This image is the cover for the book Flight of Passage

Flight of Passage

A memoir of two teenage brothers’ cross-country flight in a Piper Cub in 1966: “A terrific book . . . Huckleberry Finn meets The Spirit of St. Louis.” —Chicago Sun-Times

In the summer of 1966, Rinker and Kern Buck, two teenagers from New Jersey, bought a dilapidated Piper Cub for $300, rebuilt it, and piloted it on a record-breaking flight across America, navigating all the way to California without a radio, because they couldn’t afford one. Their trip retraced a mythical route flown by their father, Tom Buck, a brash, colorful ex-barnstormer who had lost a leg in a tragic air crash before his sons were born, but who so loved the adventure of flight that he taught his boys to fly before they could drive. Along the way, the brothers would battle thunderstorms and wracking turbulence and encounter cowboys and crop dusters and the smalltown cafes, cheap motels, and dusty landing strips of pre-Vietnam America. These two young men must separate from their difficult, quirky father—literally by putting a country’s distance between them—but they do it on their father’s terms: in an airplane.

“This is more than a flying adventure—it is also a warm, affectionate account of an unusual family.” —The Newark Star-Ledger

“Colorful, exhilarating, heart-stirring.” —Booklist

“[An] enchanting story [with] masterly insider descriptions of flight.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An adventure full of fraternal jealousy . . . boneheaded hubris, and unbridled fun and freedom.” —The Boston Globe

“A funny, cocky gem of a book.” —The New Yorker

Includes photographs

Rinker Buck

Rinker Buck began his career as a reporter for the Berkshire Eagle in western Massachusetts. He then worked for New York, Life, and Adweek magazines, and his articles and columns have appeared in numerous national magazines and newspapers. Flight of Passage is his first book. He and his wife, Amelia de Neergaard, live with their two daughters in Cornwall, Connecticut.

Hyperion