To Be a Pilot wins by its sheer presentation of what it means to be a pilot and to face often perilous situations in planes, with only one's native wits to carry the day. After reading To Be a Pilot, one thinks about flying differently, not just the small regional planes, but even the larger jumbo jets. Who is in front? What are they talking about? What kind of curve balls will be tossed them during the flight? How much are they letting us know? Most of all, how open-eyed and courageous these people are for whom being on earth just simply is not enough, for whom the clouds and the endless horizon seem to be their one allure. The author is quick witted, observant, resourceful and engaging. He has a sense of irony, world-awareness, lack of naivety, whic