A uniquely personal account of the wonder of flight written by a commercial airline pilot who is also a self-confessed aeroplane romantic. The book is crammed with fascinating facts about aviation but also suffused with the poetry of a life lived largely in the air.
Here is the simple wonder that remains at the heart of an experience which modern travellers all too easily take for granted: the transcendent joy of motion, and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love. Mark Vanhoenacker has written the ideal book: a description of what it's like to fly by a commercial pilot who is also a master prose stylist and a deeply sensitive human being. This is a man who is at once a technical expert - he flies 747s across continents - and a poet of the skies. This couldn't be more highly recommended . (Alain de Botton).
'Vanhoenacker is a remarkable writer. In Skyfaring he reveals his passion for flight, the mechanics of planes, the weightless, meaningful geography of the skies and the scent of the cities he flies to. He creates a still, almost poetic point in the turning, travelling world. This mesmerising book will make you view the world differently. All aboard!' -- Helen Davies Sunday Times
'[An] ode to the wonder of flight in the tradition of the great pioneer pilot-author Antoine de Saint Exupery and Charles Lindbergh... flying remains a magical business' -- Charles Bremner The Times
'Mr Vanhoenacker, fortunately for his readers, has lost none of his sense of wonder at the miracle of flight itself... a beautifully observed collection of details, scenes, emotions and facts from the world above the world' The Economist
Author
About Mark Vanhoenacker
Mark Vanhoenacker left academia to work as a management consultant, a position that afforded him regular opportunities to stare out of aeroplane windows and recall childhood dreams of becoming a pilot. He began his flight training in 2001. Today, as a Senior First Officer for British Airways, Mark flies Boeing 747s to major cities around the world. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Times and Slate. When his head is not in the clouds, he divides his time between London and New York.
