Book Review
Fate Is The Hunter
by Ernest K. Gann
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review by Jim Hoogerwerf,
Submitted by Rbt Lawson
Ernie Gann’s memory abides in a
special place of honor within the hearts and minds of aviators of
which I happen to be one. What fliers appreciate is Gann‘s
ability to articulate their feelings so eloquently. He is one of
them but what sets him apart and what they revere is that Gann
wrote so well about flight. It is not surprising then that fliers
hold him in such high regard, but the real testament to his skill
as a writer comes from the acclaim of others outside this
fraternity.
You don’t have to be a pilot to appreciate Gann’s work.
It is sufficient to understand humankind’s willingness to
push the limits, all along knowing there is a risk to be taken.
Man has always been willing to take a chance “so long as
[he] insists on striving for progress.” (xv) Gann, through
his gift of prose, carries the reader along, not as a passenger,
but as an involved observer. That is Gann’s talent. The
reader believes he is there with him. You don’t have to be a
pilot to understand Gann. He doesn’t challenge you with
technicalities. He presents situations whose outcome hangs by a
thread. Is it fate, luck, skill, or fortune that determines the
outcome? Whatever, Gann is a survivor.
In the past, as it is to this day, flight is inherently dangerous
and unforgiving. The danger is mitigated in many ways. One way is
told in the very first chapter captioned “The Tip of the
Arrow.” Gann descends his aircraft fifty feet to be
precisely on his assigned altitude. By this act of
professionalism he avoids a near miss when an unreported aircraft
flashes by mere feet away. If he had not descended moments
before, they would have collided. Striving for perfection, Gann
saved their lives. “Those fifty additional sloppy feet held
only a few minutes previously -so insignificant then - are now
revealed as the pinion of our lives.“ (13) Gann, the
professional pilot, saves himself and his airplane. Is that fate?
Luck? Good fortune? Or is flying a game of chance that is played
until your number comes up? In Fate is the Hunter, by telling of
his experiences in nearly ten thousand hours of flight, Gann
leaves it to us to make the final interpretation for his
survival. However he gives us some clues to his thoughts. He
writes “at least let us admit that the pattern of
anyone’s fate is only partly contrived by the
individual” (384) What if the other aircraft, flown by
another equally professional pilot, also had descended fifty
feet? Would that have been fate or bad luck? We would never know.
Unquestionably Gann tempted fate many times, but not recklessly.
He is not a daredevil. His good fortune in Fate is the Hunter
though contrasts with that of many friends and companions who
were not so lucky. He lists their names in the beginning pages of
the book. (v-ix) Was their demise preordained? Gann doesn’t
tell us exactly. Instead we read, without a lot of detail, that
their deaths were due to an “unknown cause“, a
“radio range failure“, a vagary of the “seniority
system“, or, to explain the unexplainable, “pilot
error“. Humans err but is a human error by itself fate? Or
is it carelessness? Or stupidity? Or, given the circumstances
like a wing falling off, simply unbelievable? Flying, we know,
has little regard for the careless or the foolish. One thing is
certain from reading Fate is the Hunter, the line between life
and death can be very fine indeed.
Even with the best of human performance possible, the odds
against survival may be so overwhelming as to be insurmountable.
It is then that true heroism is necessary. Heroism is not ever
mandated or demanded of someone by others. Heroism comes from
within. It is the disregard for personal safety or salvation that
propels action against overwhelming odds. This is not Ernest
Gann. He doesn’t hold himself out (nor the other pilots that
he holds in high regard) as heroes though some of us may believe
they were. Gann writes about this in the following paragraph.
Line pilots do not live in an atmosphere of heroism, for that is
a very temporary condition better suited to wildly inspired
moments in which the hero hardly knows what he is doing. The
pilots know what they are doing, right or wrong, always. They
wear courage like a comfortable belt, rarely giving it a thought.
But a line pilot is wary all of the time, which is an entirely
different matter. To be continuously aware you must know what to
be wary of, and this sustained attitude can come only with
experience. Learning the nature and potentialities of the
countless hazards is like walking near quicksand. (109)
What Gann experiences in his career are situations that require a
cool head and good judgment. “The timid, super-cautious
pilot is not necessarily the safest. Coupled with knowledge, a
touch of boldness is required” (52) Gann will take a
calculated risk, but the decision is based on his knowledge and
experience.
