This includes the categories:

• Pre-Flight
• Take-off
• In The Air
• Behind The Curtain
• What Can Go Wrong
• Landing and
• The Future of Flying. 

His wit and humour are on display and a pleasure to read, as he takes the reader on this journey. In fact, there are many times when I was driven to involuntarily laughing out aloud.

In each section, he goes into great detail of the particular circumstances that can and did occur. Captain Burfoot narrates many anecdotes and memories of his career including procedures which are or are not adhered to and colleagues who he worked with from the flight crew, the cabin crew and the ground crew, including his mate, Winston, the poo tanker guy - sorry, the Evacuations Specialist. 

He discusses the training he undertook at the various stages of his career from Second Officer to First Officer to Captain. How he became a trainer and spent several years training pilots using the flight simulator at Sydney Airport. 

Burfoot explains several of the aviation complexities, including time zones (which still confuses me), the number of pilots required for different lengths of trips, recommendations of what to eat on long haul flights, why you should avoid the coffee (it's not what you think).

Captain Jeremy gives a comparison between the Boeing 747 and the Airbus 380 - he has vast experience, over his 35 years with Qantas, of flying both aircraft. 

He explains the duties of the Captain are to keep an eye of the economics of the flight, including requesting the 'right' amount of fuel for each journey, rerouting around bad weather, cruising at the optimum altitude, liaising with Air Traffic Control, who may or may not give advice that he thinks is appropriate. 

He delves into how the jet engines, the landing gear, and the instrument panels work, with a caveat to the reader that they can skip over that part if they feel their eyes glazing over. For instance, did you know that 'aviation fuel' is actually kerosene (or paraffin, if you are from the UK)

He goes into great detail about the history of the levels of safety and the current safety procedures. During this journey, he explores every facet of air travel, with his tongue firmly placed within his cheek. 

Captain Burfoot compares the 'The Wright Flyer’, the aircraft that was built and flown by the Wright Brothers in 1903, and the modern airliner and marvels at the amount of improvements and innovations that have taken place in a mere 120 years.

Towards the end of the book, he ventures into the future and speculates as to how flying may change and his vision of tomorrow's aircraft. He believes that, in the not too distant future, we will most probably see electric or hydrogen powered craft when the oil runs out and kerosene becomes confined to the footnote in a history book.

If you want a jolly good belly laugh and to read a behind the scenes view, you will want to read” The Secret Life of Flying". I found it very difficult to put down between sessions. It is well written and very funny.

The authors

Captain Jeremy Burfoot is a retired Qantas pilot, 23,000 hours of flying under his belt. He worked for Qantas for 36 tears, Japan Airlines for 3 years and was a navigator in the Royal New Zealand Air Force for 3 years. He has three World Records on JetSki (including 24-hour longest distance travelled), having raised $500,000 for melanoma and prostate cancer. He has represented New Zealand at masters World Championship cycling multiple times. Today he delivers workshops in overcoming the fear of flying, and is an author and an adventurer. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Book review by Ken

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