In aviation parlance, a readback is a verbal reply pilots provide to air traffic controllers to confirm they have correctly heard critical instructions, such as a specific heading to fly, an altitude to achieve, or a runway to cross.
Readbacks are a big part of my life as a first officer for a regional airline. As in most airline operations, first officers handle all radio communications on the ground, and we alternate flying and radio duties while airborne, depending on which pilot is actively flying that “leg” or flight.
Readbacks with air traffic control are done verbally, but it got me thinking about another kind of reading - books! And more specifically, what books could be considered essential reading for an aviation fan to pass a winter day while the Cessna is grounded or to pass a few hours on a commercial flight?
What follows is a collection of aviation books – including biographies and memoirs - that I have found tremendous joy in reading. Aviators and aviation enthusiasts alike should find plenty to enjoy here, as the list is void of technical publications. However, one book does dive into the specific art of flying and aerodynamics, but in an approachable way.
1 Fate is the Hunter
Ernest Gann’s 1961 memoir Fate is the Hunter is often cited as one of the greatest books ever written about aviation. Gann, an airline pilot for American Airlines during commercial aviation’s infancy in the 1930s through the 1950s and later a military pilot, excelled as an aviator and writer. He published several successful novels in addition to his memoir Fate is the Hunter and other works of nonfiction.
Few works describe the early days of commercial aviation, especially from the pilot’s perspective, like Fate is the Hunter. After publication, a movie was produced with the same title. It was based on the book, but so loosely that a highly disappointed Gann disassociated himself from the movie.
We know commercial aviation today as one of the safest and most regulated forms of travel, producing an enviable track record over the last few decades. But it was a different time in commercial aviation when Gann navigated the skies, dodging thunderstorms without radar or navigating cross-country in the days before the air traffic control system we know today. Replete with tales of close calls woven in a direct yet eloquently written narrative, Fate is the Hunter is a must-read.
2 The Wright Brothers
In 2015, David McCullough, known as one of the most gifted popular historians of our time, lent his impeccable research and gifted narrative voice to the subject of flight. More specifically, to the fascinating life of Orville and Wilbur Wright and their relentless pursuit of sustained, powered human flight at the dawn of the 20th century.
Most of us know we owe the gift of human flight to the Wright Brothers, but few know much beyond that. The precocious brothers were ceaseless in their curiosity and intellectual pursuits, despite a modest upbringing. We would all benefit from their tenacity. In The Wright Brothers, McCullough captures and narrates the perfect blend of detail and context on this most remarkable feat from two brothers from Ohio.
3 Lindbergh
A. Scott Berg’s Lindbergh is considered the exhaustive and definitive biography of Charles Lindbergh, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1999. In May 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York City to Paris in his single-engine Spirit of St. Louis, a transatlantic flight taking over 33 hours.
While not the first transatlantic flight, it was the first solo transatlantic flight and the first transatlantic flight between two cities, garnering instant fame for Lindbergh and launching the beginning of commercial air travel between major cities.
This part of the story is widely known; the lesser-known story is about the struggles of fame, controversy, and tragedy, all of which afflicted Lindbergh throughout his 72 years. Warning: this is by far the longest book on the list. But it is included here as it can serve as a single source; every aviator should know more about this complex and accomplished figure.
4 Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying
Wolfgang Langewiesche’s 1944 work, Stick and Rudder, is the perennial handbook on the art of flying. Do not let the publication date fool you; this work is just as relevant today and will appeal to those wanting to understand the what and why behind how pilots control an airplane.
Langewiesche, a gifted German-born aviator, instructor, and writer, describes the magic of flight in a detailed but never overly technical way, daring not to venture beyond basic science and aerodynamics in his explanations.
The book, compiled from numerous articles Langewiesche wrote for Air Facts magazine, Stick and Rudder, is a must-read guide if you desire to know and understand more about how planes work and fly.
5 Skyfaing: A Journey with a Pilot
In 2015, Mark Vanhoenacker, then a 747 pilot for British Airways (he now flies the 787 Dreamliner under the same livery), released Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot, a quasi-memoir, nonlinear look at modern flight and its accouterments.
Vanhoenacker is a rarity among professional aviators, one who can combine the technical – descriptions about barometric pressure, wind, or navigational points – with the word choice and placement of a poet, a modern-day Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Vanhoenacker highlights the romance and magic of flight, things we already know to be true but can easily forget, by finding the words to describe the indescribable. And in the rare chance that you have lost your aviation luster, Vanhoenacker’s Skyfaring will restore your love.
If you are a fan of aviation, then you likely cannot get enough of it – a common affliction among aviators and enthusiasts. But we can enjoy aviation through good books when we cannot be in the air. Hopefully, these recommendations grow your appreciation for our collective aviation history, the why and how of flight, and just how far we have come from the Fate is the Hunter to Skyfaring.
What aviation books do you love? Let us know in the comments.