Carefully leveled text and fresh, vibrant photos engage young readers in learning about how pilots help their community. Age-appropriate critical thinking questions and a photo glossary help build nonfiction learning skills.

Firefighters have a dangerous job. They help people when there is a fire and in other dangerous situations. By extinguishing fires and saving people and animals, firefighters keep everyone safe. Learn more about how firefighters serve their community with carefully leveled text and fresh, vibrant photos. Age-appropriate critical thinking questions and a photo glossary help build nonfiction learning skills.

This is my story-the story of a pilot who flew airplanes for some thirty-seven years: ten years in the United States Air Force, primarily in jet fighters, and then twenty-seven years flying commercial jet airliners. I was inspired to write this story after reading the autobiography, a few years ago, of Gen. Chuck Yeager-he being the world-renowned test pilot, World War II fighter ace, and first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. My story is the story of an average pilot, an average guy who survived several close calls, had many interesting experiences along the way, and often wondered, "Am I still here because I was especially good or because I was especially lucky?" I think the answer is definitely a combination of the two, just as Yeager says or implies in his book. With him, it may have been a larger contribution of skill, but as he said, "The secret of my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day." I have to echo that comment. While flying around the country with American Airlines, during "hours of complete boredom" (as we say), we pilots often traded our "war stories" of our flying (and other) experiences. I often thought that I had many tales that were similar to some of Yeager's and that I should put my experiences down on paper, even if it would only be my family who might read it. So this, then, is my story, my life, primarily, as it revolved around my aviating experiences over some thirty-seven years, from the viewpoint of a pilot who has no particular claim to fame but who has survived "to fly another day." One of the best descriptions of a flying career says: "You start out with a big bag of luck and an empty bag of experience; you want to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck!" I guess I have done that.

Do you like to visit the library? Librarians have the important job of keeping the library's materials in order and helping people find what they are looking for. Discover more about the importance of librarians and how they help your community, with carefully leveled text and vivid photos. Age-appropriate critical thinking questions and a photo glossary help build nonfiction learning skills.

How does your mail get in your mailbox? Mail carriers are responsible for making sure everyone's mail arrives in their mailbox on time. Carefully leveled text and fresh, vibrant photos engage young readers in learning about how mail carriers serve their community. Age-appropriate critical thinking questions and a photo glossary help build nonfiction learning skills.

This is a book of first-person stories written by old pilots, those who flew the old airplanes in the old air force. These are personal stories of growing up in a different America, their lives before political correctness, back when airplanes were dangerous but flying was fun. The group calls themselves the Friday Pilots. They gather at McMahon's Prime Steakhouse in Tucson, Arizona, every Friday for lunch. There are those who finished careers as generals and colonels and majors and captains and even first lieutenants. They laugh. They exchange stories, some true. They have become legends in their own minds. There are fighter pilots, bomber pilots, airline pilots, corporate pilots, and astronauts. They have run large companies and been on boards. They have been rich and they have been poor. They have landed gear up and gear down. They have ridden huge rockets into space. They have crashed and burned. They have been to war. They have been blown from the skies, have run through jungles, and have parachuted into oceans. They have been captured and imprisoned as POWs and horribly tortured. There are heroes at the table, but none will admit it. They will tell you they have flown with those who were. It seems everyone talks about writing a book. The Friday Pilots have done something few do: they have written their stories for their families and friends. Strap in, hold on, and enjoy the ride!

Tricky maneuvers, curious passengers, and other kinds of turbulence The star DJ who spontaneously invites the entire flight crew to his concert in Rome, the businessman who has his forgotten cigars flown in by private jet, and the oil millionaire who has the stewardesses crawl through the cabin on all fours to the sound of Pavarotti arias—there's nothing that Pilot Patrick has not experienced in his job. Germany's most famous airline captain takes us on a joyride to the most beautiful places in the world, telling us how he made his dream of flying come true, what really helps against the fear of flying, and what you should consider if you want to become a pilot yourself. From wild party nights on the Côte d?Azur to sex above the clouds, Pilot Patrick gives us an exclusive look behind the normally closed doors of the international jet set—and reveals a secret that, until now, has always flown below the radar.