The novel “Vertigo”, reprinted in 1991 with the title “Terminal Velocity”, by Bob Shaw was published for the first time in 1978.
Rob Hasson is an Air Patrolman who was involved in a serious accident in which he’s been badly injured. On the road to recovery, at least physical, he goes to spend an extended period of convalescence with a Canadian fellow Patrolman but he finds a situation even worse than the one he was used to in the area because the air is controlled by groups who compete in dangerous flights and his colleague obeys a local ruthless businessman. As if that weren’t enough, Hasson is terrified at the prospect of flying again.