Alternate Destinations

Alternate Destinations is John Robertson's accounting of a life focused on sport, military, and airline experiences. The product of an airline family, he followed his father's footsteps to the Boeing 747, but his path to the left seat was far from a "direct routing.

"With a nudge from his parents, he was led to believe a service academy would best serve his future. After a false start with the military, he would go on to wear the uniform of three branches. And with a stroke of fortuitous timing, garnered an unlikely and rare fourth Honorable Discharge.

While a two-sport athlete at North Dakota State University, he faced the unwelcomed realities of a coaching change and acceptance of a diminished role. And while hitchhiking through Europe was given the chance to join the continent's early days of professional basketball.

From a solo trip around the pattern at age 17, his logbook entries would span 40 years. They include icing so severe it necessitated an emergency landing, flights throughout Europe in support of US Naval ops, a commuter airline Captain gone rogue, a charter outfit operating polar opposite from the military's standards, and the rarified air of a corporate flight department and finally the majors.

His worldly travels started at an early age and his quest to explore more of the human and physical geographies has remained constant.

Not afraid to expose omissions and missteps, Robertson reveals a life filled with doubt, questions, perseverance, and gratitude.

The author is a retired airline pilot living with his wife in Nevada.