Fate Is the Hunter: A Pilot's Memoir
Reviews (171)
This is why I chose to be an Airline Pilot
This is the book that pushed me over the edge, prompting me to make my own journey from being an enthusiastic Private Pilot to becoming a Captain at a major airline, over the course of thirty years. This is Gann's autobiography and follows his amazing flying career, starting with his new-hire class at American Airlines during the 1930's. During World War II, he flies cargo missions across the Atlantic, and alsó in Asia across the Himalayas, usually tired, overloaded, in the most dreadful weather, with dead reckoning often the primary means of navigation. It is a riveting true story that makes the reader feel like an invisible observer riding along on the jumpseat during countless flights, dealing with mechanical failures, perfect storms, colorful characters, and inevitable human error. Gann has a disarming honesty, disavowing any heroic mantle or superhuman airmanship. He is a highly skilled master of his craft, but he grimly comes to acknowledge that Fate or chance circumstance will often be the salvation of one man and his plane, or a cruel grim reaper to another, for no apparent reason. Reading this book gives us a greater appreciation of the fine transport category aircraft we enjoy flying today, and the myriad ways safety has been enhanced. I have read it numerous times over the years, with new perspective as I had my own moments of elation or despair. Although written many years ago, the job and the circumstances of professional aviation still have a great deal in common with those long ago days. Many times I have thought of a situation from this book as I faced a similar hazard or situation. You will too. I am sure you will also become a better pilot by reading this book, and gain a greater appreciation of the flying pioneers who came before us. Who knows, it may inspire you to make the leap, as it did for me many years ago.
Fate Is The Hunter Revisited
Many years ago my grandfather thought I had grown big enough for him to begin teaching me to fly. He wanted me to read this book before ever touching the controls of an airplane. I have reread the book several times over all the years since. I find that it has held up very well. The account of the DC - 2 flight in icing conditions ending in Cincinnati is as harrowing as ever, and the story where the elevator hinge on the DC - 4 nearly failed in flight still makes me shudder. Gann’s writing places the reader in the cockpit with him. This remains one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a good adventure story.
A stick and rudder tale, unputdownable, written in an almost inimitable poetic style
Reads like novel in almost poetic style with thriller contents. One of the first airline pilots that started his career in the barnstorming days. Numerous stories about his personal experiences within the hard 'boot camp' of being trained and selected for flight in the old days, stories relating to the problems with the aircraft, the engines, the weather, the navigation, the specific relationship and psychology between captain and co-pilot. As you read, you must turn the pages since you want the solution to a specific mystery that he is presenting; with an engine that is causing trouble that he is telling about, and he adds his sentiments around the situation, including the mood of the crew around him. As the title suggests, early aviation took its toll regarding deaths in air accidents. Interwoven in the narrative, he is mentioning the names of all his contemporaries that sacrificed their lives in the promotion of civil aviation. Mr Gann is an Aviator with capital C, but he is also a philosopher and a master with words. I have just ordered another of his books, Flying Circus - looking forward to that.
Amazing stores, amazing writing
These stories of the early days of commercial airline flying are amazing. And the fact that Gann survived through his flying career is even more amazing. He recounts at least half-a-dozen flying misadventures where his survival was essentially a coin-toss. And the book is replete with names of his friends and colleagues who lost the toss. Gann is an amazing writer. To me, there are three kinds of writers. The first are so bad that you notice the writing because it gets in the way. The second are good and the writing becomes transparent as you read. And the third are so good that you notice the writing again, because its elegance and style and freshness slap you in the face - when you read Gann, be prepared to get slapped silly.
Every Pilot Should Read This Book
Pilots nowadays take the modern technology of glass cockpits for granted. It was interesting to read about how hard navigation was back then with the lack of FMS and GPS displays, and how susceptible these old planes were towards mechanical malfunctions. Fate Is the Hunter is a memoir of Gann's career as a pilot for American on the old DC-2/DC-3 series. He discusses the pros and cons of flying during this time period. For example, while free meals were more prevalent back then, flight attendants often reeked of vomit because of how sick passengers got in unpressurized cabins. It was also common for pilots to have a drink while flying, and to smoke cigars and cigarettes in the cockpit (wish those days returned). All in all, a great book for anyone interested in becoming an airline pilot, or anyone just interested in aviation history. Pilots come from all walks of life. Some know they want to be pilots since childhood. Others, like Gann, planned on becoming actors, chefs, teachers, investment bankers, ex. military, etc. They were drawn to aviation for the magic of flight. I like to think of the air as a space for birds, not meant for humans. Gann passed away in 1991, and he was also a sailor and environmentalist.
