Flight of Passage: A Memoir

A memoir of two teenage brothers’ cross-country flight in a Piper Cub in 1966: “A terrific book . . . Huckleberry Finn meets The Spirit of St. Louis.” —Chicago Sun-Times

In the summer of 1966, Rinker and Kern Buck, two teenagers from New Jersey, bought a dilapidated Piper Cub for $300, rebuilt it, and piloted it on a record-breaking flight across America, navigating all the way to California without a radio, because they couldn’t afford one. Their trip retraced a mythical route flown by their father, Tom Buck, a brash, colorful ex-barnstormer who had lost a leg in a tragic air crash before his sons were born, but who so loved the adventure of flight that he taught his boys to fly before they could drive. Along the way, the brothers would battle thunderstorms and wracking turbulence and encounter cowboys and crop dusters and the smalltown cafes, cheap motels, and dusty landing strips of pre-Vietnam America. These two young men must separate from their difficult, quirky father—literally by putting a country’s distance between them—but they do it on their father’s terms: in an airplane.

“This is more than a flying adventure—it is also a warm, affectionate account of an unusual family.” —The Newark Star-Ledger

“Colorful, exhilarating, heart-stirring.” —Booklist

“[An] enchanting story [with] masterly insider descriptions of flight.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An adventure full of fraternal jealousy . . . boneheaded hubris, and unbridled fun and freedom.” —The Boston Globe

“A funny, cocky gem of a book.” —The New Yorker

Includes photographs

© 2024 Hachette Books (Ebook): 9781401305772

Release date

Ebook: 24 September 2024