2003-10-28 Nostalgic look back through the life and career of a pioneer

I get the feeling that H&S legislation would never allow such pioneers to take to the skies in the 21st Century in the way Trubshaw and his colleagues did back then. Indeed the list of dead friends and colleagues grows throughout this fascinating account. These men were the unsung heroes, and surely their contribution to today's aerospace industry is such that without their input, flying - quite literally - with the seat of their pants, the skies above us would be a much less safe place.

The book is full of Trubshaw's thoughts on Concorde's 'feel' and handling traits, and in one particularly chilling report (p93) he even discovers a potential problem wherein a pilot might have the propensity to switch off the wrong engine in an emergency situation - resulting in a fatal inverted roll. This finding must have sent chills through the 2000 Paris crash investigators if they read the account, some three years after this book was first published!

It is a good read, but it is quite slow in pace at times. My copy was signed by the man himself, and is a good source of reference. I'd recommend this publication to anybody with an interest in test flying, the Bristol aircraft industry and indeed Concorde herself.