The Problem with Pilots: How Physicians, Engineers, and Airpower Enthusiasts Redefined Flight

An illuminating look at how human vulnerability led to advances in aviation technology.

As aircraft flew higher, faster, and farther in the early days of flight, pilots were exposed as vulnerable, inefficient, and dangerous. They asphyxiated or got the bends at high altitudes; they fainted during high-G maneuvers; they spiraled to the ground after encountering clouds or fog. Their capacity to commit fatal errors seemed boundless. The Problem with Pilots tells the story of how, in the years b...