Wind, Sand and Stars

Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry is without a
doubt essential reading for any of us pilots or aviation enthusiasts that are philosophical and deep thinkers about flying and the air. At first I was bored with the book...the stream of consciousness style was a bit much for me after all of the biographies I've been reading of WWII pilots. But luckily, I somehow stuck with the book and was richly rewarded for my effort. I especially appreciated how he loves his airplanes...I thought I was the only pilot ever that would lightly touch the wings of my airplane when I thought nobody else was looking before a flight...of course he puts it better than I do: "I walked around my ship, stroking her wings with the back of my hand in a caress that I believe was love." And then describing the cockpit: "magical instruments set like jewels in their panel and glimmering like a constellation in the dark of the night." How often I have sat in one of my planes on a bad weather day, just looking at the instruments. But, when I actually am flying, Exupéry sometimes is with me...but only when the winds kick up and make me nervous, then I remember his vivid, life and death, description of fighting a horrendous wind storm in the Andes, then I take a deep breath, relax and concentrate ...my co-pilot in my mind.
Flying is really about friendship and Exupéry writes of the joy of being reunited with friends, especially those friends with whom we have experienced a trial or ordeal. I certainly have made a lot of new friends and connections with people that share my passion for flying and that has been one of the nicest surprises on this journey of getting my pilot's license.
Flying is also love and desire, but not just the love of the airplane....sometimes it is a desire that eludes such as a woman that scorches and wounds a man "by the indifference of that stroll she takes through their dream", but not all women elude and my absolute favorite small piece of literary technique is on p. 123 when his wife suddenly comes to life and breaks in with one line of dialogue. Sadly Exupéry was killed in WWII in 1944 and I wonder about his wife anytime I think of his death, especially after he lived through the ordeal of a crash landing years earlier in the Sahara desert; a similar experience to the Lady be Good crew, but luckily and only by luck, he survived. So really in the end it is more a book about love than flying, but flying to him was also love.