About Plane Talk:

Plane Talk was an ongoing series of essays about the simple satisfactions and personal rewards of flying. These essays were originally published in a "hometown" newspaper, and were written to familiarize the general public with the personal aspects of flying. They were written in the hopes of bringing more people into aviation, and to give non- fliers a better appreciation for their local airport.

The popular media typically portrays aviation as a high- ticket world where speedy and powerful machines scorch their way through a sky that shimmers with radar beams and obscure radio chatter. Plane Talk stands as a reminder that the grass airport aviation of 1940 has never disappeared, it has only been covered over by the hype, technology, and regulation of succeeding generations.

In most areas all across the country, it is still possible and practical to depart a small town airport in a basic airplane and fly it most anywhere you care to. Airplanes, just like boats and cars can be operated quite well without radios, controllers, and clearances. Airplanes do not need to fly fast, high, or far to inspire the artist that dwells in an airman's heart.

Bob Tilden was a long- time flight instructor and airplane mechanic who flew a nightly cargo route for more than a decade. Plane Talk essays were sometimes inspired by these flights, sometimes inspired by the delights of flight instruction, and some of them started in his 1946 Commonwealth as it chugged low and slow over the countryside.

EIGHTY OF THE BEST PLANE TALK STORIES HAVE BEEN ASSEMBLED INTO A BOOK!


the book can also be accessed directly at goneflyin.com