For those who know Patrick Gordon either personally or through his writing (some of which has appeared in the pages of AIN), it won’t be a surprise that he has written a book chronicling his adventures. Sadly, "Fly the Friggin’ Airplane!" is just the first in a series, so we’ll have to wait patiently for the rest of the story. But meanwhile, his first book, with a foreword by Jay Mesinger, is a delightful recap of his youth and how he became a pilot, as well as some of the valuable lessons he learned along the way.
Gordon has the unique ability to be candid about his past while entertaining the reader. During a lie detector test while pursuing a slot in the Army Security Agency, his admitting to “borrowing” a car and a locomotive scored points with the examiner and he was accepted into the program.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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