Back to Reviews By Title - A

Absolute Altitude, Martin Buckley
Vintage
Reviewed by James O'Sullivan (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

There's something very primal about flying. It connects with the basic human instincts, eliciting both fear and exhilaration. Consequently it can become an all-consuming passion.

Martin Buckley has been given a whole book to indulge his passion for flying. He gives us a brief history of early attempts at flight, and also his own flying history, training at a flight school in Canada.

Once licensed he embarks on a hitch-hiking journey across the skies of the world, firstly hitching rides on mail routes in Scotland. Then he travels into Sudan with UN workers and missionaries. New Zealand is the next stop, including flights over the Southern Alps and aerial top-dressing. Leaving New Zealand he makes his way over the Pacific, then manages to get a ride on a Lear jet from America back home to Britain.

What brings this book to life are the people that Buckley meets. Each has a story to tell, from the man in war-torn Sudan who has lost his entire family, to the lively New Zealand tourist pilots and top-dressers. Through Buckley's travels we can see the great discrepancies in the world. In Africa, flight is a lifeline, sometimes the only means of escape from a hostile land, in New Zealand it is a leisure activity.

As with anyone being allowed to indulge their passion, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with Buckley's enthusiasm. His exploration of all facets of flight can at times border on pedantic. But generally his writing is lively and interesting.

Absolute Altitude is a mishmash of history, travel writing, adventure and anthropology. Casting the net this far and wide can have its problems of focus, but generally Buckley manages to pull it off.