About the book: 2019 / The heroic era, when a person was just learning to conquer the elements of the air, and the profession of a pilot was almost fantastic, remains far in the past. Aircraft have become commonplace transport for residents of the 21st century, and air travel has become a dull routine for many. Has the magic of flight really disappeared in the modern world? Not for Mark Vanhoonacker, Boeing 747 pilot! He never gets bored at the helm and is absolutely sure: the plane gives us all “rare hours of height and lightness, when you can rediscover the meaning of the oldest words: travel, road, wind, air, night, wing, water, earth, city.” . Reading these stories about aviation everyday life, it is impossible not to remember Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Vanhonaker knows how to talk about his “flying” work both as a specialist, and as a poet, and as a philosopher. His heroes are radio beacons and navigation systems, winds and mountains, cities and rivers, chassis and engines, sunrises and sunsets, a talking (and sometimes giving valuable advice!) on-board computer and the northern lights. And of course, space and time, which change bizarrely during flight - and in some way change us.