The complete author interviews can be found at: alvaharts.com

JAB: I'd been using a wheelchair for a couple of years when I started thinking about the challenges and what I might write about them. It wasn't until I became a docent at the National Air and Space Museum and started giving tours from my chair that I thought about combining the two things. The Museum helped get me back on my feet, so to speak.

JAB: Jay's struggles reflect heavily on my own experiences, though he suffered from a spinal cord injury from an accident, while my disabilities are hereditary. His injury was immediate, while my own situation progressed over time. It wasn't too hard for me to imagine how it would feel if it happened all at once though.

JAB: You answered part of the question when you mentioned raising awareness. I included many things that I've actually experienced because I wanted people to think about how the disabled person feels. There have been times when I've been using my chair that I've felt invisible. There have been other times when people have been friendly and helpful. I'd like for people to pause a moment when they see a disabled person and strive for the latter.

JAB: As I say in the credits, when I was eleven or twelve years old my father handed me a copy of Eddie Rickenbacker's 1967 autobiography. Rickenbacker was a fascinating character. He raced at, and eventually owned, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After the war he founded Eastern Airlines. And during WWI he became the preeminent Ace, shooting down 26 confirmed enemy planes. I was enthralled, and it led to my interest in vintage planes and early flight.

JAB: Many of them. I spent a lot of time at the museum becoming a docent and learning new things about flight and pilots that I hadn't known. Besides my earlier reading, I did a lot of research for the book, and many events and pilots depicted are based on actual history.

JAB: Many of my friends at the museum were pilots who liked to regale me with their exploits. In the credits I mention Colonel Melvin F. Brown. Colonel Brown was a veteran of Korea and Vietnam, and he became a fighter pilot instructor. He also became a good friend who loved to tell me about his experiences, and we did many museum tours together. As for flying time, I had a good simulator that I spent many hours with learning to "fly" WWI aircraft. Eventually I even learned to land them without crashing. The rest was all imagination.

JAB: According to my younger son, the physicist, time travel is impossible. I bow to his informed wisdom, but I will tell you it was a lot of fun to think about.