What do you think?
Rate this book
Flying Naked: An American Pilot in the Amazon Jungle
A #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER
A lost pilot. A hidden treasure. A squadron of misfit flyers determined to find both.
When a sleep-deprived U.S. Air Force pilot in Panama has a vision of tropical treasure, his colleagues set out to bring the dream to reality. So begins a dramatic shakedown of every country south of the Texas border, from the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula to the salt flats of Bolivia, as the overeager flyers seek to collect the dream's baubles and solve the mystery behind them. But can they do it without crashing or losing their wings?
Based on Bleriot’s experience as a counter-drug support pilot in South America, Flying Naked is bush flying at its best, with hair-raising descriptions of flying operations during the Colombia war on drugs.
"The best flying stories since Ernie Gann's epics..." - Dave Schlener, ATP"A FUN READ COVER-TO-COVER... Bleriot is an excellent storyteller!" - Jeffrey Miller, author of The Panama Affair
Fans of Dale Brown and Vince Flynn will love the military and aviation realism, while admirers of Ernest Gann, Richard Bach, and Antoine de Saint Exupery will soar in the studied appreciation of the flying world.
If you like outdoor adventure, exotic locations, and plenty of inside-baseball observations of the pilot life, then you'll love this laugh-out-loud aviation memoir from Michael Bleriot!
Order today with one click for Kindle or print!
A lost pilot. A hidden treasure. A squadron of misfit flyers determined to find both.
When a sleep-deprived U.S. Air Force pilot in Panama has a vision of tropical treasure, his colleagues set out to bring the dream to reality. So begins a dramatic shakedown of every country south of the Texas border, from the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula to the salt flats of Bolivia, as the overeager flyers seek to collect the dream's baubles and solve the mystery behind them. But can they do it without crashing or losing their wings?
Based on Bleriot’s experience as a counter-drug support pilot in South America, Flying Naked is bush flying at its best, with hair-raising descriptions of flying operations during the Colombia war on drugs.
"The best flying stories since Ernie Gann's epics..." - Dave Schlener, ATP"A FUN READ COVER-TO-COVER... Bleriot is an excellent storyteller!" - Jeffrey Miller, author of The Panama Affair
Fans of Dale Brown and Vince Flynn will love the military and aviation realism, while admirers of Ernest Gann, Richard Bach, and Antoine de Saint Exupery will soar in the studied appreciation of the flying world.
If you like outdoor adventure, exotic locations, and plenty of inside-baseball observations of the pilot life, then you'll love this laugh-out-loud aviation memoir from Michael Bleriot!
Order today with one click for Kindle or print!
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2015
186 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Michael Bleriot
5 books2 followerslibrarian's note: this author also writes as D.M. Sears
Michael Bleriot is a pilot who flew for several years in Central and South America supporting the counter-drug effort. He flew out of the former Panama Canal Zone, where many of his stories are based. He went on to fly strat airlift and helicopters later in his career and now flies for a major airline.
Michael Bleriot is a pilot who flew for several years in Central and South America supporting the counter-drug effort. He flew out of the former Panama Canal Zone, where many of his stories are based. He went on to fly strat airlift and helicopters later in his career and now flies for a major airline.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 18, 2015
Here we have an aviation memoir/adventure tale that spins yarn after yarn about the author’s flying escapades in Central and South America. An Air Force pilot assigned to a squadron of C-27 aircraft, Bleriot relates what it’s like to cruise not only the airways and atmospheres of Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela and assorted other Amazonian countries, but the after hours part of Air Force life as well. Ostensibly assigned a counter narcotics mission, Bleriot’s flying takes him to several locales and involves him in numerous close encounters with danger from various entities. The book is loosely organized around a kind of scavenger hunt that a fellow pilot named Walt has organized. Walt identifies 26 items that his colleagues must find, ‘a rain stick, a Koruba war club, a coat of arms…’ The list goes on, as does the tale, all subsequent flying identified in some way with this hunt in an ocean of green jungle.
Flying Naked begins with Bleriot’s rookie flying days in Texas, then proceeds to his assignment in Panama and points south. He writes of aviation in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama. He takes readers into the cockpit of the C-27, the ‘Mighty Chuck’ as the plane is labeled, an aircraft that Bleriot clearly loved, and one which, with its rugged construction and forgiving flight characteristics, seems to have saved his hide more than once.
