Short Tales by a Tall Pilot

When pilots sit around an airport or get together at a hotel lounge for beers or cocktails, they’re almost certain to regale each other (and anyone else who will listen) with embellished tales of their greatest aviation exploits. The longer these stories continue, the more the similarities grow between the pilots’ war stories and fish stories. As the night wears on, the exploits they share are likely to grow more and more elaborate and outlandish.

In the spirit of those war stories, author Jim Lewis, who has worked as a professional pilot since the mid-sixties, offers his share of stories from his experiences.

Many of these short stories are the result of mistakes in judgment, while others arose from deliberate decisions to proceed made from ignorance. A few were simply experiences that came with being a professional pilot, and two or three were blatant rule breaking. Lewis recalls landing in a soybean field, buzzing a nuclear submarine, flying under a bridge, running low on fuel, and tasting life in the cockpit of a jet liner. Some of his tales are humorous, while others take on a more dangerous nature. All of them, however, offer a lesson for others to learn.