How Not to
Fly an Airplane
A Female Pilot's Journey
May 20, 2025
Personally Signed Copies Available
Contact Author by E-mail.
Shirley M Phillips knew she wanted to be a pilot when she was fourteen years old, thanks to an introductory flight in a Cessna that her father gave her and her twin sister at their local airport. Living in a small New England town where no one in her family had aviation experience, and at a time when only two percent of professional pilots were female, her decision to pursue aviation from the moment she left the ground set her on an unexpected path.
How to Not Fly an Airplane: A Female Pilot’s Journey is about learning to fly before you are old enough to drive a car, and teaching others when you are nearly always mistaken for being the pilot’s girlfriend, wife, or daughter. It’s about the many mistakes you can make in an airplane, and what it’s like to solve them, thousands of feet in the air or just a few feet above the trees. It’s about finding a sense of identity as a twin, becoming the first pregnant pilot at an airline, and losing a friend and former student in an infamous plane crash.
Learn what happens when a student pilot freezes on the flight controls just a few hundred feet in the air. Read about how to deal with a flight instructor who takes out a runway light during a botched landing and then lets go of the stick. See what’s it like to have an engine failure when your airplane only has one engine. How to Not Fly an Airplane is a memoir for anyone who has ever wondered what it’s like to fly, and inspiration for anyone who has felt compelled to do something nobody thought they could do.
Media
MOTH 2nd Place Winner
Featuring a story from How Not to Fly an Airplane
Reviews and Publicity
“In this engaging memoir, Shirley’s journey as a pioneering female pilot is both inspiring and heartfelt. The stories of her overcoming resistance from male colleagues, who doubted her abilities simply because of her gender, are empowering and relatable for women in male-dominated fields. Her reflections on downplaying femininity to fit into a masculine culture resonate deeply with my own experiences in the industry. The emotional depth of her family life, particularly the medical struggles of one daughter and the loving care by the other, brings a personal touch to her professional triumphs. Shirley’s writing strikes the perfect balance, offering enough detail to captivate readers without getting lost in nuance. This book is not only entertaining and uplifting but should be on everyone’s must-read list.”
— Kimberly Perkins, PhD, B787 Airline Pilot
Shirley, Your writing is compelling, as is your candid, humble, and periodically poignant account of your life. The emotional/moral aspects of being a flight instructor--of being accountable for other lives--are rarely conveyed by authors, and you did so brilliantly. You are a masterful writer. I will be lending my copy to one of my daughters this weekend.
From a review by Jeff Brown, System Safety Group LLC/Safer Healthcare LLC.