Darker Shades of Blue: The Rogue Pilot

It is a shame this book is out of print at this time. I am a commercial pilot and a physician. This book was introduced to me as a part of my recuring flight training. Ultimately, the themes made me redefine my medical practice as well. I have shared this book with dozens of people, pilots and non-pilots alike. Tony Kern has touched a fundamental theme by defining rogue behaviour, including rogue behavior by individuals and by organizations. Fellow pilots understand the themes easily. Other people, including fellow physicians, have privately told me that they fundamentally changed their practice procedures as a result of reading this book. One non-pilot told me that I had "saved his life" by suggesting that he read this book. Contemplative people, involved in aviation or not, will do soul searching as a result of reading this book. Rogues will be angry (as could be expected from the basic tenants of rogue behavior). Almost all will recognize rogue tendancies in their own behavior and will confront a decision to make corrective actions or to continue. This is not a book with a lot of confusing technical jargon. I highly recommend that you read this book if you get a chance. I hope that demand will bring a new printing.

Kern gives practical advice for spotting, dealing with, and preventing lapses in judgement and discipline that make a "rogue" aviator dangerous. This should be a must book for all pilots and aviation managers. For a perfect complement, also read Keshner's COCKPIT CONFESSIONS OF AN AIRLINE PILOT, which is fun, brilliant, and belies its title.

Excellent book and a useful outline for self evaluation. Stories used to illustrate the points are, for the most part, well written and also appear to be well researched. I gave it only 4 stars because it seemed to suffer from a mild case of political correctness. Examples - According to other sources the F-14 loss of control on departure accident which took 5 lives had a tie to the push to get Carla Hultgreen and her fellow F-14 pilots thru training. The doomed pilot of this airplane was rated below standards, but above the female pilots in the same squadron and thus allowed to continue. The discussion of the Ron Brown crash places a lot of blame on the squadron leadership for sending the aircraft on a mission in violation of regs. However, the major breakdown was the failure of Air Force leadership to tell the State and Commerce Dept that if you expect us to fly with this primitive nav equipement don't expect service to all these airports and the President and Congress who in their rush to cut defense spending put these aircraft on the line. Perhaps a discussion of the fact that the female officer in command may have felt some special pressure to complete the mission was warranted. Another minor complaint is that more details would help in understanding the issues surounding some of the crashes . For example if the reported weather is included then stating the applicable minimums, rather than just saying the weather was below minimums would have been helpful. Beyond these few issues this is an excellent read. If you are a pilot it is an excellent gift to a younger pilot.

Mr. Kern has suceeded in bringing to the forefront what I consider one of the greatest challenges to aviation: the rogue, undisciplined pilot. Rogues will continue to be a source of danger not only to themselves but their crews, passengers and people on the ground and this book should be required reading for everyone with a certificate (and even those who aren't pilots). Kudos to Mr. Kern for an eye-opening look at this threat.

This outstanding book takes the lessons of Flight Discipline and Redefining Airmanship a step further, by offering insights into individual and organizational traits that can corrupt professionalism and compromise safety.A must-read for all aviation professionals.