“Fate is the Hunter” should be required reading. This is Gann talking about how one of his heroes was now flying as his co-pilot because life put him at the bottom of a seniority list even though his skills and experience would have him commanding the flight.

“On an October night, aloft once again between Honolulu and the mainland, my everlasting dispute with the numbers approached sheer fury. For beside me there sat a man victimized by the numbers, else he would never have been my co-pilot. This man was Howe, whose name was nearly a legend. He was a contemporary of Sloniger's and there was in his logbook over seventeen thousand honest hours. Howe had barnstormed in Jennies, flown the mail with Lindbergh, and stayed faithfully with his devotion until at last, it seemed, he had saved enough to retire. But his business skill failed to match his flying ability. So now this veteran, returned to the only way of life in which he was a true master, was obliged to serve as my co-pilot. The most simple arithmetic argued against his flying captain again until he was a hundred years old. Because Howe had been flying when I was in knee pants, our relationship was both difficult and embarrassing. It was like an upstart peasant commanding a prince of the realm and Howe's gratitude for my respect seemed only to make matters worse”