My Journey West: A pilot's lifetime in aviation

High-flying hijinks. Death-defying close calls. Rubbing elbows with rock and roll bands, politicians, and glitzy celebrities. Albert Ackerman has whittled down the most funny, sad, and downright scary tales into My Journey West.

Ackerman went from his first flying lessons in high school and his eighty-seven-dollar-a-month air force job to becoming a flight instructor, a commercial airplane captain, and a charter pilot to the rich and famous. He got to know Bill Lear, creator of the Learjet, and Chuck Yeager, the pilot who broke the sound barrier. He flew Conway Twitty, Steppenwolf, and even Frank Sinatra, whose plane came complete with a piano bar and well-stocked liquor cabinet. He even got a close look at President Lyndon Johnson. His flying days were also punctuated by brushes with death, including a crash over the Caribbean.

My Journey West is sure to please both aviation buffs and readers who prefer to keep their feet firmly on the ground