One Zero Charlie: Adventures in Grass Roots Aviation

Gonzales ( The Still Point ) conveys the mystique of piloting an aircraft; when he writes of the freedom and joys the skies afford he approaches the lyricism of Saint-Exupery. But in his portraits of others similarly obsessed with flying and with speed, and with his emphasis on aerobatics, he loses his primary focus, which is the disappearance of ``grass roots airports'' like Galt, near Chicago, Gonzales's headquarters. Although his lament for the vanishing small airfields is heartfelt, few readers are likely to share Gonzales's passionate regret that small private planes are also becoming extinct. (Jan.)