Takeoff Power

"Delta 82, you are cleared for takeoff."

Bob Snelling had heard those words a thousand times. But on this night, they carried more weight than usual - this was his last flight, Atlanta to Paris, days before retirement, thirty-one years of memory rushing past as he eased the throttles of a Boeing 777 forward one final time.

Long before he ever touched a set of controls, Bob was already learning to set takeoff power in every part of his life. He learned it directing Navy destroyer guns in the Atlantic and flying anti-submarine patrols over the Pacific. He learned it in the Georgia House of Representatives, where holding power lightly mattered more than wielding it fully. And he learned it decades earlier, in a high school band room in western Pennsylvania, where a trombone player caught the eye of a clarinet player named Paula - a takeoff that has now carried them sixty years, three children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Takeoff Power is the story of that whole flight: the thrill of a first solo over Pensacola, the helplessness of watching September 11th unfold from a hotel lobby in Brussels, an ocean away from Paula, fifty countries seen from a cockpit window, and a body that, after eighty years of full power, finally asked him to throttle back. Diagnosed with a rare muscle disease and, soon after, kidney cancer, Bob traded his trombone and his flight bag for a slower pace and a longer view - and found that faith, and the people who love you, carry you even when you cannot carry yourself.

At its center, this is a book about a truth Bob learned at thirty-five thousand feet and never forgot on the ground: no one was meant to fly solo. Every takeoff - in a cockpit, in a marriage, in a life of service - depends on a crew we rarely stop to thank. This is Bob's thank-you, and an invitation to look at your own crew a little more closely.

PRAISE FOR TAKEOFF POWER

"Bob Snelling has lived an extraordinary life - from the Naval Academy and the cockpit of Navy and Delta aircraft to public office, ministry, mentoring, and a lifetime of adventure with his beloved Paula. . . . It's what he discovered along the way: none of us was meant to fly solo."

- Bob Tiede, author of Leading With Questions

"Takeoff Power is not just an aviation term, but something achieved when someone, or many, walk alongside you with care and commitment."

- John Terech, Executive Director of Operations, ECO Presbyterians

"This book is worth reading because it reminds us that character matters, relationships matter, and a life devoted to others leaves a legacy that endures."

- Andre' Kennebrew, Director of Relationships, Lifeshape