Chapter 1 "The Innocents - and of the Facts of Aerial Life" Summary and Analysis

Gann attends flight school with nine other men—Gay, Lippincott, Sisto, Watkins, Mood, McGuire, Owen, Charleton, and Carter. They already know how to fly small airplanes, but most of them are self-taught and have little practical experience. The flight school teaches them the methods and practices used by American Airlines to fly larger aircraft—primarily Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s—on commercial routes. The school is taught by Lester and McIntosh. Lester, the classroom instructor, is himself a commercial pilot but is unable to fly due to severed physical wounds suffered during an airplane crash. He is a driven man and expects perfection from his students. McIntosh performs secondary training. Like Lester, he demands precision...