From The Orphanage to The Edge of Space

Commercial pilot's memoirs, from the orphanage to flying Concorde in its final years, ending his career as an Airbus captain

John Tye’s job at British Airways was supposed to be only temporary, a way for him to pass the summer before starting university. Instead, it would kickstart a forty-six-year career in aviation and take him all over the world.

Told in an irrepressible and infectious style, Life of a Concorde Pilot is the story of how, despite a somewhat turbulent start to life in a Middlesex orphanage, John would go on to fly the world’s only supersonic airliner. A true insight to the life of an airline pilot, with many amusing anecdotes along the way, it follows his ups and downs from his career on the ground at BA to flying with Dan Air and then back to BA, through to Covid and his reluctant retirement at the end of 2022. Full of the fascinating details only a pilot can give, this is a memorable journey to the edge of space and beyond.