Second Thoughts on Aviation
Earnest K. Gann is a well known aviation writer and before that, a succesful pilot of airliners and military transports in the time period during, before, and after World War II. "Fate is the Hunter" is probably his best known book, and it deserves to be. Reading it, we are in the presence of a classic that can be read on at least two levels: as a drawn-out adventure story taking place over a period of years, studded with gems of aviation art from a period that now seems very long ago, or as a thoughtful reflection on danger and man's reaction to it, guided by a deep familiarity with the psychology of superstition. From the first point of view, we get to see the near-collision with the Taj Mahal on takeoff, and the wild ride in ice-laden clouds over the Applachians that nearly brought down Capt. Gann's airliner in a time period when anti-ice equipment was primitive and instrument navigation in its infancy. Straddling the two points of view we have the Arctic adventure when a military transport with wounded coming back from Europe has to land on a frozen lake in Canada, in a region with so much natural magnetism that navigation systems of the day are useless, a region so vast that radio contact can only be made when the target has already been localized and the search aircraft is getting rather close to it. I'm remembering a movie of this that I saw in childhood, although I lack the online skills to find the name and date; but Mr. Gann's description of it is ever so much scarier. As we read through the book, which is a fast, exciting read, we begin to see the second point of view. Like everything that humans perceive as very dangerous, early aviation had superstitions. Looking back on his career at a mature age, Capt. Gann names all his colleagues, pilots just as good as himself in all humility, and wonders why, after so many near misses, he is practically the only one still alive to tell the tale. He concludes, I believe, that there is a mysterious fate choosing its next victim like a Valkyrie flying in formation with each airplane. You can soar effortlessly above the clouds in godlike majesty for many hours, but someday this force will rear back and bite you. If you live you'll have a tale like Mr. Gann's to tell your grandchildren, and if you don't, it could be months before the search parties find what's left of your body. Those of us who have learned to fly in "modern times" (say, after 1970?), and the general public as well, have little notion of how dangerous flying really is. We are taught that 80% (or something) of accidents are caused by pilot error, and if you follow procedures meticulously, "flying is safer than driving to the airport." (This is a familiar cliche now.) Mr. Gann's book shows us this isn't true. Like everything, flying depends on humans to carry it out. Humans forget they have already loaded an airplane to capacity and fill the fuel tanks to capacity as well. Humans fail to tie down the cargo. Humans make navigational errors, or start an approach when the airport is below minimums because the wind was different than predicted and they don't have enough fuel to fly someplace else to land. Humans get a report from the stewardess that there is an unusual vibration coming from the rear and ignore it because they are scheduled to go on leave after this flight and want badly to get home. Pilots will devour this book. But everyone, even those who don't give a d@#n about aviation and have never flown in their lives, should read it. When they have finished, they should re-think our present day delusion that we can make any technology safe that involves energy management (high speeds, high altitudes, high pressures or temperatures, explosive or flammable fuels). However, they also need to reflect that before aviation and automobiles, before railroads, one of the most common causes of death for healthy males in England was falls from horseback. (This is attested in Dr. Paul Johnson's book, "
A must read for airline history buffs and pilots
A vastly entertaining (and nerve wreaking) tale of Mr. Gann's days in the cockpit starting with DC-2s, DC-3s, etc. Flying across the North Atlantic before there were any radio navigation aids. Dealing with the aftermath of careless mechanics and ground crew, nearly obliterating the Taj Mahal, having all four engines quit well out over the Pacific Ocean with an airliner full of passengers, pioneering air transport routes in South America when there were no places to land in the jungle beneath beneath. A great read. I was introduced to this book by my dad when it was first published. I've read it many times since then.
A Tremendous Personal Adventure About Aviation in the US
I will keep this short, since no doubt other have already said what I could say. But as a pilot (and not a very brave or talented one) I was amazed and constantly on tenterhooks reading about this aviator's personal accounts of many very near-suicidal flights... and successful landings ... in conditions that were insane, airstrips that were insane, without radar or even descent maps. From the early barnstorming days to unregulated commercial flying pre-WW2, to flying for the Army (as a civilian) during WW2, he details the crummy, unreliable aircraft, the camaraderie among airmen, the world pilots lived in, and aviation politics after the war. I don't know how he managed to survive. A really great read for anyone who loves to read about aviation or just plain hair-raising adventure.
A wonderful reminiscence of the early days of commercial aviation
An enthralling and very personal look at the early days of commercial aviation. You can almost smell the avgas, the oil, and pilot’s sweat. The stories are astonishing, frightening, hilarious, or tragic, but always fascinating and deeply felt. The several pages at the back of the book listing all the pilots Gann knew that died while flying, is a sobering reminder of of the cost of making aviation safe and reliable. At least two movies came from this book. There are many others that could be done.
A Keepsake
The way Gann's captures his tutorial of experiences flying great ships in wartime, and in peace, I found fascinating. ...Picking up on weather formations for given airspace, to the point of knowing the mood of a cloud and where it typically sat... navigating unexplored territories... assigning aircraft personalities from knowing their tendencies... observing his crew in the cleverest of detail, (most whom he reserved the greatest respect), it's all in here. That, and above all, the perpendicular way in which he sets his words down after pulling together a motley of complexities that keeps ships in the air went over and beyond amazing from my lay perception. I was often humored, as I was mesmerized, and touched deeply by not only how much I enjoyed reading Fate is the Hunter, but also by how much I learned. This is just an incredible account of how experience and knowledge collectively melds into what (on occasions) misguidedly is tipped to fate. A great story; and a greater book.
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