Pump Up Your Book Chats with Lyle Prouse, author of ‘Final Approach: Northwest Airline Flight 650 Tragedy and Triumph

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Lyle Prouse was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1938. He is part Comanche and grew up in an alcoholic home in a World War II housing project. He was active in his Native American community. After graduating from High School in Wichita, Lyle joined the Marines as a private but made the rare transition from enlisted to officer grade and ultimately Captain, a jet fighter pilot flying combat missions in Vietnam.

After his discharge from the Corps, Lyle became an airline captain for Northwest Airlines and flew for nearly 22 years before the same alcoholism that killed his parents almost destroyed his life. He was the first commercial pilot ever arrested and sent to prison for flying drunk.

The blistering media coverage was relentless as he was fired, stripped of all flying certificates, tried, convicted, and sent to Federal prison for sixteen months. The trial judge added sanctions on top of the conviction to guarantee he would never fly again. In spite of all the seemingly impossible obstacles, Lyle got sober, experienced many breathtaking miracles, returned to Northwest Airlines and retired as a 747 captain. In January of 2001 he received a full Presidential pardon from then President Bill Clinton.

Today, Lyle is a husband, father, and grandfather. He has been sober over twenty-one years and has devoted his life to helping others overcome alcoholism. He is still flying and has participated with all the major airlines in their ongoing alcohol programs. He remains active in Native American sobriety movements.

His latest book is Final Approach: Northwest Airline Flight 650 Tragedy and Triumph.

You can visit his website at www.lyleprouse.com.

About the Book:

This is the story of the first airline pilot ever arrested and sent to prison for flying under the influence. He was fired by his airline, stripped of his FAA licenses, tried, convicted, and sent to Federal prison. This was a first. It had never occurred before.

Lyle Prouse came from a WWII housing project in Kansas and an alcoholic family where both parents died as a result of alcoholism. He rose through the ranks of the United States Marine Corps from private to captain, from an infantryman to a fighter pilot. He made his way to the pinnacle of commercial aviation, airline captain…then lost it all.

Today he is a recovering alcoholic with nearly twenty-two years sobriety. This story describes his rise from the ashes of complete destruction from which he was never to fly again. It is full of miracles which defy all manner of odds.

In a long and arduous journey, he eventually regained his FAA licenses. He never fought his termination; he considered it fair and appropriate.

Miraculously, after nearly four years, the President/CEO of his airline personally reinstated him to full flight despite the adverse publicity and embarrassment.

In effect, the President/CEO gambled his own career by taking such a risk on a convicted felon and publicly acknowledged alcoholic pilot.

In another stunning event, the judge who tried, sentenced, and sent him to prison watched his journey and reappeared eight years after the trial. He became the driving force behind a Presidential pardon although he’d never supported a petition for pardon in all his years on the bench.

Lyle retired honorably as a 747 captain for the airline he’d so horribly embarrassed and disgraced. He lives with his wife of nearly forty-nine years and has five grandchildren.

He continues to work with all the major airlines in their alcohol programs. He is also active in his Native American community, and he provides hope to those struggling with the disease of alcoholism, no matter who they are or where they are.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Lyle. Can you tell us why you wrote Final Approach: Northwest Airline Flight 650 Tragedy and Triumph?

This was a story that made national and international headlines. It was a sensational story that stayed on the headline news for many weeks, involving me as the first commercial airline pilot ever arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to prison for having flown under the influence. Much of the story was continually distorted and factually incorrect so I wrote the full, truthful, and nakedly open story. In the book I make absolutely no attempt to excuse, mitigate, justify, or defend my personal actions, and I accept full and total responsibility from start to finish, so this isn’t a gloss-over account to make me look good. It’s very naked and very raw.

Q: Some authors have trouble getting started and others hit blocks throughout the book. Which part of the book was the hardest to write for you?

It was incredibly difficult reliving all the horror, shame, disgrace, and dishonor in those early days right after the arrest. Then comes the descent into federal prison as inmate 04478-041 and the loss of everything materially that had taken a lifetime to achieve and acquire. The FAA had taken all my flight certificates and my FAA Medical certificate due to my alcoholism. Northwest Airline terminated me, and justifiably so…and we went broke within 30 days of the arrest. The judge put sanctions on me to forever end any possibility I’d ever fly again, and life could not have been more impossibly dark and bleak.

