"If you start slowly from the beginning, there is only one direction you can go—up.”

Michael Shirima is an exceptional figure whose perseverance and stalwart principles of faith, family, and friends contributed to his astounding and inspirational career navigating the inherent challenges and obstacles of the air transport industry in Africa.

In this candid and riveting memoir, we discover the thrilling journey of an aircraft performance engineer turned serial entrepreneur who, after resigning from an executive position in a national airline, began his private career trading coffee and other commodities culminating in his founding of Precision Air—Tanzania’s largest privately-owned and premier airline—in 1993. But more than just a catalog of his mistakes and successes, this is also the story of a son guided by the wisdom of his father, the story of a devoted husband, and the story of a loving father to his own children as well as to those at the orphanage he founded at the base of Kilimanjaro.

Richly observed and suffused with humility and ingenuity, On My Father’s Wings equips us with important life lessons—on the value of taking risks; being kind to everyone no matter what age, race, status, or gender they are; and to never lose sight of what’s most important in life—from one of the most influential figures in the aviation industry, to remind us why we fly.