What do you think?
Rate this book
Life of a Concorde Pilot: From The Orphanage to The Edge of Space
An inspirational memoir from John Tye, who started life given up for adoption and went on to become one of only 134 British Airways Concorde pilots. John Tye relates his memoirs in an entertaining and irrepressible style that typifies his approach to life, describing intimately how he managed a rare medical condition affecting his legs, but still went on to fly the world’s only supersonic airliner. A true insight to the life of an airline pilot, with many amusing anecdotes along the way, it follows his ups and downs from his career on the ground at BA to flying with Dan Air, back to BA and Boeing 747s, Concorde, Airbus and 777s, through to Covid and his reluctant retirement at the end of 2022. Full of the fascinating details only a pilot can give, with insights into challenges and pitfalls, detailed explanations of the cockpit, instruments and controls, base training and route training, this enjoyable book is a memorable journey from the orphanage to the edge of space and beyond.
304 pages, Paperback
Published February 16, 2024
12 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 29, 2025
Captain John Tye writes a really interesting, heartfelt and even humorous autobiography that follows his life from his adoption as an infant, to his retirement as an airline captain for British Airways.
Even though his time spent as a Concorde first officer was a relatively brief three years, much of this book reads as somewhat of a series of love letters to that aircraft, and to his much longer relationship with his wife Lynne, his children, and parents.
Life of a Concorde Pilot reminds me of some astronaut biographies, in the sense that a series of unique events happened that aligned a person with desires, intelligence and abilities, with a rare opportunity of historical proportions.
If you’re looking for a technical history of Concorde, there are better sources out there.
If you want to know what it “felt” like to actually take the controls of that magnificent creation and fly it, then this is your book!
And all of it told with a touch of self deprecating humor that is a hallmark of all the better pilots I’ve ever shared a flight deck with.
Highly recommend!
Even though his time spent as a Concorde first officer was a relatively brief three years, much of this book reads as somewhat of a series of love letters to that aircraft, and to his much longer relationship with his wife Lynne, his children, and parents.
Life of a Concorde Pilot reminds me of some astronaut biographies, in the sense that a series of unique events happened that aligned a person with desires, intelligence and abilities, with a rare opportunity of historical proportions.
If you’re looking for a technical history of Concorde, there are better sources out there.
If you want to know what it “felt” like to actually take the controls of that magnificent creation and fly it, then this is your book!
And all of it told with a touch of self deprecating humor that is a hallmark of all the better pilots I’ve ever shared a flight deck with.
Highly recommend!
March 3, 2025
One of my favourite books I’ve ever read. A truly inspirational story full of twists and turns (and I’m not talking about Concorde!) Captain John goes into a resonating detail about his awe of Concorde, his career and his family. As someone with a health condition, it was inspiring for me to see how far Captain John has gone with the challenges he has and continues to face. I couldn’t recommend this enough.
June 16, 2024
A well written book and an easy read, detailing the life of a pilot, from growing up to piloting Concorde.
January 1, 2026
This book is equal parts aviation memoir, technological elegy, and quiet meditation on professionalism. Bannister doesn’t write like a thrill-seeker; he writes like a craftsman describing a machine that demanded absolute respect.
What makes Concorde so compelling here is not speed but discipline. Flying at Mach 2 wasn’t about bravado—it was about systems thinking, anticipation, and humility before physics. Bannister makes clear that Concorde was unforgiving: errors were not corrected later; they were prevented earlier.
I was struck by how much this book echoes themes from elite professional firms. Mastery is invisible. Preparation matters more than reaction. The pilot’s job is not heroics, but judgment. Concorde succeeded not because it was fast, but because it was operated by people who understood its limits.
The book occasionally assumes a reader already steeped in aviation culture. Some technical passages linger longer than necessary. Still, the spirit carries it.
This is a book about excellence without ego—and about what we lose when we abandon craftsmanship because it’s expensive or inconvenient.
Pull-quotes:
• “Concorde was not difficult to fly—but it was impossible to fly casually.”
• “At twice the speed of sound, anticipation is everything.”
What makes Concorde so compelling here is not speed but discipline. Flying at Mach 2 wasn’t about bravado—it was about systems thinking, anticipation, and humility before physics. Bannister makes clear that Concorde was unforgiving: errors were not corrected later; they were prevented earlier.
I was struck by how much this book echoes themes from elite professional firms. Mastery is invisible. Preparation matters more than reaction. The pilot’s job is not heroics, but judgment. Concorde succeeded not because it was fast, but because it was operated by people who understood its limits.
The book occasionally assumes a reader already steeped in aviation culture. Some technical passages linger longer than necessary. Still, the spirit carries it.
This is a book about excellence without ego—and about what we lose when we abandon craftsmanship because it’s expensive or inconvenient.
Pull-quotes:
• “Concorde was not difficult to fly—but it was impossible to fly casually.”
• “At twice the speed of sound, anticipation is everything.”
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews