SO YOU WANT TO BE A FERRY PILOT is made up of nineteen true short stories about ferrying airplanes from one part of the world to another. Each flight has something about it that wasn't planned. Unexpected heart stopping engine failures, weather that went from CAVU (Clear and Visibility Unlimited) to Oh MY God!!, interception by armed foreign fighters, arrest by third world police or anything that old Mister Murphy can throw your face. I had several pilot friends read the manuscript, here are some of their comments. "Ferry pilots are nuts, everybody knows that." Captain Cal Harman, 20 years with Continental. "These stories are unbelievable, I thought flying combat missions was dangerous." Captain Curt Briggs, shot down in Vietnam while flying an F-4 Phantom, rescued after spending more than 24 hours hiding from the North Vietnamese. "When we were cell mates in Hanoi I suspected that Spike was a little crazy, suspicions confirmed." Lieutenant Commander Larry Friese, USN Retired. POW in Vietnam 51/2 years.

Come along on an incredible journey where we had no idea where the adventures were. We just let the airplane take us there. The exciting part is, you never know what's next. As a ferry pilot, you don't get to choose what airplanes to fly, the destination, or the weather. And you don't get to choose the life-threatening complications. Sanford has been lucky enough to spend a great deal of his flying career in what we call bush country. The wilderness in the northern region of the United States and Canada is beautiful but non-forgiving. Classroom training is useful, but there is no better reward in life than the real experience of successfully flying over the wilderness to destinations most people will never see or go. There are no airport terminals, airline schedules, or rental car services at the most pristine places in the world! 9-1-1 simply doesn't exist! Special planning becomes routine, life-saving survival gear is standard equipment. Diverting to a local airport while in route to avoid some rough weather, or stop to stretch your legs and have a soda pop, is not an option. It is definitely not for everyone. But if you are willing and capable to step outside, where there are no warning labels that tell you how to wash your hands, in this little so-called safe world, where somebody else is taking you by the hand and leading you through life, the rewards are endless! Airplanes have opened up the world to us, and we have seen and visited so many places that we may never have known about. The journey is never the same. The risks seem high, but are worth the rewards. We had no one to share these incredible experiences with, until now.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was constantly getting into trouble, and I dreamed of adventure. I eventually joined the Army National Guard at age 17, and went off to basic training between my junior and senior years. #2 I loved flying, and I was good at it. I was eventually cleared to solo, and on my way to becoming a pilot. I was having the time of my life, until I met Kathy. I was married to her shortly after. #3 I had lucked into a job as the property manager of a new office building in downtown Minneapolis, and my life changed quickly. I dropped out of college and joined the corporate world. I loved it for a while, but I knew that I wasn't where I belonged. #4 I was a pilot in the National Guard, and I wanted to be a ferry pilot. I didn’t have the money to get all the necessary ratings, but I was motivated to keep working toward getting my pilot’s license.

WASP of the Ferry Command is the story of the women ferry pilots who flew more than nine million miles in 72 different aircraft—115,000 pilot hours—for the Ferrying Division, Air Transport Command, during World War II. In the spring of 1942, Col. William H. Tunner lacked sufficient male pilots to move vital trainer aircraft from the factory to the training fields. Nancy Love found 28 experienced women pilots who could do the job. They, along with graduates of the Army's flight training school for women--established by Jacqueline Cochran--performed this duty until fall 1943, when manufacture of trainers ceased. In December 1943 the women ferry pilots went back to school to learn to fly high-performance WWII fighters, known as pursuits. By January 1944 they began delivering high performance P-51s, 47s, and 39s. Prior to D-Day and beyond, P-51s were crucial to the air war over Germany. They had the range to escort B-17s and B-24s from England to Berlin and back on bombing raids that ultimately brought down the German Reich. Getting those pursuits to the docks in New Jersey for shipment abroad became these women's primary job. Ultimately, more than one hundred WASP pursuit pilots were engaged in this vital movement of aircraft.

Shark Bait: The "Misadventures" of an Oceanic Ferry Pilot is the saga of the dangerous world of ferry flying: piloting small, single-engine airplanes across the ocean. Why is it hazardous? Because there is only one engine, at least the airplanes I flew. If it quits, well, you are just in the water. Plus you are sitting there surrounded by cabin fuel tanks filled with volatile 100 octane aviation fuel. And what is it like when the engine actually stops at night, mid-ocean? Your heart stops with it. What are the sea conditions below? Twenty foot waves? At night you will not know. Maybe you will have time to declare an emergency. Then what? Your survival chances in that cold North Atlantic: slim and none. You think of these things at night, alone over the ocean. The number of night sounds the engine makes is downright frightening. Is it about to quit? And what is it like to arrive in a foreign country at midnight where you don't speak the language or understand their money? You don't have to be crazy to be a ferry pilot, but it helps!

"When the United States entered World War II, the Army needed pilots to transport or "ferry" its combat-bound aircraft across the United States for overseas deployment and its trainer airplanes to flight training bases. Male pilots were in short supply, so into this vacuum stepped Nancy Love and her Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Initially the Army implemented both the WAFS program and Jacqueline Cochran's more ambitious plan to train women to do many of the military's flight-related jobs stateside. By 1943, General Hap Arnold decided to combine the women's programs and formed the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), with Cochran as the Director of Women Pilots. Love was named the Executive for WASP."

Kerry McCauley has the job most pilots only dream of; delivering small used aircraft to locations around the world. In his 30 years an international ferry pilot, Kerry has delivered almost every kind of airplane you can name to almost every location you can think of. In his long career Kerry battled fuel system malfunctions over the Atlantic, a total electrical failure at night over the Sahara, getting lost over Africa and being struck by lightning off the coast of Portugal. Kerry's almost insatiable, reckless quest for danger and adventure also led to putting international smuggler and bank robber on his resume. Kerry found the answer to the question "what could possibly go wrong?" time and time again. But his skill, ingenuity and luck were what allowed him to survive the countless mishaps, catastrophes and close calls including a nearly fatal plane crash. While "Ferry Pilot" is an account of one man's crazy thirst for thrills and adventure, his coming to grips with the dangerous nature of his career and just how much he wants to test the depth of his luck bag. It's also a portrait of the perseverance and bravery of a devoted family man who lost many close friends and his first wife to the dangerous skies.