A Pilots Perspective

Airline Pilots
ISBN 1-84683-130-X
    Delivery time:5-7 Days
Add to cart
  • Description
  • Specifications

by Cedric Flood
A former airline captain's reflections on a lifetime of commercial and private flying 1950-2012.

Cedric Flood, born in January 1937, was fascinated by aircraft from an early age. He grew up on a council estate in Liverpool, half a mile from Speke airfield. Rejected by the RAF for a flying scholarship at sixteen, Cedric learned to fly the hard way, paying for his own tuition while working for a living as a mechanic and pilot with several aviation companies from the age of 18 until retiring at 55 from British Airways. He lives with his wife on the Wirral peninsular and still manages to fly in his own home-built aircraft a couple of times a week.

In this entertaining memoir, veteran Liverpudlian pilot Cedric Flood looks back on an aviation career spanning more than half a century, dating back to 1950 when, as a 13-year-old schoolboy, he donned a set of overalls and began working as a voluntary helper to the aircraft engineer at his local flying club, based at Liverpool’s Speke airfield.

It was to mark the start of a lifetime in aviation which would see Cedric become first an aircraft engineer, then a pilot, then an airline captain for Cambrian Airways and British Airways.

Cedric flew a variety of aircraft types, beginning with the propeller powered Tiger Moth, Rapide and Dakota before graduating to passenger jets such as the Viscount and BAC 1-11.

His memories of working on and subsequently flying these and other now historic aircraft will be of great interest to aviation buffs and fellow pilots, who will appreciate his knowledgeable and detailed commentary, although you don’t need to be an aviation expert in order to enjoy his many stories of hair-raising events, narrow escapes and humorous incidents in the air or his recollections of the many colourful aeronautical characters with whom he came into contact in the course of his long and eventful career.

In the final chapter he describes his recreational activities since retirement, which have included building his own light aircraft and flying from Speke, where his aviation career began.

Given the length and breadth of his experience, this book is also an informal history of aviation itself over the last 50 years, during which time it has changed beyond recognition, in much the same way that Liverpool’s Speke airport has evolved from provincial airfield it was when he first began working there to the busy international airport it is today.


Cedric at the controls of a Viscount 701

Cedric at the controls of a Viscount 701.

Cedric at the controls of the BAC 111, 1970

Cedric at the controls of a BAC 111, 1970.

Cedric with his hand built aircraft

Cedric with his own hand-built light aircraft.

details: softback | 140 x 205 mm | 280 pages | many photos
genre: autobiography / real-life adventure
themes:

aviation history | commercial and private flying

readership: fellow pilots / aviation enthusiasts / general readers