A high standard must be maintained. In the role of an airline
pilot, Gann recognizes he is entrusted with a duty. Passengers
place their trust in the airline, the airplane and him. Quite
simply, his is an occupation unlike any other. The cockpit of an
aircraft in flight is a place that most people normally do not
get to see. In our journey with Gann we are invited into his
world as he progresses from being an apprentice just prior to
World War II until he becomes a seasoned veteran as a Captain of
his own ship. Ernest Gann doesn’t tell us explicitly, but
the reader begins to sense the Captain’s responsibility for
his passengers, his crew and his company. This burden is not
carried lightly by Gann or the other pilots. There are a couple
that Gann believes do not deserve his or our respect. These he
treats with disdain. However he is not malicious and so he
doesn‘t use their real names. To the despotic Alessandro, he
wished bad luck but nonetheless remains unscathed. The pretender
“Captain” Dudley, who didn’t have a license, was
at first pitied, then loathed. After getting properly licensed
Dudley again talks himself into command of another airliner which
crashes. He survives but some passengers do not.
Four decades have passed since Gann wrote Fate is the Hunter and
a few more years than that since Gann lived the events he so
vividly describes in his book. From today’s perspective on
aviation, Fate is the Hunter opens a window to another time.
Unlike the present jet age, all of Gann’s flying was in
propeller transports - DC 2s, DC 3s, the Lockheed Loadstar, the
C-54, and the C-87. In many ways it was a more challenging time.
Navigation aids and flight instruments were much less
sophisticated than now. Still they were light years ahead of what
was available just a short time previously. Yet, while the
technology was more primitive, the human factors remain
remarkably similar in the present. A pilot faces the hazards of
winter snow and summer heat then just as he does today. A
schedule is kept just like it is today. Fuel may be critical then
as now. Seniority still remains the key to advancement. Pay is
determined by the minute of flight though credit time figures
into pay computations today. Remarkably the report time of one
hour before scheduled departure is the same today as it was for
Gann. When airborne there are still the hours of droning along
with only routine tasks to complete but always having to be alert
for any inkling of an impending problem. I can relate to a common
request from passengers interested in exactly where they were.
For me the request came via the interphone and is relayed by a
flight attendant. In Gann’s time it was probably directly
from the passenger himself. Gann notes this was “information
we seldom had ready at hand” and would “assume a solemn
mien and point out a town, or village -anyone visible would do -
and...would say. ‘That is White Pigeon.‘” (176) I
wish I had thought of that! Thankfully though, copilots today
don’t have to load passenger baggage any more. Jets are so
large we would never leave the gate waiting for them to finish
loading! Gann has unintentionally created an historical classic
encompassing an important era in aviation.
Gann’s description of the aircraft he flew contrasts
remarkably with the aircraft in use now. At the time however they
were the best that were available. In one episode the regularly
scheduled equipment, a DC-3, is grounded for maintenance. A DC-2
is substituted for the regularly scheduled flight from Nashville
to New York with Columbus, Ohio as the alternate. The flight
proves to be Gann’s first encounter with icing and almost
his last flight, period. They encounter heavy icing and battle
deteriorating sky conditions until finally arriving at Cincinnati
where the weather has remarkably cleared. The fortuitous
substitution of a DC-2 saved them. The DC-3 would not have been
able to stay in the air carrying the same load of ice. As for the
C-87 which he later flew Gann says it “could not carry
enough ice to chill a highball.”(214) These details provide
invaluable information for aviation historians.
Inevitably, in reading Fate is the Hunter , the reader reaches a
point where he might ask himself, is all this true? Gann says
“insofar as one mind can reveal a vast and extraordinary
complex endeavor, all the facts and events described are
true.” (xvi) I believe him. In nearly ten thousand hours of
flying an endless array of situations are possible. Given the
time frame, the aircraft he flew, and the conditions he
encountered it is entirely within reason for to him have lived
the experiences as he describes them. His logbook would be proof.
All pilots have one. One thing is sure, if his story is not true,
the people he writes about (those that have survived) would not
have let him get away with it!
I only have one question. That has to do with
“unporting” (368) That is a term as unfamiliar to me as
it was to Gann when he was told about it. In the episode that
describes the condition, Gann had “arranged the only
possible combination of power, speed, and weight which would
blockade the chances of unporting” (369) preventing loss of
control. Another airplane crashed because of the problem but Gann
was unaware except for “a certain trembling” (365) He
was only told of the danger later after he came back to work from
vacation. Personally I put this in an “ignorance is
bliss“ category. There are many things beyond the control of
the pilot and if you can’t do anything about it, it is not
worth worrying or knowing about. Even if Gann had known of the
problem it is unlikely they would have been able to determine the
exact flight requirements to prevent it from occurring. That was
only figured out later. Aerodynamics is not my forte but someone
else may be able to shed some light on “unporting.”
How does Gann’s story end? In the end I think he becomes
discouraged. He is caught by the seniority trap. A pilot, once he
begins with a company, is locked into that company’s
seniority list. If he were to leave and come back later he would
have to go to the bottom of the list and start all over again.
Gann left TWA to pursue another flying opportunity. When that
business failed, he was not inclined to start over again as a
copilot. He became a writer.
Like a wealthy gambler, he knew when to quit.
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