Home	Titles	Authors	Orders	Contact us

Let Fly! A Young Topdressing Pilot's Story Barry Cardno ISBN: 9781877460036 Release: 03-2009 Subject: NZ Non-fiction, Autobiography Format: Paperback RRP: NZ$29.99

‘I go outside to survey the sky… A perfect day for topdressing… An hour later the Fletcher lies destroyed in a paddock and my life hangs in the balance.’

Let Fly! captures the keen spirit of a young man embarking on his lifelong dream to become a pilot. But for Barry Cardno the thrill of flying soon gives way to a pervading sense of unease as he confronts the solitary nature and constant danger inherent in aerial topdressing in rural New Zealand.

Unflinchingly Barry describes how at the age of twenty-one his ambitions are shattered in an instant. He candidly reveals the highs and the lows of his courageous rehabilitation, as well as the difficulties and frustrations of rebuilding his life as a paraplegic.

Barry pays tribute to those who inspire him, including members of Sir Archibald McIndoe’s Guinea Pig Club — all seriously injured in flying accidents during World War Two. Encouraged by his mentors, Barry fights bureaucracy — determined to return triumphant to the air.

Barry believes his accident, like those of other young pilots before and since, is a tragic example of systemic failures in the topdressing industry. By telling his story, the author hopes to prevent others falling into the same dangerous traps.

‘We are … the latter-day Icaruses who crash not because we fly too close to the sun, but because we fly too close to the earth….’

Reviewers Comments ... Great to read such clear, concise writing and it is a book I know secondary schools will really like to have on their library shelves for such an inspirational story. Also so often in autobiographies the photos are not always very good but these are excellent – and all there for a purpose. - Barbara Murison, Around the Bookshops, 2009