Fountain Hills resident and former pilot Beth Ruggiero-York has spent a lot of time with her head in the clouds. She shares many of those experiences in her new book, “Flying Alone: A Memoir.”

According to the book’s summary, Ruggiero-York knew from the time she was a teenager that she wanted to fly, but she was almost grounded at the age of 22 due to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

“Beth vowed that this new challenge would not put restrictions on her life and embarked on a journey to become an airline pilot,” reads the summary. “Starting at the small local airport, the aviation world swallowed her whole, and the next five years of her life were as turbulent as an airplane in a thunderstorm, never knowing when, how or if she would emerge.”

Throw in an “agonizing love affair with her flight instructor” and flying some rickety planes for shady companies, Ruggiero-York’s path to being hired by Trans World Airlines was full of twists and turns.

Ruggiero-York entered the world of civil aviation in 1984 shortly after graduating from college and, for the next five years, climbed the ladder to her ultimate goal of flying for a major airline. She originally wrote “Flying Alone” in the early 1990s, shortly after her career as a pilot ended and the memories were fresh.

A lot has changed in the past 30 years, as she is now a Chinese translator and a professional photography instructor for Arizona Highways PhotoScapes. She has published a popular instructional book on night photography, “Fun in the Dark: A Guide to Successful Night Photography,” which has worldwide sales, and she has co-written a book entitled, “Everglades National Park: A Photographic Destination.” She and her husband now live in Fountain Hills.

“Flying Alone: A Memoir” released this fall and can be found in hardback, paperback and as an eBook. It’s available through Amazon in all three formats. More information about Ruggiero-York’s writing, photography and more can be found at bethruggiero.com.