I was most intrigued to see your post regarding Fate is the Hunter and EK Gann. I first read the book when I was a grade seven student in northern Alberta. Exuberantly, I rode along, enwebbed in the bewitching thrall of airplanes, the world of men, and the wide world of places.
Some years later when I was pushing a twin Cessna 402 through the oilpatchareas of northwestern Canada, I thought "Ernie would love this!" Piston powered unpressurized machines, with close attention being paid to obtain altitude level clearances that would tend to keep one between the layers of the latent ice forming stratus. And when that didn't quite happen, the same fuselage hammering of the ice being shed from the props. The de-icer boots - that one waxed down with Lemon Pledge while down and refueling.
Years later, but now as an airline pilot, various airline mergers nullified nearly a decade of my seniority. Ernie knew this too. And in spite of the ego crippling seniority loss, he hung on. Prostrate though we both were. His pages, like the leaves of a tree turned from vibrant expectancy, to now the autumnal colors of solace. Next, when airline bankruptcies humbled me further, I left my fold for an international airline flying out of the Middle East. Flew to the same far-off airfields that are scenes in the book. Accra, Dakar, Casablanca, Khartoum, Karachi, et al.
And lastly, when my cup was quite full, flying as a super jumbo Captain, I too elected to quit. While still running ahead of the: medical corps; the increasing and conflicting regulatory requirements; the mortal combat of airline economics; and the unrelenting study and testing required to fly a developing electronic FBW airplane and all the country variegated ATC systems and rules.
Ernie and Fate is the Hunter spanned and comforted my entire adult professional life. A seminal work. These days, as I struggle to piece together some recollections; photo mapping equitorial Africa with a Learjet, Medivac flights in and out of the Canadian high arctic, widebody jets through the third world, his pages have again been inspiring and taunting. This time with respect to structure and language. Thank you again Ernie.
I have a substantial collection of his many books, and many of his magazine articles. Plus, others that deal with him. Beyond aviation, a particularly good novel is "The Antagonists", which was re-released as "Masada" after the television mini-series starring Peter O'Toole.
I am living in YVR, and as a lifelong follower of EKG, would be very pleased to speak with you about your project.
All the best,
GF