Mark Vanhoenacker
Mark Vanhoenacker (born 1974) is a Belgian-American airline pilot and author.[1] He is a Boeing 787 pilot with British Airways and is also frequent contributor for the New York Times, Slate and the Financial Times with a focus on aviation.[2][3]His first book, Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot was published in 2015, and followed by How to Land a Plane in 2017.
Mark Vanhoenacker | |
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Born | 1974 Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
Nationality | Belgian-American |
Known for | Commercial Pilot, Author, and Aviation Columnist |
Early Life
Vanhoenacker was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father was born in Belgium and is a priest.[4] His mother was born to a Lithuanian family in the United States.[5] Vanhoenacker studied at Amherst College, before undertaking an MPhil in history at the University of Cambridge. He started a PhD programme in East African history but decided after several months that he was more interested in pursuing a career in aviation.[6] While saving money towards the expected cost of his flight training, he worked as a management consultant in Boston.[4][7][8] He subsequently joined a British Airways (BA) training programme,[7] and currently works for BA as a Boeing 787 pilot.
Books and Columns
Vanhoenacker is a contributor to newspapers such as The New York Times, Financial Times, and news websites such as Slate, with a focus on commercial aviation. He is also a published author with some of his books including:
- Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot (2015), Alfred A Knopf (USA) and Penguin UK (UK), ISBN 9780385351829
- How to Land a Plane (2017), Quercus, 2017, ISBN 9781786487162
References
- Margolis, Jonathan (20 November 2016). "The ups and downs of being an airline pilot". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- Vanhoenacker, Mark (14 May 2015). "In Flight". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- Vanhoenacker, Mark (10 October 2017). "As the 747 Begins Its Final Approach, a Pilot Takes a Flight Down Memory Lane". New York Times. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- Collins, Lauren (6–13 July 2015). "Bird's-Eye View". The New Yorker. Retrieved 17 August 2020.CS1 maint: date format (link)
- Wilkinson, Carl (24 July 2015). "I never leave home without..." Financial Times. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- "About the Author: Mark Vanhoenacker '96". Amherst College. September 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- Nunes, Alex (5 November 2015). "The Poetry Up There: An Interview With Skyfaring Author and Pilot Mark Vanhoenacker". JSTOR Daily. JSTOR. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- "Extract from 'Skyfaring', by Mark Vanhoenacker". 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2020.