Skimming the Sky. Story of a Pilot's Life.

Having made my flying debut in 1960, I've spent over forty years in the air, with a wide variety of flying experiences and employers, just like all my colleagues of my generation.

This book is the compilation of a series of stories. Stories of my flights, of my personal experience, of our family adventure too.

My wife, first as the wife of a "pilot-never-there", then as a flying club instructor or business jet pilot. She went on to become the company's sales representative, also available 24 hours a day, and then, at the age of 43, became a business jet pilot and co-pilot on twin turboprops and private jets.

My daughter also completed her private pilot apprenticeship with me, as well as training for her professional license, while working as a co-pilot alongside me. Seven years of flying before she became a captain in a company. We also shared flights and landings in the mountains, both in planes and microlights. Quite an experience too, with technique, feeling and rigour.

As for my youngest daughter, she shared with me the rare experience of crashing into a cornfield after losing power just after take-off.

When I was rowing my way through my Civil Professional Certificate, I promised myself I'd help young people as much as I could. Among other things, here is this book, as a sharing of experience.

CONTENTS :

Foreword
Biography
Being a pilot
Last professional flight
The day I decided to become a pilot
ALAT: Aviation Légère de l'Armée de Terre
Dax (Landes)
L'escadrille
April 1, 1965
Le Starck first flight
Sainte-Maxime - Cannes
"?Chief pilot?" at Orléans-Saran
Orléans - Ouarzazate Morocco
Fréjus - Gap - Orléans
Genève?: federal equipment
The baraka
The "?ORSEC Plan?
Misadventures with students
Gliding
Partridge hunting
Reunion with mountain aviation
Helicopter
Dax (Landes)
Two air accidents on the same day
A bad joke
Transition to instrument flying
Business aviation debut
Unpressurized high-altitude flight
Cessna "pushpull" rating
Creation of the "Uni-Air Lille" agency
UFOs "Is there a pilot in the saucer?
The "?EVASAN? EVAcuations SANitaires
EVASAN Beauvais - Rennes
The risk of collision
Valenciennes - Zurich?The crash
The Navajo in the mountains
Ball lightning
Thunderstorms
Mirage take-off
The DAKOTA - DC 3
Le Havre flight
Paranormal
A long day
Polluted fuel
AIR SERVICE AFFAIRES with GP, Wallpaper Gallery
Office organization
The PIPER CHEYENNE II, a good choice.

First night flight in Amiens
EVASAN
Histoires de Douanes
Competition
End of an exemplary collaboration
Being operational
GENTY shareholder of AIR SERVICE AFFAIRES
A lost shell
When life hangs by a thread
Flying without documentation
Simulator
Virginie private pilot
Leaving prison
Mr President
First co-pilot flight of Madeleine
GENTY, end of an exceptional collaboration
FLIGHT SYSTEM SARL
NORBERT DENTRESSANGLE the red trucks and AIR ND
Training courses in the US
Flying clubs, sometimes a nest of trouble
Stopovers and hotels
The Cessna 340
Food poisoning
A father's letter to his daughter
A daughter's letter to her father's instructor
From the Beech-200 to the Avro Bae 146,and from ultralight to quadcopter
Having fun
Birthdays
CHICAGO - PARIS
How to blow up a jet engine with a small key
Instrument panels
Flying and landing in the mountains
Philosophy and feeling of landing in the mountains.
We can't talk about mountain flying without mentioning its exceptional pilots
Misadventures of a Coyote in the Mont-Blanc massif
Coyote crash
The Skyranger
Glaciers
Rassemblement européen d'ULM Blois 2003
Luggage box for ULM
Landing close to another aircraft
Crash at Valmorel
Epilogue
Airfields or airports frequented