The farm boy who swapped the tractor for flying machines
or
Bondpojken som bytte traktorn mot flygande maskiner
Christian Hamilton is a Swedish pilot with a long and varied international career. Raised on a farm in Skåne, Sweden, he chose early on to forge his own path despite a childhood marked by harsh conditions and opposition.
His professional life spanned from agricultural aviation in Sweden to missions in Africa and the Middle East, followed by work as a helicopter pilot in Greenland, and later as a flight instructor and chief pilot in international organizations.
Now retired for over twenty years, Hamilton draws on decades of experience flying in diverse environments. He recounts a professional life where responsibility, judgment, and decision-making were often crucial—sometimes under conditions that left no room for error.
This is his first book.
From field to cockpit
Follow the stubborn farm boy who refuses to stay on the ground as he trades tractor tracks for contrails. This is a story of clashes with tradition, tight finances, and hard landings – but also of friendship, humour, and the quiet triumphs that come from chasing a childhood dream into the sky.
Picture shows a Boeing 727 cockpit.
About the book and the boy at the controls
This memoir follows the path from earth under his boots to clouds outside the cockpit window. Between the lines you’ll find conflicts with his father, financial worries, and crashes in both air and life, but also friendship, humour, and quiet victories.
Picture to the right: The mechanic: "He was lucky this time".
About the book.
The Farm Boy Who Swapped the Tractor for Flying Machines
Christian Hamilton grew up on a farm outside Lund, Sweden, with a father who detested anything to do with flying. Even though his father opposed his dreams, Christian refused to give up. His journey led him from secret flying lessons in Landskrona to a dramatic emergency landing in Luxor just before the Yom Kippur War in 1973. This is the story of the boy who loved life on the farm, but whose longing to fly eventually took over.
With instinct and ice-cold determination, he survives situations that few others could handle. He becomes an agricultural pilot, a helicopter pilot over the ice fields of Greenland, an instructor for British Aerospace, a senior instructor at SABENA, and chief pilot of the transport squadron in the Bahrain Air Force before finally landing in Latvia for his final mission.
This is a book about tenacity, about daring to defy both his father and his fate, and about constantly pushing his own limits. It is also a love story about aviation and the family who endured the loneliness during the long periods when he was away.
This is a true story of a boy who was destined to become a farmer, but whose passion for aviation gave him a life most people can only dream of.
Picture from Boeing 727 cockpit somewhere in the Middle East
The book is originally written in Swedish both in hardcover and paperback versions.
Köp boken direkt hos förlaget www.bod.se eller hos
någon av de större bokhandlarna
The book is translated into English and you find that book both in hardcover and paperback versions.
Buy the book via Amazon.com or any
international bookstore
The book is also translated into French and is currently undergoing proofreading.
Achetez le livre chez mon éditeur français www.bod.fr
ou sur Amazon.fr
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