Written in the Sky

Written in the Sky is a panoramic autobiographical work that includes fascinating historical background of the times and well-explained technical details of the unusual variety of military and airline aircraft that Mark Carr has flown with two military services and two airlines. It was inspired by classic accounts of military and airline flying, particularly Feet Wet: Reflections of a Carrier Pilot by Paul Gillchrist, and Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K Gann. A Fortunate Life by A B Facey is also relevant to Carr’s relatively humble background and the trials and tribulations that lead to a successful and satisfying career’s end.

The work is aimed at any reader with an interest in aviation, civil or military, life at sea on an aircraft carrier, flight training, domestic flying in Australia, international airline operations or expatriate life in Hong Kong. Also, the demise of the Navy’s fixed-wing aircraft capability and the traumatic Australian Pilots’ Dispute have been under-represented in literature, and Carr attempts to set things right with historical background and personal experience to the descriptions of these events.