Joseph Flint's Rescue From Innocence
A combination of aviation thrills, ripped from the headlines intrigue and romance make for a satisfactory late summer beach read.
By S. Mark Rhodes
Author Joseph Flint is one of the most experienced flight test engineers in the world. He has tested all variety of aircraft and has now added ‘author’ to his impressive resume. (Courtesy of Joseph Flint)Joseph Flint is one of the most experienced flight test engineers in the world with more than 30 years experience testing and flying experimental aircraft all over the globe. He has tested all variety of aircraft including the Chinook, Apache, as well as the Boeing 737, 777, 787 and 747. To this impressive resume Mr. Flint has just added author with the recent publication of Rescue From Innocence (Xlibris Corp.), which was inspired by Mr. Flint’s own experiences working within the realm of global politics more than two decades ago. The book reads as a satisfying thriller with some welcome romance and soap opera elements (as well as a charismatic protagonist named Walter Judge) thrown in for good measure, Mr. Flint was nice enough to check in with In Flight’s Mark Rhodes about his colorful and accomplished life and his recently published book.
IF USA: You wrote this book more than 20 years ago but felt like this was the time to re-visit and publish it. What was this process like for you?
JF: “The book was inspired by my involvement with the Chilean–Cardoen-Saddam Hussein-Helicopter project in 1989 and 1990. As you may know, British journalist Jon Moyle was murdered investigating the story in early 1990. Bits and pieces of the real story surfaced in newspapers throughout the country after I informed senator Phil Gramm of the goings on. The Commerce department launched an investigation, partially documented by Bill Seargent and Robert Schoonmacher in their report. A spider web of other covert activities surfaced during the investigation leading to trials, imprisonment, murders, and allegations leading right to the State Department, the FAA administrator, and the Commerce Department.
“Since I was so closely attached to the program I knew more about the inception of it and many of the characters involved, but being an engineer and pilot (not a writer and by no means wealthy) my resources to write a documentary were limited in that I could not tie all the pieces together accurately enough to be a documentary and not overstep the bounds of slander. I did however want to tell a story that shows how the seemingly innocent actions of performing an exciting job can have world repercussions and impact people’s lives and world events to an extreme degree.
“We had suffered through the Iran-Contra scandal, Panama was just finishing up with the allegations of yet another scandal brewing between the real war on drugs and the white house. I felt yet another ‘true story’ about another scandal of how the U.S. was backing Iraq, even at that late date, with helicopter gunships using an illegal Chilean proxy was never going to interest anyone. I wanted more human drama and personal struggle to show how the simple capabilities of one man could turn so many lives upside down.
“The story sat on the shelf for 20 years. I had a son, he grew up, and found the manuscript. He loved it so much that I decided to polish it up and publish it. The investment in doing so now is significantly lower than 20 years ago, especially for a first timer. I was shocked at how well received it has been. Everyone that has read it has told me they could not put it down and were kept up late at night reading it. That said, I doubt it ever gets much attention. I am an engineer and a writer but not a marketing person. I have little funds to spend marketing but love to hear folks send me cards and emails who have read it and enjoyed it. I get a lot of satisfaction from that.”
IF USA: What was the most difficult part of telling this story? The easiest?
JF: “The most difficult pieces of telling the story were having to change the protagonist into such a large man, unrecognizable from me, and changing the names of so many characters that it was hard to keep them all straight. But it was necessary and I struggled through it. To make all the connections in the storyline match there was much to embellish and that was necessary too in order to make it fun to read and keep everyone’s interest, as well as avoid embarrassing and possibly untrue accusations as to characters real roles in the actual events.
“The easiest parts were the action scenes and thoughts, since they came mostly from personal experience and remained fresh in my mind, even to this day.”
IF USA: What was the process like for you to make a character like Walter Judge come to life?
JF: “Except for his size, it was the easiest part. My mind was his. He was the easiest character because the way he speaks, his mannerisms and his thoughts and fears and regrets are mine. Even my son said it was kind of weird reading about him because he said to me ‘no one talks like that or acts like that except you.’ He laughed, he said he knew who he was reading about.”
IF USA: Do you think writing about aviation and flight is an easy thing for a writer?
JF: “In some ways, and in some ways not so easy. Flying is full of emotion, thrill, exhilaration, sometimes stark terror and many times just awfully boring. I am by trade a flight test engineer and think and write in very technical terms that thrill very few people. I have written articles about rotorcraft height velocity testing and DGPS test integration and probably put 90 percent of the folks that read them to sleep. People that read novels want to read about the excitement and thrill and the terror. If an aviation writer has not witnessed it or experienced it I can’t imagine being able to express it in believable pros.”
IF USA: What is your process of working/writing? Do you write every day?
JF: “Sadly no, at least not on my sequels, of which two are currently in work with one nearly half complete. I often work 70-80 hours a week flight testing and traveling which is often not conducive to putting my inspirations in print on a daily basis. I do however add a few pages every week and probably spend several hours each day going over the different scenes and conversations that eventually end up in my pros. I am nearing retirement age however and expect to change those ratios before very long.”
IF USA: What does your reading list look like?
JF: “I loved the Alistair McLane, John LeCarre, and Tom Clancy works. I like technical mysteries that are not predictable and do not have any unbelievable science fiction in them. Science fiction is fun, but I want it to be believable and explainable, not magic. I guess that’s the engineer in me.”
IF USA: This is a trilogy; can you give us a sense of what the follow-ups will be?
JF: “The Walter Judge series is a trilogy. The second book is also inspired by the aftermath of the first one, also inspired by what really happened but with perhaps more embellishment and more fun character development. The third, which is also started is the final chapter if you will, which thus far is entirely fiction.”
IF USA: The artwork for the book is unusual. What is the story behind it?
JF: “I have a talented stepson Kevin Karg. Kevin is a senior student at Arizona State University’s School of Professional Photography. He has a promising career ahead of him and is headed to Spain in the fall as an exchange student to work on his photography and art. He is talented in painting and drawing as well as photography. He is credited with the artwork. He took the scene of Walter Judge dropping Michelle onto the cargo ship door in the storm at night with the wind whipping around, and his imagination did the rest.”
For more on Mr. Flint and his work see rescuefrominnocence.com
