Smokejumper to Global Pilot is an excellent description of an incredible string of events that Lee Gossett started when he was a young teenager hanging around the local airport. Learning to fly by 16, he moved down many paths which included being a smokejumper, a “Kicker” for Air America in Southeast Asia, a crop duster in New Zealand, and a pilot for Air America, Continental Air Services, and eventually for the proprietary replacement for Air America. From “can do” operations and “out of the Box” thinking to the development and adaption of innovative new technology, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers. Simply put, this is a guidebook to creating an adventurous life by never letting an opportunity pass you by.
Al Shepard was returning to the cosmos, and this time, he was going to walk on the Moon. Grounded for most of the Sixties due to an inner ear problem, America's first man in space had been serving as NASA's Chief of the Astronaut Office, and had figured into the selection of crews for American manned space flights. Now healthy and cleared for flight himself, Shepard knew who he wanted on his own Apollo crew. For Lunar Module Pilot, he selected a brilliant Navy aviator, Edgar Mitchell, a.k.a. "The Brain," who already had a doctorate of science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from M.I.T., and had been highly involved in the design of the Lunar Module. The Command Module Pilot, who would be responsible for guiding the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon, placing it in a safe orbit, and returning it safely to Earth, was to be Air Force pilot Stuart Roosa. And Roosa didn't even have a college degree when he had won his Air Force wings, and hadn't been on a backup crew for an Apollo flight. But when it came to piloting skills, he was that good. Stu Roosa's life was incredibly diverse-the second son of a government surveyor, he had spent his early childhood in a migratory lifestyle with his family before the Roosas settled in Claremore, Oklahoma, where Stu proved to be an excellent student and developed a lifelong love of hunting. He became a smoke jumper for the Forest Service before enlisting in the Air Force's aviation cadet program. Excelling in piloting skills, Roosa had graduated from test pilot school at the legendary Edwards Air Force Base before being chosen as an astronaut. Roosa loved his family and his country, and he loved to fly. Recollections in this detailed biography include memories from family members, schoolmates, and veteran smoke jumpers, pilots, and astronauts. Smoke Jumper, Moon Pilot tells the story of a focused, determined, and patriotic youngster who believed in the American dream, and grew up to live it. At the age of 19, Stu Roosa was parachuting into the woods of the Pacific Northwest to fight forest fires. - He joined the Air Force. - He became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base. - He was selected to be an astronaut by NASA. - He went to the Moon. - He became a successful businessman and big game hunter. This is the family-authorized biography of Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot Stuart A. Roosa (1933-1994). It's the quintessential, All-American chronicle of the life of an Oklahoma farm boy whose initiative, drive and personal integrity earned him a place among the 24 individuals who made the most dramatic voyage in human history, and it's a story that needs to be told, now more than ever.
This “terrifying, grimly funny” memoir about fighting forest fires in Alaska offers “an affectionate portrait of a fraternity of daredevils” (The New Yorker). A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year Fighting fires since 1965, legendary smokejumper Murry A. Taylor finally hung up his chute after the summer of 2000—the worst fire season in more than fifty years. In Jumping Fire, Taylor recounts in thrilling detail one summer of parachuting out of planes to battle blazes in the vast, rugged wilderness of Alaska, with tales of training, digging fire lines, run-ins with bears, and the heroics of fellow jumpers who fell in the line of duty. This unique memoir, filled with humor, fear, tragedy, joy, and countless stories of man versus nature at its most furious, is a “tale of love and loss, life and death, and sheer hard work, set in an unforgiving and unforgettable landscape” (Publishers Weekly). “Filled with adventure, danger and tragedy.” —The New York Times Book Review “A beautifully crafted, wise yet thrilling book.” —Los Angeles Times
Swede's adventures include a summer on a fire lookout, deployment as a Marine to Korea, smoke jumping, fire suppression, timber forester, aviation management, hunting, assisting Montana Game Wardens, ski patrol, an ambulance EMT, and back country rescue. During the course of his employment as a Forester with the Northern Pacific Railway and with the U.S. Forest Service, he broke a leg smoke jumping, fell through the ice on the Swan River, dodged falling trees during a wind shear event, almost got burned up twice, and lost a pickup truck in a fire entrapment.
In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Nora Roberts delves into the world of elite firefighters who thrive on danger and adrenaline—men and women who wouldn’t know how to live life if it wasn’t on the edge. Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. But there’s also little else as thrilling—at least to Rowan Tripp. Being a Missoula smoke jumper is in Rowan’s blood: her father is a legend in the field. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home—even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering in the air. One of the best of this year’s rookie crop, Gulliver Curry is a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary and a winter job at a kids’ arcade. And though Rowan, as a rule, doesn’t hook up with other smoke jumpers, Gull is convinced he can change her mind... But everything is thrown off balance when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year’s tragedy. Rowan knows she can’t complicate things with Gull—any distractions in the air or on the ground could be lethal. But if she doesn’t find someone she can lean on when the heat gets intense, her life may go down in flames.
When hotshot smoke jumper Silas Kent gets his own fire crew, he thinks he's achieved what he's always wanted. But a lightning-sparked fire in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas has his team in a plane before they can even train together. Pilot Elle Westmore has been called up to drop the crew into the heart of the forest infernos. A single mother of a mysteriously ill six-year-old, she can't imagine her life getting any more complicated. It doesn't take long for things to go very wrong, very quickly. A suspicious engine explosion forces Elle to make an emergency landing. Silas is able to parachute to safety but soon discovers his crew can't be trusted. They're hiding something, and now Silas is on a race to save himself and Elle from the flames--and from a more dangerous threat: his own team.
How can one pilot cram so much into a single lifetime? Climb into Captain Terry Reece's cockpit, fasten your seatbelt, and hold on for an exciting journey into the world of aviation. Born to a family of transplanted North Carolinians who moved to Washington State, a young Reece explored the hills of the Pacific Northwest. Hiking in the mountains and being a fire lookout gave him a taste of adventure, but he craved more-and he got it. Reece's first flying lesson ended in a cloud of billowing dust, ripped metal, and broken Plexiglas. But that didn't keep him grounded. Over the next few years, he navigated his Lockheed C-130 to steamy nights in Rangoon, risky undercover aircraft deliveries to Libya, icy Arctic expeditions, and desperate flights out of the desert with machine guns pointed at his gut, to landing Boeing jets on short, icy runways on Alaska's Aleutian Chain. Reece's entertaining biography delves into the fast-paced world of aviation and is filled with compassion, danger, bits of humor, and the follies of youth. It's also the remarkable tale of how Reece and his wife, Nancy, sought to keep his dream of flying alive through the years. From the freezing, isolated North Pole to the heat and heart of Africa, "Flying North South East and West" takes you to every direction on the compass and leads you to the adventure of a lifetime.
In the summer of 1949 fifteen smokejumpers parachuted into a remote Montana canyon called Mann Gulch. It started as a very small fire in rugged country but within two hours after landing, thirteen of these young men were caught in a raging inferno and were killed. They died bravely, together with their friends, and in the service of their country. Everyone was young and attractive, healthy and strong, enthusiastic and in love. They were bursting into the prime of their lives. There were no malcontents here. Everyone did their best but events overtook them. Until now the actual time line has never been connected to the people involved. Fire in Montana connects the lives of young smokejumpers who lived with a joy of life and expectations of shining futures, the forest rangers and volunteers who fought valiantly to rescue them, and their families, lovers, and friends who were forced to wait and pray, then face the devastating and heart wrenching loss.
