I’m trying to understand what it is about Fate that grabs readers and keeps them coming back.
I think what makes FITH an enduring classic to pilots is that it is every pilot's story. From the opening pages that lists the names of all the pilots he knew who died being pilots to the end when he writes "when is now.." about his decision to put away his flight bag for good.
I first read it when I was a co-pilot on turbo-props and it resonated with me. The stories of doing crap landings and the Captain just brings it all under control with a deft hand that only experience can develop. I read it twenty years later when I was a Captain on jets and his stories of being the Captain just captured the essence of Command which also struck a chord.
Now that I am in the twilight of my career I am fortunate not to be flying clapped out freighters across the Pacific but I am ruminating on the line: "Ah Howe, you of the iron face...when is when?". The last line of the book is "For me, when was now. And Howe seemed to understand."
The equipment might have changed beyond EKG's recognition but the people and the career are still the same as when he wrote the book 60 years ago. Thats why it is such a classic..