Fate is the Hunter
by Ernest K. Gann · first published 1961
13mentions
6recommended by
9HN commenters
2015–2026first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Memoir of an airline career from the 1930s onward, praised as a terrifying and honest account of early commercial flying; recommended especially for pilots and anyone interested in aviation.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Ernest K. Gann’s classic memoir is an up-close and thrilling account of the treacherous early days of commercial aviation. In his inimitable style, Gann brings you right into the cockpit, recounting both the triumphs and terrors of pilots who flew when flying was anything but routine.
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…expectancy will increase dramatically." And nothing here means that you can control all the risk. Sometimes, shit happens and there's nothing you can do about it, despite all your preparations (Gann's Fate is the Hunter is a great read on the subject). But you can radically balance the scales in your direction with the right planning.
on “The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world” ↗"if you're a pilot or into aviation, definitely read Fate is the Hunter." Second that, "Fate is the Hunter" [0] by Ernest Gann [1] describes the precarious life of a US career airline pilot (including descriptions of flying DC2's, DC3's & DC4's, flight seniority and luck)…
on “Pilots Say That the F-16-Cessna Crash Illustrates a Civil-Military Difference” ↗Earnest Gann's Fate is the Hunter is a must-read for aviation buffs which flies under the radar in discussions on the great books on flying. I worked in the business and I'd never heard of it until a hardware engineer (with WDC) told…
on “The Colgan Air disaster was a milestone in aviation safety” ↗For some of the folks here that are interested in nav, its history, human factors and the development of accurate lat long navigation, the following two books are gems: Longitude by Dava Sobel And Fate is the Hunter by Ernest Gann.
on “The Voyage of the Kon-Tiki Misled the World About Navigating the Pacific (2014)” ↗> Early aviators had some serious guts. Here, here! On this note, I must recommend Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann. It's a terrifying and honest account of his experiences in the early days of commercial aviation (Gann's narrative starts in the '30s). Wikipedia citation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate_Is_the_Hunter
on “The Wright Brothers Conquered the Skies with Data” ↗While it's about the origins of a now much changed industry, Earnest Gann's Fate is the Hunter is an astounding collection of experiences as a professional pilot during the early years of commercial flight. I ran an airline for years and my jaw hit the floor in several parts in this amazing book.…
on “Ask HN: Recommend books that give you insight into other professions” ↗A couple of comments about the article. Firstly, if you're a pilot or into aviation, definitely read Fate is the Hunter. It's awesome. You'll need to get the paper version as it's not available for an ebook AFAIK. A few folks in the article suggest 'slamming' the plane into a turn when ATC uses 'immediately'. That's really…
on “Pilots Say That the F-16-Cessna Crash Illustrates a Civil-Military Difference” ↗Many books. (Catch-22, Fate is the Hunter, To Hell and Back, Asimov's Science-Fiction Novels, etc, etc, etc.) Many people can only read a book once. I like to read books that I have enjoyed many times. Just as you eat one particular dish that…
on “Ask HN: What book/s have you read more than once?” ↗I highly recommend reading “Fate is the Hunter”. A memoir of an airline pilot from this time.
on “The world’s first modern airliner” ↗In this case, however, the problems were already recognized. What this crash did was to provide the impetus to stop arguing and finally do something effective about them. In "Fate is the Hunter", Gann lamented that the airlines had to be forced by regulation to adopt as straightforward a safety measure as the rotating beacon (flashing red light), a change that pilots of the day had to lobby…
on “The Colgan Air disaster was a milestone in aviation safety” ↗…cost alone rules out the global roll-out of safety measures. I do not dispute that the airlines have often opposed safety measures on the grounds of cost; Ernest Gann complained bitterly about it in 'Fate is the Hunter'. All I did was to point out that cost is not necessarily the deciding issue, using TCAS as an example. The fact that ICAO mandated it does not somehow invalidate it as an example; that is just how these…
CBC radio (Ideas program) did a podcast recently on Ernest K. Gann's book "Fate is the Hunter," the safety biography of an old pilot of rough and ready passenger planes from the 1930s on, who concluded at the end he hadn't been good; he'd been lucky and therefore survived when so many others hadn't.…
on “Why Can’t We Get a Handle on This Safety Thing? (1998)” ↗…shooting altitudes for known bright stars. At least three ideally five. This could include Polaris, but it doesn't need to. Source: watched some old training videos about celestial navigation after reading Fate is the Hunter a while back.
on “The 26,000-Year Astronomical Monument Hidden in Plain Sight” ↗