Fifty Years Before the (Rotor) Mast: A Memoir of an Air America Helicopter Pilot

This book is a memoir of 50 years flying helicopters in a variety of situations. Included are rescues, combat operations, mountain and off-shore flying, medical evacuations, flight instruction and numerous flight missions that require pushing the flight envelope to the maximum. Highlighted are Ben Van Etten’s five years as a flight captain with Air America, Inc. in Thailand and the unpublicized war in Laos. During that period the author describes in detail his interaction with other pilots ...