Trial flying lesson - update 1

"Jay Honeck" wrote in
news5f1f.402702$x96.73947@attbi_s72:

"We did Nebraska in 7 1/2 minutes today. I think that's the best
way
to do Nebraska." A quote from a sled pilot in the book Sled Driver
by Brian Shul.

Did you actually *buy* that book?

Shul was selling it at the Reno Air Races last year. I 'bout fell
down when he told me he wanted $400+ PER COPY!

I, of course, instantly abandoned the notion of putting one on display
in our "Blackbird Suite"...

:-)

Wow. I had no idea the price had gone up to the Blackbirds's
altitude!

My records show I bought two copies at the Stockton Air Show on
October 3, 1998 for $40.00 each. I got to chat a little with Brian and he
autographed both copies (one was for me and the other was a gift for my
instrument instructor).

Out of curiosity, I some simple research on avaialability and prices.
Amazon does NOT have any new copies. Used copies start at $299 with
autographed copies going as high as $476.47. At Barnes & Noble, used
copies start at $314, autographed for $415.

An autographed copy was just listed on Ebay (about 3 hours ago) with a
starting bid of $295. So far no bids have been placed. Item #4580765190.

Even more curious now, I went to Brian's web page www.sleddriver.com.
It looks like the current printing is a limited edition (only 3,500) and is
a special version created for the Centennial of Flight. It is much fancier
than the one I bought 7 years ago (or the one's on sale at Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, and eBay). The format is now horizontal rather than vertical, the
text has been expanded, pictures added, and it is autographed by Brian and
3 other sled drivers. List price on the web page is $427.00

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)