The book, Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot follows the United States Navy’s 100th test-pilot class as they go through their training at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland.  Based on hours of test flights in a variety of aircraft and interviews with many civilian and naval test pilots, as well as, engineers at Paxtuxent River, “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” provides an insiders look at the challenges and ever-present dangers facing naval test pilots in the 1990s.  In this action-packed book, the author presents a story of naval test piloting from “Spuds” Ellyson’s first flight in Curtiss biplane in 1911 right up to the 1919 acceptance testing of the then new T-45 training aircraft.  “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” highlights the exhilarating breakthroughs, the nerve-racking tedium and the tragic mishaps that sometimes occur during the Naval Air Test Center training program.  Included in “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” is a full account of the S-3 Viking accident that occurred on April 29, 1992 and how the subsequent crash analysis was used to improve Patuxent River’s emergency-response system.  The author also relates what it is like to perform summersaults in a Navy T-2 jet trainer over the Chesapeake Bay, take part in live dogfights while flying in a supersonic F/A-18 Hornet and what is necessary to perform a “dead stick” landing in a helicopter with dead engines.  “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” also highlights the disappointment felt by some naval test pilots, when the aircraft flaws they discover while performing risky test flights, are ignored.  The author makes suggestions as to the ways this flawed system can be reformed.  An interview of Lt. Paula Coughlin, aide to the Commander of the Naval Air test Center, also provides incite into the “Tailhook” misconduct incident.  The major sections of “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” are as follows: 1) Inspiration; 2) Class 100 Arrives; 3) Lighting The Torch; 4) Mapping A New Course; 5) Back To School; 6) Class 100 – Who Are They?; 7) Class 100 – How They Fly; 8) Class 100 – Honing And Boning; 9) Class 100 – Graduation And Beyond; 10) Mishaps; 11) Goshawk Gets Wet; 12) Rebel With A Cause; 13) The Future; 14) Acknowledgements and 15) Index.  In addition to an informative narrative, “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” includes approximately 63 black and white photographs.  “Flying The Edge: The Making Of A Navy Test Pilot” is certain to appeal to anyone interested in aviation and to those wondering what it is like to “push the envelope” in the frontline of experimental aircraft.  This book is 271 pages and is in very good condition.  The author is George C. Wilson.  Edition published in 1992.