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Air Ferrets Aloft

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Overview

This is Stormy Ferret's story. Cargo pilot, captain of an Air Ferrets SkyFreighter, she had earned her name by delivering her freight on time through every weather the night could set against her. Her destiny, she thought, was her dependability. That was true until, on a run south from Seattle to Salinas, she plunges into a supernatural tempest like nothing she has ever known. Flying north in his sleek FerrJet, Captain Strobe Ferret hits equally violent weather. As chief pilot of the giant MusTelCo, his long experience at the controls had taught him to accept whatever the sky set before him. He had adjusted to life alone in the wild pure arena of air. The two pilots meet by chance in the most powerful twin storm ever to sweep Airway Victor 23, her voice in the night helping him survive, his voice helping her. Coincidence turns to destiny as they battle through the clouds toward an unscheduled landing and a meeting that will forever change their lives -- and the lives of thousands of others.

Editorial Reviews

Bach returns to critter fables with the first two installments (three more are due over the course of the next year) of The Ferret Chronicles, creating an imaginary world based on the exploits of ferrets who have abandoned their utopian world to aid the human race. Rescue Ferrets at Sea is by far the better book, mostly because Bach sticks to a coherent, straightforward plot with a story that is touching and satisfying (despite the high treacle level). Bethany Ferret is the seagoing heroine who dreams of being part of the fleet that rescues animals lost at sea, and she fulfills her dream when she makes it through officer training. The icing on the cake is a project in which she restores her battered rescue vessel, but her superiors throw her a curve when they place rock star cum journalist Chloe Ferret on board to chronicle the adventures of the crew. But Chloe proves to be up to the difficult job; after winning the crew over, she even provides a dramatic assist when she helps recover some data from an explorer ship. Air Ferrets Aloft, concerning a cargo airline that shuttles food and toys around the country, is clumsy and muddled by comparison. The protagonists are two heroic pilots, Stormy and Strobe, who are destined to meet during a series of flights between California and Seattle. But the headstrong would-be lovers keep screwing up the meeting, forcing a pack of ferret angels to lend an assist by messing up the weather in a series of jumbled scenes that take the luster off the inevitable happy ending. Bach's fondness for flying shines through in the airborne book, and he wears his love of animals and his fondness for sappy endings on his sleeve in both novels. But he never manages to bring his animal conceit to life, failing to project the unique, simple innocence that made Jonathan Livingston Seagull such a huge commercial success 30 years ago. (June 25) Forecast: Even with the repromotion of Jonathan Livingston Seagull in April, the trick will be getting adults to read what is essentially children's literaturemarketing plans include support from the S&S children's divisionbut these ferrets are no Harry Potter, so expect sales to be... ferrety. Major ad/promo; author appearances; foreign rights sold in Australia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Russia. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Richard Bach

A direct descendant of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Bach was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1936. He attended Long Beach State College in 1955 and had a successful career in aviation, as an Air Force pilot, a flight instructor, an aviation mechanic, and an editor for Flying magazine. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the novel that made him famous, was written as the result of a vision. Halfway through the book, the vision disappeared and, finding that he was unable to continue, Bach, put the novel aside. When the vision reappeared, Bach finished the work. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, published in 1972, was an unexpected success and became the best-selling book in the United States for that year. The book is heavily influenced by Bach's love of flying and provides a marvelous inspirational message. The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story, and One are some of his other novels that blend inspiration, love, fantasy, and hope. 030

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Additional Info

Imprint

Scribner

Filesize

2.63 MB

Number of Pages

160

eBook ISBN

9780743233897

Excerpt from: Air Ferrets Aloft by Richard Bach

From Chapter 3
No warning, a jolt of turbulence so sharp it took her breath, slammed her down in her seat, a clash and jangle of bell-balls from the cargo containers behind her. Yellow light glowed on the panel: Autopilot Disconnect.

She didn't notice, but at that moment Stormy Ferret had been joined in the dark by three tiny helicopters, the angel ferret fairies Prestor, Nimble and Baxter, the latter flying as close to her window as he dared, striving for a look at the pilot who could one day change his grandkit's life.

So much she didn't see. Far down the airway, a FerrJet aloft, heading north, the captain choosing to fly at a much lower altitude than usual for the failure of his airplane's cabin pressure. Had Stilton Ferret been aboard, Strobe would have returned at once for repair, but tonight he flew alone.

Also unseen, code name Goosebeak and a team of angel ferret fairies tampering with the earth's energy to boil storms for two.

"Stormy, hello!" said Baxter, his mind to hers. "It's important to everybody for you to divert tonight. We need you to land..."

"Oh-oh..." She saw the disconnect light, moved the autopilot switch to Off, then On again, pressed Heading Hold. Instead of engaging the flight controls and steering the airplane, the autopilot tugged at the control wheel, twisting to the right, and disconnected again.

Stormy Ferret sighed and took the wheel, holding the transport on heading and altitude by paw as it swept over Portland. The windows of her flight deck might as well have been painted black, the pilot alone in a tiny room suspended high midair, only her instruments to tell up from down, left from right, and those submerged in a pool of dim red cockpit light.

She pulled and reset the autopilot circuit breaker, adjusted trim wheels to be certain the machine was flying without pressures on the flight controls, then one more time tried the autopilot switch. One more time the airplane lurched to the right before the system shut itself off.

Ferret transports have backup communication and navigation radios, of course, and fuel cross-feed, should an engine fail. They do not have standby autopilots, however, and though her workload increases when the system fails, the captain is expected to control the airplane the old-fashioned way, by paw.

She shifted her seat forward a notch and continued her instrument scan, coaxing the transport left when it was thrown right by the rough air, lifting it up when it was pushed down, moving the controls with small pressures this way and that to keep the SkyFreighter on course.

A younger pilot would have wondered, Why this weather, when the forecast was clear from Portland south? But Stormy had learned early on...a pilot does not fly the forecast, she flies the weather that's in the sky, makes no difference it's not supposed to be there, makes no difference there's no warning of a change.

For a split moment she considered diverting from her plan, landing to repair the autopilot. In a flash of horror at the idea, though, she pushed the suggestion from her mind. She was flying to deliver her cargo to Salinas, and it would arrive at Salinas, on time, before dawn. I'll land if all four engines are on fire, she thought, or if they all quit. Otherwise, there's a mission to fly.

Outside her window, Baxter looked to heaven. His job was not going to be easy.