He writes of myths and elves and creepy-crawly things that go bump in the night on flight lines, such mythical poltergeists as Headless Howard, and Veracruz Wobbly, and other demonic runway denizens. In a chapter titled ‘State of the Union,’ he relates a tale of female conquest in an exclusive club in Panama City, a club that holds much history in that small country. The chapter serves as a kind of metaphorical ‘flying naked,’ as the author navigates the social scene with wealthy, snobbish Panamanian women who pose at least as much danger to an American flyer as anything the Amazon jungle offers up.
The book is technically excellent, with good writing which flows well, and has very few grammatical and/or syntactical glitches. Bleriot is a good writer who clearly knows his subject. He describes things quite well, so any reader can understand what’s happening in his cockpit. As a former aviator myself, this reviewer would have liked a bit more technical detail concerning the aircraft and its operation, but that’s just me. Also, Flying Naked is perhaps a bit too anecdotal, with a very thin story line, save for the scavenger hunt angle. The book could benefit from more personal info from its author: time in service, family background, how he ended up in a cockpit in the first place, his educational exposure etc. and what happened, finally, with the hunt for all the items. Again, this is just personal taste, but I’d like to have read more about the ethereal, spiritual side of Bleriot’s flying experience. What kind of mystical, soulful events affected him? We heard stories of Headless Howard, after all, why not more about the personal paranormal every pilot cherishes?
All in all Flying Naked is a good, satisfying and in several places very funny reading experience, one which will satisfy readers of aviation oriented memoir. As for the title, well, you’ll have to read the book, although I will say that readers may feel free to take it literally. Mr. Bleriot’s duty assignment was in a very hot, tropical place, after all, and it seems the A/C in Mighty Chuck wasn’t quite up the task, so draw your own conclusions. Flying Naked part two is available, though this reviewer has yet to read it, but I will. If you liked my book, The Sky Behind Me a Memoir of Flying and Life, Ernie Gann’s work such as Fate is the Hunter, or titles by Bob Buck, Wolfgang Langeweische or Walter Boyne, you’ll enjoy Naked Flying. Mister Bleriot never mentions a relation to a rather more famous aviation pioneer with that name, but he does write well about flying, fully clothed or otherwise.
Byron Edgington, author of The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life
Flying Naked begins with Bleriot’s rookie flying days in Texas, then proceeds to his assignment in Panama and points south. He writes of aviation in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama. He takes readers into the cockpit of the C-27, the ‘Mighty Chuck’ as the plane is labeled, an aircraft that Bleriot clearly loved, and one which, with its rugged construction and forgiving flight characteristics, seems to have saved his hide more than once.
He writes of myths and elves and creepy-crawly things that go bump in the night on flight lines, such mythical poltergeists as Headless Howard, and Veracruz Wobbly, and other demonic runway denizens. In a chapter titled ‘State of the Union,’ he relates a tale of female conquest in an exclusive club in Panama City, a club that holds much history in that small country. The chapter serves as a kind of metaphorical ‘flying naked,’ as the author navigates the social scene with wealthy, snobbish Panamanian women who pose at least as much danger to an American flyer as anything the Amazon jungle offers up.
The book is technically excellent, with good writing which flows well, and has very few grammatical and/or syntactical glitches. Bleriot is a good writer who clearly knows his subject. He describes things quite well, so any reader can understand what’s happening in his cockpit. As a former aviator myself, this reviewer would have liked a bit more technical detail concerning the aircraft and its operation, but that’s just me. Also, Flying Naked is perhaps a bit too anecdotal, with a very thin story line, save for the scavenger hunt angle. The book could benefit from more personal info from its author: time in service, family background, how he ended up in a cockpit in the first place, his educational exposure etc. and what happened, finally, with the hunt for all the items. Again, this is just personal taste, but I’d like to have read more about the ethereal, spiritual side of Bleriot’s flying experience. What kind of mystical, soulful events affected him? We heard stories of Headless Howard, after all, why not more about the personal paranormal every pilot cherishes?
