Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am

For many years, I have been collecting books of airline histories. More than several are about Pan Am, once commonly referred to as America's Chosen Instrument because of its reach and influence around the world. While not strictly a history of the airline from gestation to expiration, Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am by Robert Gandt is nevertheless the best of the bunch in focusing on and explaining the slow and tortuous disappearance of this once proud and ubiquitous US-based global carrier.Of course, what goes down must also go up, especially in aviation. And Gandt also gives readers enough information about the airline's rise to appreciate its historical significance in the development of commercial aviation. By book's end, readers should feel as if they know Pan Am intimately - from the legendary founder, Juan Trippe; to Pan Am's near demise before it ever took off; to its pioneering of transoceanic travel via the flying boat; to its part in the development of revolutionary aircraft like the 707 and the 747 and the engines that powered them.The heart of the book - Pan Am's downfall - is told from the perspective of its Skygods and goddesses, the pilots who made the airline their lives. Like any success or failure, ego plays a big part. It was no different with Pan Am.Trippe manipulated and bullied people, including politicians across the globe, to make the carrier what it was, but it was hubris that brought it down, starting with his purchase of so many 747s that couldn't be filled. And after Trippe reluctantly relinquished control of Pan Am, a revolving door of CEOs was set in motion. Unfortunately, most of them had little business (or experience) running an airline, including William T. Seawell whose purchase of National Airlines (better known as "Seawell's Folly") only furthered Pan Am's descent.Then there was the government's and unions' considerable culpability in bringing down the airline. The government because of politics, its tortoise-like operation, and disregard for business; unions because of their quest for power and turf rather than concern for workers.While terrorism played a part in Pan Am's demise, it certainly can't be considered a primary cause. Nevertheless, the chapter on the 1988 Lockerbie disaster, "A Village in Scotland", is perhaps the most riveting and poignant in the book. The murder of 270 people - 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground - by Libyan terrorists, in the words of one pilot, "was the day the heart of Pan American died." Gandt's description of the emotional and physical impact is overwhelming.Skygods is a fascinating, spellbinding read that is well researched and written.

A book in three parts: [1] The birth and rise of Pan Am, [2] Pan Am in trouble [3] the fall and death of Pan Am.The first part covered the brinksmanship-like deal-making of Pan Am founder Juan Trippe and the huge influence Pan Am had on the initial development of both the Boeing 707 and the Boeing 747. Interesting to me. And uplifting. Perhaps author Robert Gandt should have expanded this section and titled the book “Skygods: The rise and fall of Pan Am” instead. But he didn’t.The other two sections detail the Pan Am slow-motion train-wreck. Economic downturns, political favoritism, Mid East oil prices, terrorism and the two military operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm all contribute to the troubles of Pan Am (and many other airlines). There is a lot of focus on Pan Am’s top leadership since their responses to these troubles (and how they raised capital to weather the tough times) would determine whether Pan Am could survive the troubles or not.There is also a lot of focus on the pilots. They are the Pan Am elite – especially the haughty senior pilots (the Skygods), who typically are guaranteed a job while the junior pilots may face the prospect of indefinitely-long furlough. Indeed, the airline pilot’s inflexible seniority system permeates their lives. And the complexities of two merging airlines trying to merge their two sets of pilots into a single seniority system caused hard feelings (and possible unemployment) for many pilots.Bottom line: The majority of the book is about the slow disintegration of Pan Am. Informative but depressing.

This book is both entertaining and educational. I learned many details about Pan Am, where I previously only knew some of the barest general stories. It is written in a style that makes this fact-laden book easy to read. Obviously, it was thoroughly researched, even to what Scripture was read at Juan Tripp's funeral. These details hold the book together and prove it was not just the author's opinion of what befell that airline, it was as if you were right there.It was also clear the author used interviews of the rank and file who were there at the time, to paint the details of the picture of Pan Am. He did not dwell on the positive or negative, but often presented both side, allowing the reader the luxury of rooting for either side, even when the ultimate outcome was known.I personally saw its Clippers of the 1930's, loaded on its troop carriers of WWII and Korea, and road its 707's and 747's on many business trips to Europe during the 1970's and 1980's. But I was busy with my own career and didn't pay much attention to the business side of Pan Am, until it was gone. Reading this book was a refreshing expose of some history I should have been paying attention to at the time.I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history, who has a love of aviation, or is just interested in big business and the details of the royalty who make it work -- or not.And a Bravo to the author!

I really enjoyed this book, where I learned a lot about Pan Am history and, in special, about the founder Juan Trippe.I removed one star relating to the crude mistake related to the Papeete 1973 crash that indicates the flight as 802 and it was 816. Yes, I'm picky about details.One point that called my attention was the contribution of the Boeing 747 on the company demise. Interesting point is that Airbus A380 made several companies make the same mistake, years after.I strongly recommend this book.

This book is wonderful if you like aviation. It combines anecdotal stories with history of PanAm. Sometimes, it reads like a thriller or mystery…a real page turner.

Very interesting about the raise and fall of PAN AM for the insiders as well for all interested in a piece of history of the 20th century.

Leider existiert diese Fluglinie seit den 1990er Jahre nicht mehr, trotzdem aber ist der Name immer noch extrem bekannt und in vielen sozialen Medien gibt es Foren, wo man sich über PanAm unterhalten kann. Dieses Buch zeigt auf, mit welchen Problemen man konfrontiert war, untersucht auch die Fehlinvestitionen und bindet den Konkurrenten TWA immer wieder mal mit ein, genau so wie Delta Air Lines, Northwest, Eastern und American Airlines. Wäre man damals schlauer vorgegangen, gäbe es die Fluglinie heute bestimmt noch. Pionier der Lüfte, würde man heute sagen. Buch ist sehr zu empfehlen.

Che dire? Topperia di libro. Ben scritto e molto interessante, difficile che chi lo compri non sia soddisfatto dell'acquisto, considerando che si tratta di un libro di nicchia. Poi se consideri che questa recensione la sto scrivendo pure in Italiano anche se il libro in inglese beh allora è proprio il TOPPE