while the nearby coastline and the delights of the town Barnsta

      2 min read

    • Article

      AN Aussie AT BARKLEY

      May 9, 2022

      AN Aussie AT BARKLEY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Grand Slam Of A Year

      Oct 29, 2021

      Grand Slam Of A Year
      7 min read

    • Article

      Paths Less Travelled

      Feb 1, 2023

      Paths Less Travelled
      2 min read

    • Article

      Sweet SURRENDER

      Aug 30, 2022

      Sweet SURRENDER
      6 min read

    • Article

      How We Rolled

      May 25, 2019

      How We Rolled
      4 min read

    • Article

      Road Trip USA

      Feb 6, 2019

      Twenty-eighteen. Wow, what a year on a personal level. I had a few life-changing events that saw me not using the camera or riding at all this year. It wasn’t healthy and while I did speak about going to MXoN in the USA, I just accepted I wouldn’t go

      5 min read

    • Article

      Watch Your Step

      Nov 19, 2020

      Watch Your Step
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Process Not Without Casualty: Amity Gaige in Conversation with Susan Choi

      May 7, 2020

      The form of the book was what excited me most. I liked writing in bits. I wrote the bits blind, hoping that they would stand in some thematic and narrative relationship. I have moved away from writing extensive fictional exposition. I believe less an

      9 min read

    • Article

      A Sound To Remember

      Feb 1, 2021

      A Sound To Remember
      6 min read

    • Article

      Motorcycles Owe Me Nothing

      Oct 20, 2023

      Motorcycles Owe Me Nothing
      3 min read

    • Article

      Advice For A Younger Me

      Feb 17, 2022

      Advice For A Younger Me
      9 min read

    • Article

      Farewell my Love

      Dec 12, 2019

      Reminiscences from NZTODAY founder Allan Dick For those who don’t know much about me, I have spent the past half-century writing about cars. I fell under the spell of the motor vehicle when I was 10 years of age. Firstly I collected pictures, cut fro

      6 min read

    • Article

      Rides To Remember

      Oct 6, 2021

      Rides To Remember
      3 min read

    • Article

      Great River Road PART ONE

      Nov 2, 2022

      Books can be dangerous; they can inspire you to do things. Jamie Jensen’s book Road Trip USA inspired me to ride a Harley-Davidson down the Mississippi river. His route follows the Great River Road (GRR), a 2500-mile stretch of scenic America, starti

      7 min read

    Reviews for A Pilot Turns 360

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words