Proficient Pilot: The survey says…

I then revealed and discussed the results in my column. Topping the list was Charles Lindbergh, followed by James “Jimmy” Doolittle. Close in trail was Bob Hoover.

I thought it would be fun in preparation for this month’s column to do something similar, to ask my pilot friends what they considered to be the best aviation book ever written, the best aviation motion picture ever produced, and finally, the most remarkable flight of all time (excluding their own personal adventures).

Eighty-four percent enthusiastically pointed toward Ernest K. Gann’s Fate is the Hunter as the best book, a result with which I wholeheartedly agree. This masterpiece has become a part of our aviation culture and heritage. It is replete with memorable wisdom such as, “In reference to flying through thunderstorms, a pilot may earn his full pay for that year in less than two minutes. At the time of the incident he would gladly return the entire amount for the privilege of being elsewhere.”

Other great books were named and deserve honorable mention. These include Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, West with the Night by Beryl Markham, The President’s Plane is Missing by Robert Serling, and, of course, the nonfiction staple, Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche, which taught so many of us about the art of flying an airplane. Also mentioned was A Gift of Wings by Richard Bach.

In my estimation, the three greatest aviation writers of all time are Gann, “Saint-Ex,” and Bach. You’ll never be disappointed reading anything they’ve written about flying. (If you haven’t read Bach’s trilogy, Biplane, Nothing by Chance, and Stranger to the Ground, you are in for a literary treat.

There is little unanimity when it comes to selecting the best aviation movie, but The High and the Mighty attracted a marginal plurality. This 1954 flick was the first of the airline disaster movies and further demonstrates that Ernie Gann knew how to craft compelling stories. The scene where co-pilot Dan Roman (played by John Wayne) slaps Capt. John Sullivan (played by Robert Stack) has become a classic video clip used in teaching crew resource management—or not. (Wayne’s role originally was to have been played by Spencer Tracy.)

Making the movie particularly memorable is the haunting melody of the same title and whistled by Muzzy Marcellino. (During my TWA night flights from Honolulu to California, I would often play that tune on a nose flute and into an open mic during quiet periods while en route. The reactions voiced from other pilots monitoring the air-to-air frequency were wonderful. The ghost of John Wayne’s character surely lurks in the night sky along that trans-Pacific airway.)

There were five other close contenders for best movie. They included Twelve O’clock High, Top Gun, Battle of Britain, The Spirit of St. Louis, and, of course, Airplane, which is the most hilarious aviation movie ever produced. Also mentioned more than once were Island in the Sky (another Ernie Gann-John Wayne collaboration), The Dam Busters, Tora! Tora! Tora! and Wings, the 1927 flick that won the first Oscar for Best Picture. (A personal favorite and one that I watch almost annually is the gripping story of Charles Lindbergh’s flight.)

If you haven’t seen all of these, you should purchase the DVDs—old movies are inexpensive—and wait for a rainy day. You’ll be delighted that you did.

With respect to the most remarkable flight of all time, the predictable top vote-getter was Lindbergh’s 33.5-hour solo flight to Paris. Beyond being an extraordinary testament to a pilot’s skill and determination, the landing at Le Bourget Airport in Paris sent the world into an unprecedented frenzy. Although not strictly an aviation event, the flight of Apollo 11 came in second. A few felt, however, that the saving of Apollo 13 was at least as remarkable because it demonstrated such extraordinary skill, grit, teamwork, and impromptu ingenuity. It was considered by many to be NASA’s finest hour. Tied for third place was Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager’s nonstop, unrefueled, nine-day flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager and Jimmy Doolittle’s flight of 16 North American B–25s from the deck of the USS Hornet to the heart of Tokyo.

The common link connecting these remarkable flights is that all required dealing with obstacles that had been considered impossible to overcome. We continue to regard these achievements with awe and reverence.

Web: www.barryschiff.com