Tasman Echo Alpha

by Guy Clapshaw

An account of the NZ airline industry in the 1960s when flying was dangerous and sex was safe.

Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Garry Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light-hearted collection of events from the early days of international jet travel in the Pacific recounted by a former Air New Zealand captain. Many of the events probably gathered from experiences of Clapshaw's colleagues. Having personal experience of the era, the books is fairly representative of how business actually operated in those days and among the characters who come up in the story, I expected to see more names that I recognised. An easy read but one that would mostly appeal to people associated with the industry at that time, including passengers.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, lighthearted read full of anecdotes and tall tales of the early days as an Air New Zealand pilot.

[Dennis Rutzou]

I like books about flying an aircraft and this one ticked all the boxes for me. Guy Clapshaw tells the story of his life as an Air New Zealand pilot in the time when it was transitioning from being TEAL and flying big aircraft that landed on the water to Lockeed Electras, DC8s and moving to DC10s. It was also a period of massive expansion for the airline in people, planes and routes to something like the airline we know today. Guy's story starts from his UK home and flying cargo planes to moving to New Zealand and growing with the enterprise. It is a great human story and hilarious in places as Guy is an excellent writer and handles the humour with great control. Although I can only find one on Kindle, I understand that he has written two others so I'll have to go paperback chasing.

[Rabbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of anecdotes from the golden era or air travel.