As much as I’d like to believe that people find my day job fascinating, their interest may extend only as far as a visit to the cockpit. Reading a novel involving my profession may not be high on the entertainment list. I get it. The technical nature of flying airplanes might glaze over some eyes... well, unless you’re talking Top Gun stuff while listening to Kenny Loggins perform “Danger zone.” Sorry, but most times flying airplanes doesn’t … [Read more...]
LOCKOUT’s John Nance Discusses The Decline In Future Pilots
ME FLY? IS THERE AN APP FOR THAT? Most of us who remain in love with flying in any reasonable form have to be feeling a bit helpless these days regarding the march of articles and reports (including a few studies) documenting declining enrollment in basic pilot training courses. It goes way beyond that, however, because when you peruse the figures, you see that those in their twenties and early thirties are losing interest, whether because of … [Read more...]
LOCKOUT’s John Nance: Where Have All The Pilots Gone?
For all my career as an airline pilot (Braniff International, 1975-May 12, 1982, 4:34 PM; and Alaska Airlines, 1985 2005) I’ve heard the breathless rumor that a pilot shortage was just around the corner–and it never was. Until now. Today, for various reasons (some of them complex, and some of them due to the gross misunderstanding of those we jokingly refer to as a Congress), we do in fact have a genuine shortage of professional pilots … [Read more...]
Another One Bites The Dust: LOCKOUT’s John Nance On Aircraft Accidents
Every now and then it seems like all you hear about are private aircraft accidents. To a certain extent, that’s due to a herd mentality among media–one crash begets heightened attention and quick reporting of the next one if close in time. But it’s also true that fate occasionally allows a cluster of accidents. In fact, the majority of general aviation accidents (small aircraft not flying for a charter customer or corporate owner) you never hear … [Read more...]
Les Abend: Can An Airline Pilot Really Be Creative?
Let’s be honest. Airline pilot is not a profession that screams creativity. We’re perceived more as left-brain people. And quite frankly, our passengers want a left-brain person at the pointy end of the airplane. Passengers want their airline pilots to all be Chesley Sullenberger’s. I understand. Pilots themselves want their fellow crewmember to be left-brain people. We can certainly do without the emotions of a left-brainer dominating in the … [Read more...]
Pilot Les Abend Discusses Why He Wrote PAPER WINGS
Except for the grey clouds that I might fly through on any given flight, as an airline pilot I deal with a world that is mostly black and white. Checklists. Procedures. Protocols. The cockpit is not an environment for a philosophical discussion. If an engine chooses to catch on fire, pilots are not apt to have an open conversation about the merits of shutting it down. We follow strict guidelines for flying the airplane and strict guidelines for … [Read more...]
Aviation Thriller Author Les Abend
At the age of six, in my hometown of Syracuse, NY, I boarded an American Airlines Lockheed Electra with my spirited mom. After receiving the obligatory tour of the cockpit, I was handed a certificate, a pilot’s hat silhouetted in the background. The certificate, signed by the captain, promised me an interview with the airline’s chief pilot 20 years from the date. Thinking that the notion of becoming an airline pilot would fade over time, my … [Read more...]
LOCKOUT’s John Nance: On The Same Page
Ah, harmony! When you’re sitting in the cabin of a jetliner zipping through hostile atmosphere at 39-thousand feet, legally and effectively at the mercy of your flight crew, the last thing you want back in 42B is a reason to worry about your crew having relational problems. You know, not playing well together. Sometimes the stress of keeping several hundred people fed and watered begins to show on the flight attendants and the passengers … [Read more...]
Author John Nance On The “Writer’s Curse”
I have to laugh when someone looks at my list of books written over the past few decades and jumps to the conclusion that I am incredibly disciplined. Okay, as a pilot, I AM disciplined to a reasonable degree, but life around our household does not include watching me goosestep to my office each morning at precisely 5 am with coffee in hand only to emerge 8.5 hours later having produced exactly 10.2 pages. I wish I was capable of such … [Read more...]
LOCKOUT’s John J. Nance Discusses How He Comes Up With His Bestselling Book Plots
As an author whose stock in trade is telling exciting stories and, hopefully, keeping you up past midnight (the way a great thriller always keeps ME flipping pages till dawn), I love it when you guys are interested enough in the backstage machinery to ask how I come up with plots like LOCKOUT. I could be flippant and say it takes a lot of scotch and cigars sitting on the back deck, but in reality, it’s more of an orderly procedure. First, I … [Read more...]
