Aerial Toys: Adventures With Flying Machines - Paperback

by John F. Hanson (Author)

John Hanson comes from a family of pilots, and has been an aviation fanatic as long as he can remember. Starting with spontaneously assembling his first model airplane at the age of two from clothespins in his mother's laundry basket, he made sure every phase of his life somehow involved airplanes. He bought his first real airplane at the age of fifteen, and has always either owned an airplane or been thinking about owning one ever since. Now retired from a forty-year airline career, he is on airplane #21, and has written this book about his life with these fabulous toys! There are two editions of the print version of this book available, each with 59 photos. This one is the lesser expensive of the two options, as all the photos are in black and white. For the full color experience (47 of the 59 photos in color) at a slightly higher price), check out the other edition, ISBN-13: 9781540858351.

Author Biography

John F. Hanson was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1947. He was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he attended public schools. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied Aerospace Engineering. While an undergraduate at the university, he built his flying time as a flight instructor and charter pilot. At the conclusion of his college junior year, at the age of twenty, he was offered and accepted a position as pilot for North Central Airlines. He continued his college education at the University of Michigan part time while he flew as an airline pilot, first finishing his BSE in Aerospace Engineering. He then was admitted to graduate school at Michigan, again attending part time for 3 1/2 years, eventually obtaining his MSE in Aerospace. His airline career lasted almost 40 years, and included (through mergers) flying under the airline banners first of North Central Airlines, then Republic Airlines, and finally retiring from Northwest Airlines as a captain on the Boeing 747-400. He was the very bottom pilot on the seniority list at North Central on his hire date in 1968, and over the next 39 1/2 years gradually rose to the very top of the seniority list at Northwest Airlines. He spent 13 months as #1 before he eventually retired on October 29, 2007.