Secrets From the Cockpit

When Rob Schapiro got his flying licence at the tender age of 17, it hailed the start of an exciting career in military and civil aviation that would see him become a member of an elite group of international pilots. As one of the few Jewish pilots in the South African Air Force, he faced severe prejudice but never allowed the name calling to break his spirit. He realised his dream of joining South African Airways (SAA) in 1979, quickly learning that SAA cockpits were dominated by the so-called Royal Family - captains who thought themselves above the rules and who spent time overseas on drinking binges or trying to convince air hostesses to be their 'airline wives'. Schapiro talks frankly about near misses, emergency landings, on-board fire threats and even a death in the air. Apart from divulging what some passengers get up to in the air (think 'seat sex') and the remedy pilots had for rowdy passengers, he also offers extensive insights into the technical aspects of flying and his own experience of the navigation error that led to the 1983 Soviet shooting down of Korean Air Lines 007. In 1994 he was seconded to Japan's Nippon Cargo Airlines when sanctions-hit SAA was forced to lease out its pilots. His time at Nippon led to often-hilarious cultural misunderstandings as Western crews had to adapt to the Eastern style of operations. Poignant and humorous, this memoir offers a rare snapshot of life in the cockpit.