A Safe Pair of Hands: A Gripping Novel about an Internationl Airline Pilot and His Family

‘Tower NZAir missed approach, standby!’ Forbes announced to the tower. He then called, ‘Speed minus 20 knots, holding 200 feet!’ in support of his flying pilot. The B767’s engines were at full noise as they flew along the Honolulu runway; too low to put the wing down to turn towards the safety of the water. For what seemed a very long time, that was how they stayed; well below the minimum Vref speed and staggering along parallel with the runway, both pilots watching the airspeed, vertical speed dials and the horizontal situation indicator as if their lives depended on it. Their lives did depend on it.’ This gripping novel follows Forbes Fogerty, a senior international airline pilot, through his flight experiences and tense moments, while trying to keep his family together at home. His interfering mother-in-law, social climbing wife and anti-establishment daughter, all combine to test his ‘safe pair of hands’. Captain Donald Offwood is a retired Air New Zealand International pilot and aircraft engineer with over 40 years of aviation experience. This is his eighth book; the earlier ones include the Otago pioneer trio, Oatcakes to Otago, Heather’s Gold and Camerons of the Glen. He has also commemorated the prominent Dunedin artist Tom Esplin