Dragging my wife and family through all the shame and dishonor took me to the very brink of suicide, and writing about all of this took me back and made me relive it in an incredibly intense and unanticipated way.

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

Yes, that nothing is impossible; nothing is so bad it can’t be accepted, dealt with, and overcome.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

I never really had a writing bug. I felt compelled to lay out the story for the benefit of my grandkids and generations beyond that I will never know or meet.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write? Do you write for publications?

No, I don’t do any other writing.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

The only thing I know how to do is write from the heart, never compromise honesty, acknowledge all the feelings, and lay them out on paper.

Q: Would you like to tell us about your home life? Where you live? Family? Pets?

I live with my soon-to-be wife of 50 years in Stockbridge, GA. She’s from south Texas and I’m a native Kansan from Wichita. I have three grown children, two sons ages 49, 48, and a daughter,42. I have one sister and she and I are about the only ones left in the family we knew growing up. I’m an avid dog lover and have a small terrier mix (Murphy) that I flew on a rescue flight after he was found alongside a road with both front legs broken. I ended up adopting him. Murphy’s law was in play the morning both his legs were broken so he was named him Murphy and he’s an absolute delight!

Q: Can you tell us a little about your childhood?

I grew up poor, in a WWII housing project on the southeast edge of Wichita. I’m of mixed Native American descent (Comanche) and both my parents died of alcoholism. Each were married and divorced three times by the time I was 18 or 19. Additionally, my favorite uncle and a cousin both committed suicide as a result of alcohol and drugs. Many others in my family line have also suffered tragedy from alcoholism, so it’s replete within my family.

I graduated high school when I was 17, joined the Marine Corps right after turning 18 and I excelled as a Marine. I rose through the ranks from Private to Captain in 11 ½ years, becoming a fighter pilot and decorated combat veteran from Vietnam. And I did it with only a high school education; something almost unheard of.

I received an Honorable discharge from the Marine Corps in 1968, joined Northwest Airlines and did well for nearly 22 years until I became alcoholic and the bottom dropped out in one fell swoop.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

In my office area at the computer.

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

I am asked to speak all over the US and Canada and have even been to Spain and England. I try to give back and help those still suffering from the disease of alcoholism and it’s by giving back that I’m able to keep what I have. I find that amazingly fulfilling and deeply gratifying.

Additionally, I’m also an avid hunter, I love to fish, and I still fly. I find great peace and serenity in the quiet, wooded cathedral where I spend so much time.

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

Nothing really, except contact Dorothy Thompson at Pump Up Your Book.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

I know about Facebook and look at it occasionally, but I don’t spend any real time doing any of the social networking stuff.

Q: How do you think book promotion has changed over the years?

I have no idea.

Q: What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

For me, it was the continual editing, re-writing, trying to find a better way to say something I just said, and never being quite satisfied that I’d done it in the best way possible.

Q: What is the most rewarding?

Reading the Reader Reviews on Amazon.com and knowing I apparently achieved a successful and meaningful way to communicate the story. When people write or call and say they shed tears, or laughed out loud, I feel a great sense of reward at having communicated something truthfully and in a way that went from my heart to theirs.

Q: How do you think book publishing has changed over the years?

I think technology has been rocket science in that regard but I don’t really have any firsthand experience or knowledge.

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

That my friends could experience all the good things that eventually came from my experience, all the love, support, and encouragement that came my way… without having to endure the first part of the experience that nearly killed me.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

I’m right where I need to be right this very moment. There are places I want to visit and intend to go see, but I’m always right where I should be and I’m grateful that I know that.

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

My Creator (Taa Ahpu in Comanche) for allowing me to endure the unendurable, my wife for riding out the horrible storm that led to all the other really incredible events and miracles in the story, my kids for always loving their dad when the rest of the world held me in great contempt, and for all the recovering alcoholics ahead of me on the path of recovery who have guided my journey and allowed me to live the sober life I now lead.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Lyle. Do you have any final words?

Only that life is good and is meant to be lived to its fullest. And there is not time that should be wasted. I often say, “This is LIFE…it’s not a dress rehearsal!”

I believe the piece of paper that is taped to the front of my computer that says “Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it. And so it is with you as well. We are all in charge of our own attitudes.”

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How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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