Skygods : The Fall of Pan Am

Robert Gandt

Retail Price: $30.00 LS Price: $25.50 You Save: $4.50 (15%) Availability: Out-of-Print Format: Hardcover, 286pp. ISBN: 1888962119 Publisher: Paladwr Press Pub. Date: 1999 Average Customer Review:

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In 1966, Pan American Airways reached the zenith of its wealth and influence. Its pilots were lords of the sky; Skygods. Under aviation pioneer Juan Trippe's autocratic control, Pan Am bought jet airliners before its competitors, and made record profits. It was the first U.S. airline to order the supersonic transport; it accepted reservations for the first service to the Moon.

Then Pan American Airways fell to earth.

In Skygods, Robert Gandt, a Pan Am pilot for 26 years, gives an inside account of the great airline's unprecedented demise. He interviewed hundreds of former Pan Am airmen and executives. He reveals how Pan Am's captains, in Navy-style uniforms, once commanded their ships like petty tyrants. They were the best and brightest in the airline industry, but there were disturbing stories of captains who allowed stewardesses to land their aircraft, flew them at the wrong altitude and in the wrong direction, and who tragically disappeared, often without a trace.

All was not well either in the Pan Am Building, the massive landmark in New York, where a succession of impulsive and short-sighted CEOs combined to preside over the demise of a great airline. Pan Am bought a domestic airline it did not need; bought aircraft if did not need, and operated half-empty airplanes on low-density routes. It sold the entire Pacific network for a bargain price and sold precious assets to meet its payrolls. And then came the Lockerbie tragedy.

This is a fascinating account of what can go wrong with a pillar of strength of the U.S. industry, when its leaders lose their sense of direction and when their star employees - the Skygods - discover that they are mere mortals.

Robert Gandt is an airline captain, screenwriter, air show pilot, and the author of five books. A former naval officer and aviator, he flew aboard six different aircraft carriers, logging more than three hundred arrested landings. During his twenty-six years as a Pan American Airways pilot, he was based in Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, and San Francisco. As a senior captain and line check pilot, he was transferred with Pan Am's Atlantic Division to Delta Air Lines in 1991. In his spare time, he races his Italian-built Siai-Marchetti fighter-trainer and, as a member of the Redhawks Aerobatic Team, has performed in air shows throughout North America. Robert Gandt's books include Season of Storms, China Clipper, Bogeys and Bandits, and Fly Low Fly Fast. He has three children and lives in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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