Jane, along with her best friend Sue, have just completed their nurses training and are spending their graduation night worried about their lack of employment. Lucky for them the dean of their nursing school has received a request from Federated Airlines for two trained nurses. The company plans on hiring them as stewardess which was a newly created job field at this time.
The girls have to catch a flight to Federated's headquarters for their interviews. This is their first time on an airplane and to their misfortune the plane crashes. Jane helps the injured pilot escape from the cockpit right before the plane goes up in a fiery explosion. Due to her leadership behavior during the incident Jane is immediately given a job.
Jane's first assignment is to accompany the wealthy Mrs. Van Verity Vanness on a last minute dash across the country to reach her ill sons bedside. The flight takes place at the same time air bandits have been active and there is a close call with the bandits almost overtaking Jane's plane before the U.S. military comes in with aerial guns blazing.
Jane is paid by a newspaper to tell her story about the incident and Mrs. Van Verity Vanness gives Jane a check as a thank you. Jane uses this money to take flying lessons and get her pilot license.
When a film company comes to town to use the airport as a filming location Jane is giving the job of stunt pilot. The special effects equipment on her plane malfunctions causing a fire and Jane has to parachute out of the plane as it dives into an explosive crash landing, all while film cameras roll.
Jane is soon given a promotion to assist in training new flight stewardess which comes with a substantial raise.
As winter comes along many flights get cancelled due to snow. As Jane is checking in at the airport one day to learn her flight has been cancelled she overhears that an isolated village is having a flu outbreak and no medicine has been able to be transported to them due to the snow. Veteran pilot Slim Bollei decides to make the dangerous trip to the village and Jane accompanies him. The plane gets lost in the snow then makes a minor crash landing but still gets the medicine safely to the villagers.
As the one year anniversary of Jane and Sue becoming stewardess rolls around Jane happens to be a passenger on Sue's plane. Aboard the flight is child film star Jackie Condon as well as two shady looking men; Bardo and Mellotti. The two men end up hijacking the plane and kidnapping the boy. The passengers and pilot are dropped off at an isolated area in Canada but Sue and Jane are kept on to take care of the child. The men take the plane to an isolated shoreline bare of anything except two cabins and a seaplane. After night arrives the three kidnapped victims escape the cabin to the sea plane in which Jane flies them to freedom at dawn. The criminals pursue in the commercial plane but the U.S. coast guard is spotted just in time to make a rescue of the three.
- Out of the first four plane trips in this book two of them end in crashes and one is attacked by air bandits. Not the best publicity for the newly emerging commercial flight business.
- This book had a lot in common with Vicki Barr and I read them as existing in the same world. So when Jane is walking through the Chicago Airport I got a little sentimental thinking that this is the same airport Vicki would be walking through 13 years later.
- The movie stars names were based off of real movie stars and I found that really amusing. For example child actor Jackie Condon would have been fictionalized Jackie Coogan, leading lady Claudette Bennett would have been Constance Bennett, etc.
- The kidnappers/hijackers are an example of anti-Italianism that was common at the time. I always find these offensive depictions of Italians very interesting as it seems to be a forgotten part of America's history.
- Jane is a bit of a boring character because she is perfect. She is top of her class at nurse school and she instantly becomes the top stewardess and pilot when she ventures into those fields. She's so perfect that she is constantly offered fabulous job opportunities; besides being given one of the two open stewardess positions she is also offered to accompany Mrs. Van Verity Vanness on an around the world trip, and offered a job in Hollywood as an actress. If the book didn't end when Jane, Sue, and Jackie are rescued by the coast guard Jane would have probably been offered a job with them.
- One part I really liked was when Sue was on a flight that had almost crashed. After they land safety and Sue gets all the passengers off and on their way she sits down in the empty plane and has a cry. I wish Jane had done something like this as it would make her seem more human. Instead Jane goes through multiple plane crashes and air chases but never seems to have much if any negative emotions due to it.
Overall it's a fun easy read with amazing cover art. If you enjoy Vicki Barr than I would recommend this book.
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