All in all Flying Naked is a good, satisfying and in several places very funny reading experience, one which will satisfy readers of aviation oriented memoir. As for the title, well, you’ll have to read the book, although I will say that readers may feel free to take it literally. Mr. Bleriot’s duty assignment was in a very hot, tropical place, after all, and it seems the A/C in Mighty Chuck wasn’t quite up the task, so draw your own conclusions. Flying Naked part two is available, though this reviewer has yet to read it, but I will. If you liked my book, The Sky Behind Me a Memoir of Flying and Life, Ernie Gann’s work such as Fate is the Hunter, or titles by Bob Buck, Wolfgang Langeweische or Walter Boyne, you’ll enjoy Naked Flying. Mister Bleriot never mentions a relation to a rather more famous aviation pioneer with that name, but he does write well about flying, fully clothed or otherwise.
Byron Edgington, author of The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life
October 4, 2020
Excellent book with adventure, humor, and aviation thrills.
January 14, 2022
If you are looking for a book about flying in South America, as the title and synopsis of this book implies, this is not the book for you.
Very little of the book is about flying. Most of it is about a treasure hunt one of the squadron members dreamed up, and the other squadron members participate in for no compelling reason that I could determine.
In fact, as best I could determine, there were no actual flying scenes from 25% to 80% of the way through the book. The flying stories that were in the book were good, but there were just far too few of them for a book with a title like this.
Very little of the book is about flying. Most of it is about a treasure hunt one of the squadron members dreamed up, and the other squadron members participate in for no compelling reason that I could determine.
In fact, as best I could determine, there were no actual flying scenes from 25% to 80% of the way through the book. The flying stories that were in the book were good, but there were just far too few of them for a book with a title like this.
March 4, 2023
A great read!
Bleriot has surely kissed the Blarney Stone whether he is Irish or not. While pilots should especially appreciate these tall tales from the cockpit, even a layman like me can thoroughly enjoy these adventure stories told with incredible wit. Highly recommended for anyone who loves airplanes.
Bleriot has surely kissed the Blarney Stone whether he is Irish or not. While pilots should especially appreciate these tall tales from the cockpit, even a layman like me can thoroughly enjoy these adventure stories told with incredible wit. Highly recommended for anyone who loves airplanes.
March 21, 2021
I haven’t laughed so hard while also learning about history ever! I felt like I was riding along in the cockpit for this wild adventure! So worth the read!!! Highly recommended!!! Definitely a five star read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Read
April 24, 2023Entertaining
It is important to remember that this is not a book to teach you how to fly. It is a very entertaining book that takes you on a adventurous journey and allows you to get an inside look of this Air force pilot's embellishing experience.
It is important to remember that this is not a book to teach you how to fly. It is a very entertaining book that takes you on a adventurous journey and allows you to get an inside look of this Air force pilot's embellishing experience.
June 16, 2023
This is a hilarious read
A whacko tale of some “interesting“ Air Force pilots stationed in Panama. Very little about their day jobs but filled with a lot of crazy antics and bizarre situations. This is a fun and laugh-out-loud book. Looking forward to the next installment. Enjoy.
A whacko tale of some “interesting“ Air Force pilots stationed in Panama. Very little about their day jobs but filled with a lot of crazy antics and bizarre situations. This is a fun and laugh-out-loud book. Looking forward to the next installment. Enjoy.
August 15, 2023
Sarcasm at its best!
If you enjoy sarcastic humor you will enjoy this book. At one point I was laughing so hard I thought I would swallow my tongue 😝. Even if your not an aviation "enthusiasts" , your are going to enjoy reading this story. Five stars.
If you enjoy sarcastic humor you will enjoy this book. At one point I was laughing so hard I thought I would swallow my tongue 😝. Even if your not an aviation "enthusiasts" , your are going to enjoy reading this story. Five stars.
August 4, 2024
A laughing pilot will save your bacon
Pilots are incredibly smart people, not geeks, who's sense of humor, ability, agility, and style, Will save your bacon! Remember, don't let the truth get in the way of a great story!
Pilots are incredibly smart people, not geeks, who's sense of humor, ability, agility, and style, Will save your bacon! Remember, don't let the truth get in the way of a great story!
February 5, 2024
Crazy
This mess of words sure is over the top in crazy. I was stationed in Panama 58 to 61 Albrook AFB. This is awesome.
This mess of words sure is over the top in crazy. I was stationed in Panama 58 to 61 Albrook AFB. This is awesome.
February 16, 2024
This is a light and fun read. A pilot's memoir making light about the situations while carrying out their duty in South America, and the hilarious unusual treasure hunt they did on the side.
April 19, 2023
This was interesting to read. I first had a slightly difficult time get started with the book but towards the end it came together. I am still trying to decide if I would like to read the other books in the series.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews