Unfriendly Skies: Revelations of a Deregulated Airline Pilot

by Captain X, Reynolds Dodson

A commercial airline pilot with more than 20 years experience, reports through the author of this book, on the state of the airline industry in the wake of deregulation. He takes the reader behind the scenes and into the cockpit to show the truth about what is really going on in the skies. He discloses information on the records of the best and worse safety records, the world's most dangerous airports, the thousands of near-misses since deregulation and details of the hundreds of disasters over the last decade. He reveals that there have been mechanics who have been threatened for reporting mechanical failures and pilots who have been censured by their superiors for having dared to suggest that their planes might not be airworthy. The inevitable result is that pilots have leaned to protect themselves by keeping quiet about suspected trouble even if it means endangering the flying public.

Genres: Aviation, Nonfiction, Travel, Business

250 pages, Hardcover

First published April 29, 1989

Reviews

[Judd Street · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Unfriendly Skies,' written by an anonymous author, is a fascinating time capsule of a book. Written in 1989, it's part collection of anecdotes of flying experiences and part musings on larger institutional factors that are reshaping the world around this pilot (e.g., deregulation, the FAA, Department of Transportation, and even feminism and political correctness).

Undoubtably, there are a number of one-off stories that work well in this volume. We're treated to periodic tales of his adventures flying through major storms and the like, which are generally engaging - if leading to some pretty serious questions of judgement about behaviours.

If this book had ended there, it would likely be a 3-4 star volume for me. Dropping to a rating of 2 takes some serious work: it requires, in my view, something to be compromised about the book in a way that could lead the reader to be less well off after reading it than before. 'Unfriendly Skies' collides with those criteria for me, mostly because of the way in which Captain X claims to analyze these broader factors involved in deregulation, etc.

Where do things go awry? Well, the first bit is a double edged sword of sorts. The book is a very unvarnished, unpolished window into this pilot's views and thoughts. It leads to all sorts of rather questionable tales - of perpetuating sexism against stewardesses (including some rather lewd and unchallenged views on hooking up with them, that are mostly contextualized with a forlorn realization that those days are now over) and of some more subtle xenophobia and racism against non-American pilots. There's also a weird, if not unexpected, bravado about military pilots being better than those coming up through commercial paths, as well as all sorts of lamenting about just how standards have fallen now that old women are allowed to be flight attendants and male pilots no longer need to be handsome. All of this is couched behind a thin veneer of plausible deniability (those days are long gone, he pleads) but are pretty easily viewed in their true colours: an old dude sad about the world changing around him, flinging casual references to liberalism and feminism in a way that doesn't /totally/ implicate him as sexist, but does enough dog whistling to get the point across.

The other problem here is the rather abysmally bad analysis of deregulation. He's opposed to all the deregulation that's reduced his quality of life, of course, but also doesn't much like regulation and red tape that slows innovation and free market awesomeness in the sector. We never get any sort of meaningful reflection of what deregulation actually did; how the Airline Deregulation Act sits alongside other forms of deregulation; of the political or social context around any of these features. This is the real source of the two-start review: if a reader picked up this book because of the subtitle alone, they'd likely end the volume less informed than when they started it with respect to airline regulations.

I feel like I'm being a little hard on Captain X here. There is value in this book, but only for the reader who reads it as akin to a set of lamenting diary entries from a pilot unhappy with the way things are changing around him. It's a marvellous little book to let you into the minds' eye of a pilot who fancies himself the embodiment of machoism and manhood, and who thinks those who follow after him will never really live up. If you can read it in that context, it's a reasonable book. But, when a book needs that many caveats... well, that's a two-star from me.

