Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight

This is the first thing I've read by William Langewiesche. The closer you are to aviation, I believe, the more you will like it. As a pilot for 30 years, Langewiesche writes what I would, if I had his incredible ability with words. He captures so much of what how flying changes those who pursue it as their passion. Some other reviewers suggest he rambles a bit, but I felt everything was connected and after all, the subtitle is "Meditations on Flight". I can't overstate how much I enjoyed this book. Flying is so much more that just piloting an airplane through the sky and Langewieche captures all this better than anyone else I've ever read.

This book chagned the way I think about flying. In general it is well written and has the added value of being written by someone who is obviously intimately familiar with the subject matter. The rational and informative discussion of flight safety helped with my anxiety around flying (I read it on the plane). A friend of mine who is an airforce pilot enjoyed the book too but said that most pilots are not as passionate about flying as the author of this book.

Some of the puzzlement generated by this book and expressed in the reviews may be generated by the fact of Langewiesche's genre.I'd characterize it as "the critical philosophy of the artisan."In American culture, people don't reflect deeply on their trade, profession, or career except as how to get ahead, unless they are talking to Studs Terkel.But in many societies, people do. In societies where "mere" trades have more respect, the artisan often creates his own relationship with the tools of his trade. An example from general philosophy is Heidegger's craftsman.As Langewiesche points out with regards to the patterns in which working air traffic controllers and their managers fall, it's not the norm to reflect on the truth of one's trade. The truth is, at one and the same time, that Reagan and FAA management was out to screw Patco, and that after the mass firing of 1981, management, as Langewiesche describes, was able to take over.It is impossible for either a controller or a member of management to actually enunciate this complex truth because to do so would disadvantage the side, in an adversary relationship.Another way Langewiesche engages truth as an artisan philosopher is with regards to fear of flying, often caused from a lack of knowledge of the passenger's physical relationship to the world. As Langewiesche describes, commercial aviation operates within tight safety and comfort parameters which effectively assure that any one flight is more safe, not only as compared to driving...but even as compared to sitting in your living room watching TV. This is probably especially true if the person in the living room is the normal gun owner (sorry, I just could not resist this.)At the same time, Langewiesche's committment to truth is such that he describes how this effective assurance is not a necessary truth. It is possible that fear of flying, like much thinking of an addictive nature, can only be analyzed using modal logic: the logic, that is, of statements which are necessarily true (true in all possible worlds) or only contingently true (true in our world but it could be otherwise.)The alcoholic realizes in AA when he or she is "Powerless" that their alcoholism is not an accidental, empirical fact, like a possibly cancerous mole which can be excised, and cured. He may realize that his alcoholism is a necessary truth about his existence.The fearful flyer (who is often beset with addiction issues) wants a similar guarantee of safety and as Langewiesche shows we can approach this without ever completely assuring safety as a necessary truth. To want it is perhaps to want to be god.In recent years, passenger cabins, formerly under higher fares the abode of the well-dressed and well-behaved, have become snake pits as, perhaps, the passengers insist on a trouble-free experience in which they are the god-consumer of our society. A pilot friend put it simply to me recently, "the passengers are pigs, we

An collection of essays united mainly by their general theme of perspective, this book reminded me of John McPhee's work, except that the author is both a flyer and a writer, and in a strange way seems to be a master of his topic, as elusive as that topic is when I try to define it.The book exists in the shadow of his father's how-to flying book -- without doubt the most famous in its completely practical genre, and remarkably though deservedly still in print after about half a century.But this book is not about airmanship, although pilots will detect the signs of clear expertise. Few if any other instructors make a specialization of chasing storms from coast to coast, apparently in part for the instructional value but also for the solitary non-landscape seen and felt by the instrument pilot.It is interesting and perhaps unexpected that this is more a book about perception and awareness, and treated with respect to both individuals and societies.I know it's cliche, but "I couldn't put it down".

This book is one of the few truly honest books ever written about flying As an experienced pilot myself, I find that Langewiesche, far from aggrandizing himself, uses his extensive experience to invite the reader into the profound, interesting, and remarkably complex world of human flight. Surprisingly, the book captures the personal freedom and challenge of flight, as well as the difficult political and social issues that surround it. This is a truly unusual book, and like Langewiesche's other writing, superbly descriptive. Unconventional, yes, but a damn good read.