Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
A Flying Life
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
November 2, 2025
“Aviation Therapy: Stories of Perseverance and Personal Growth from the Cockpit,” by David Dale, Stoney Creek Publishing Group, November 2025, 398 pages, $24.95 (Paperback), $5.95 (Ebook), $19.50 (audiobook)
David Dale was a skinny teen with divorced parents. He lacked in confidence and self-esteem. Then, while in high school he learned to fly. It changed everything.
“Aviation Therapy: Stories of Perseverance and Personal Growth from the Cockpit,” by David Dale, tells how flying changed his life for the better. It recounts his flying career from 1978 through 2004.
Through much of it he was an US Air Force officer. He was a navigator aboard a Strategic Air Command B-52 during the Cold War, a Tanker pilot during Desert Storm and Bosnia, and VIP courier aircraft pilot afterward. Even before joining the Air Force, he flew. He soloed flying private aircraft in his teens, hang glided, and skydived in college.
Along the way he gained confidence, changing from a skinny, uncertain kid to a confident leader. Dale describes his triumphs, disappointments, accomplishments and setbacks over four decades.
He describes the joy of soloing in high school. He writes of his determination to fly jet fighters for the Air Force, his pride in getting his officer’s commission, and his disappointment in being assigned to navigator training not pilot training. He tells how he found and wooed his wife, and their enduring marriage.
He shows the value of perseverance. While disappointed to have become a navigator, he embraced the job, excelling in the role. He was accepted to flight training through an Air Force program that permitted top navigators to transfer to pilot slots.
He describes how he and the rest of his class were tracked into flying KC-10 tankers, instead of the fighter he preferred – then discovering flying the KC-10 was both interesting and challenging. He also tells of his transfer to flying Gulfstream C-37, a sporty executive VIP transport.
He also made history. Not by leading the charge, but by participing in great events. He describes the high points of his career, becoming a SAC Blue Ribbon crew, refueling aircraft during Desert Storm, flying out of Mogadishu ahead of a storm while under fire, flying General Franks during the Iraq War, and meeting the Dream Team at the Sydney Olympics.
“Aviation Therapy” is the story of a man doing what he wants to be doing. While it took hard work for Dale to achieve his dreams, readers can tell how grateful he feels to have achieved them, and the joy he felt for the support of his wife and family.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.