[Peter Caputo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a pilot myself, I can appreciate Captain X's courage in writing this book. Aviation continues to improve in technology, infrastructure, engineering, etc...however with the demand for travel increases every year, the system is under major gridlock in every way. This book will be relevant for years to come and I can only hope that privatization doesn't undermine one of the most amazing industries in the history of the world. Unfortunately, under the influences of business, politics, national security, the TSA, etc...flying is no longer fun like it used to be. The jobs, the support staff, and the entire foundation are being pushed to their limits. This has triggered many policies and even the Passenger Rights bill which similar to the U.S. Constitution is not being honored and the lawsuits and strikes of poorly treated passengers and staff respectively, continue to make the news. Although it may sway some who have a fear of flying to never board an airliner again, flying is still very safe and is being served by some of the most talented people in the world. Unfortunately the business assholes who run the companies, have no flying knowledge or skills, don't understand what it means to sit behind the controls of a modern airliner nor to take on the challenges of extreme weather and high traffic density airspace. All they care about are profits. Aviation was never intended to be a "business" but rather was meant to be a public service that the world depends on. Even Clinton order the American Airlines pilots to go back to work because the 900 pilots were costing the american economy of $30 billion per day. This is how important air transport is to the world. People need to be moving, cargo and mail need to be delivered, and the travel/tourism industry is fed by these guys moving metal. Unfortunately like most government bodies who also run their countries as a "business" or corporation, after seeing that the airlines are not profitable, especially at the mercy of OPEC and rising fuel costs, they have sabotaged the very lifeline of their own countries. So the government washes their hands of non profit making airlines and the entire industry is transformed...for the better and for the worse. Michael Moore also illustrates this by showing how regional pilots in the US are sharing bunks with sometimes 6 crew members, qualifying for food stamps due to poor wages, and flying so fatigued, many are actually a danger on the flight deck because their faculties are compromised. Hopefully books like this will create awareness and I pray future governments will aid air transport as an industry, get OPEC to give airlines a break on fuel costs, and make the skies friendly once again.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfriendly Skies is a candid account of the aviation business in the late 80s by a senior pilot, with some of the rough edges smoothed over by a professional writer. When the anecdotes work, they really work, with hair-raising tales of threading the needle through tornadoes in the midwest, coming into small airports hot and steep, and the snap-second judgement that stand between life and death for everybody on the plane. The authors keep it quick and avoid getting bogged down in technical jargon.

Where it doesn't quite work is in the big picture case about deregulation as the worst thing that happened to airlines. Captain X decries the end of a system that made him, with tight-knit crews, pretty blondes, and homogenized airline cultures, but the argument that deregulation was literally killing everything doesn't quite stick, aside from change bad.

Be aware that there are some hilarious outdated Boomerism about how women and non-military pilots will never make it. And of course, the book itself is more than 25 years old at this point, so everything is done differently. But one ultimate test is in the pudding, and when Captain X discusses a future of technological accidents rather than pilot error (See Air France 447), and decreasing passenger comforts with the commoditization of air travel, he's spot on. The only thing he didn't predict is 9/11. If you can take the anecdotes with a grain of salt and handle the attitude, this is a fun book.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty scary. The author explains how the deregulation of the commercial airlines has wreaked havoc for all of us, on top of the usual scary things about flying, like a hung-over pilot or a tornado materializing in front of the nose of your 727. He has a lot of edgy opinions -- for instance, he calls Gaetan Dugas' well-documented role in the spread of the AIDS virus a "calumny." I wish he had said more about what he meant by that!

[Kelsey Gower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this book is dated. Some of the predictions in the last chapter are laughably off the mark. But I appreciated learning more about how things were in the 70s and 80s. Rumor has it that Captain X was a Delta pilot who retired in 1998, and that he had passed away last year. RIP, John Crum, whether you were the author or not.

[MÉYO · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has made a permanent impression on my life! I've read it twice and I still refer to this book whenever I need a laugh! Funny and scary at the same time; this author paints are very horrifying picture of airline industry and really makes the reader turn a careful eye to an industry that remains so fascinating yet scary.

[Paceman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished this book, quite interesting however it lost a lot of its impact as it is obviously dated in many sections. The book was written 24 years ago and it shows. If you live in the year 1989 and have an interest in the airline industry it is a must read.