All My Downs Have Been Ups

"Nancy is a keen observer who writes not only with highly-polished story-telling skills, but also an understanding heart." - Elmer Kelton All of the pleasure and some of the pain. That's what award-winning journalist Nancy Robinson Masters shares with you in this collection of her favorite stories of the people, places and planes she has come to know through her adventures as a pilot and freelance writer. Nancy has enthralled millions of readers around the world with her warm, witty, West Texas writing style. However, this isn't just a book about West Texas and flying: it is about the ups and downs of life each of us experiences. You will laugh with Nancy as she struggles with tailwheels and tailwinds. You will cry with her as she shares the stories behind the stories that she could not reveal until now. Most of all, you will understand what Nancy means when she says, "Writing is spreading yourself on a piece of paper for readers to see you exactly as you are. "It's like flying-each time you do it only makes you want to do it more." "When we flew the replica Spirit of St. Louis Verne Jobst, senior pilot for United Airlines, told me the secret to being a good tail wheel pilot was to always keep my feet and my fanny moving the same direction. "I've found that philosophy works for just about everything that happens in life." Meet Uncle Wyatt, Bradley T., Leonard Crow Dog and The Instructor... Take off to Antarctica, Belle Plaine, Brackettville, and Guthrie... Fly DC-3s, Cherokees, Interstates, and Starlifters... Buckle in for trips as near as the family farm. Or as far as the South Pole. Discover a fortune in Australian diamonds... Smell the smoke of a range fire from a thousand feet up... Feel the Excitement of oil on the windshield... You'll do it all with Nancy Robinson Masters! "Goosebump reading... again and again and again." - Virginia Boyd Connally "Pilotage and poetry woven into stories that will keep you climbing long after the last landing. You'll think she wrote it just for you." - Robert Flynn