freightdog

Filing Flight Plan
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freightdog
I just released my second book, "CFI! The Book," a comical take on what its like to be a flight instructor. If you like aviation and you like to laugh, pick up a copy on Amazon.

An underpaid, overworked Certified Flight Instructor cheats death while attempting to teach a cast of incompetent student pilots to fly at a skeezy South Florida flight school; all in the quest to build flight time so he can get a “real job” at an airline. The planes break, the regs break, metal gets bent, students are lost at sea, and a Top Gun wannabe student, who has four hundred hours of flight instruction, still hasn’t made his first solo flight. “CFI! The Book” is an over-the-top satirical aviation comedy that’s loosely based on real world experiences of flight instruction, but if the FAA asks, this is all strictly fictional.

https://www.amazon.com/CFI-Book-Sat.../ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

My first book, "Hauling Checks," is available as well.

I'm a cargo pilot. In the industry, I'm known as a "Freight Dog." I fly canceled checks and other types of high-value cargo around the country, mostly at night, in airplanes that are older than I am. Flying freight-or "work" as we call it-in small, twin-engine aircraft is a lesser known side of the aviation world. Our day starts when banker's hours end. Thousands of flights move millions of pounds of work from city to city every night while the rest of the country is asleep. We're out there in the freezing rain getting de-iced when you're laying down for bed. We're sweeping the snow off our wings with a broom at three in the morning. That horrible thunderstorm you heard last night while you were sleeping, we were flying through it. The fog you woke up to in the early morning hours, we were landing in it.

Hauling Checks is a comedy about the darker side of aviation. A cast of degenerate pilots, who work for a shady night time air cargo operation, take you on a flight through the unfriendly skies. The pilots abuse every Reg in the book in their quest to make deadlines for their high value cargo. As the company falls on hard times, management resorts to questionable measures to save the failing airline.

https://www.amazon.com/Hauling-Checks-novel-Alex-Stone/dp/1449563333
 
My copy arrives today. Can't wait to read it!
 
@freightdog ... Thanks for the availability heads up! I've added it to my queue of books on Kindle.
 
Ah, I was hoping it was a study guide. Actually, it probably IS a study guide, of sorts
 
A cast of degenerate pilots, who work for a shady night time air cargo operation, take you on a flight through the unfriendly skies. The pilots abuse every Reg in the book in their quest to make deadlines for their high value cargo. As the company falls on hard times, management resorts to questionable measures to save the failing airline.

Sounds like a lot of 135 outfits. Most disappear soon after the "questionable measures" begin. BTDT. :rolleyes: But it was fun while it lasted. :cool:
 
Thanks for the links. I previewed both, and they are on my aviation reading list. Dunno when I'll get to them, though.
 
Bumping this back to the top with a review....

This morning, I purchased the audio version of this book (through Amazon and listened on the Audible app) to keep myself entertained for a drive out to Atlanta, TX and back.

Boy, am I glad I did.

While reading the first few pages of the book on Kindle was entertaining, the audio version was SIGNIFICANTLY better than text only.

The narrator does a wonderful job bringing the stories to life, adding appropriate voices to the different characters. And his way of telling how our protagonist deals with all of the various and strange personalities at this flight school (including the students, other instructors, and "Todd" the owner) had me grinning or laughing much of the 3-ish hours it took to hear it all.

While this is a comedy, with lots of satire in the mix, you can see the glimpses of "this crap really happens" lurking in the background. And kudos to the protagonist for making it through the craziness to the end where he finds his first non-instructing job.

A list of the things to listen for (without spoiling things too much)
  • The crash pad
  • The 1992 Camry
  • Dave's discovery flight
  • Lenny's flight
  • what happens when it's 40-degrees in Florida
  • the fate of the paper shredder
  • finally, alligator molestation.

I highly recommend everyone here purchase a copy for your library. You will definitely enjoy it.

Well done @Freight Dog !!! I look forward to future contrivances from that twisted mind of yours.
 
Thanks for the suggestion and review...I had an Audible credit waiting for something to come along. Perfect timing.
 
Bumping this back to the top with a review....

This morning, I purchased the audio version of this book (through Amazon and listened on the Audible app) to keep myself entertained for a drive out to Atlanta, TX and back.

Boy, am I glad I did.

While reading the first few pages of the book on Kindle was entertaining, the audio version was SIGNIFICANTLY better than text only.

The narrator does a wonderful job bringing the stories to life, adding appropriate voices to the different characters. And his way of telling how our protagonist deals with all of the various and strange personalities at this flight school (including the students, other instructors, and "Todd" the owner) had me grinning or laughing much of the 3-ish hours it took to hear it all.

While this is a comedy, with lots of satire in the mix, you can see the glimpses of "this crap really happens" lurking in the background. And kudos to the protagonist for making it through the craziness to the end where he finds his first non-instructing job.

A list of the things to listen for (without spoiling things too much)
  • The crash pad
  • The 1992 Camry
  • Dave's discovery flight
  • Lenny's flight
  • what happens when it's 40-degrees in Florida
  • the fate of the paper shredder
  • finally, alligator molestation.

I highly recommend everyone here purchase a copy for your library. You will definitely enjoy it.

Well done @Freight Dog !!! I look forward to future contrivances from that twisted mind of yours.

Thanks! And don’t worry about the alligators, they can protect themselves. FYI, Ray Lesniewski, who narrated CFI! is currently producing an audiobook of my other book Hauling Checks. It should be done by the end of this month.
 
I just released my second book, "CFI! The Book," a comical take on what its like to be a flight instructor. If you like aviation and you like to laugh, pick up a copy on Amazon.

An underpaid, overworked Certified Flight Instructor cheats death while attempting to teach a cast of incompetent student pilots to fly at a skeezy South Florida flight school; all in the quest to build flight time so he can get a “real job” at an airline. The planes break, the regs break, metal gets bent, students are lost at sea, and a Top Gun wannabe student, who has four hundred hours of flight instruction, still hasn’t made his first solo flight. “CFI! The Book” is an over-the-top satirical aviation comedy that’s loosely based on real world experiences of flight instruction, but if the FAA asks, this is all strictly fictional.

https://www.amazon.com/CFI-Book-Sat.../ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

My first book, "Hauling Checks," is available as well.

I'm a cargo pilot. In the industry, I'm known as a "Freight Dog." I fly canceled checks and other types of high-value cargo around the country, mostly at night, in airplanes that are older than I am. Flying freight-or "work" as we call it-in small, twin-engine aircraft is a lesser known side of the aviation world. Our day starts when banker's hours end. Thousands of flights move millions of pounds of work from city to city every night while the rest of the country is asleep. We're out there in the freezing rain getting de-iced when you're laying down for bed. We're sweeping the snow off our wings with a broom at three in the morning. That horrible thunderstorm you heard last night while you were sleeping, we were flying through it. The fog you woke up to in the early morning hours, we were landing in it.

Hauling Checks is a comedy about the darker side of aviation. A cast of degenerate pilots, who work for a shady night time air cargo operation, take you on a flight through the unfriendly skies. The pilots abuse every Reg in the book in their quest to make deadlines for their high value cargo. As the company falls on hard times, management resorts to questionable measures to save the failing airline.

https://www.amazon.com/Hauling-Checks-novel-Alex-Stone/dp/1449563333
Listened to the audiobook. Loved it!
 
I downloaded both books into Audible. Looking forward to listening to them!
 
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