The Little Black Bag

© Hal Stoen

October, 2002

As I flew through the Friendly Skies, I formed a theory about pilots and fate. I've been a long-time fan of Ernest K. Gann, author of many aviation works including "The High And The Mighty", and "Fate Is The Hunter". It was the latter title that kept rattling around in my brain- fate is the hunter, especially when it comes to the field of aviation and driving airplanes. As you grind along through the endless skies the mind has a lot of time- time to come up with theories about life in general, and life in the world of aviation.

Here's my theory.

Every pilot, after he receives his license to drive airplanes is issued a little black bag. This bag is in addition to the one that we all receive at the beginning of life itself. In that bag is the amount of luck that you will have during your flying career. You cannot look inside, nor can you perceive the quantity by "feel". It's just your bag, and you have no choice. By "fate" (my acknowledgment to Mr. Gaan), some pilots get more in their bag than others- there is no rhyme or reason to this, that's just the way it is. As you go along flying airplanes, you draw down from this bag. Some draw down until they quit driving airplanes and leave the bag behind them- a relic of their career in the field. Others "bottom out" before they know that their time has come.

Sometimes incredibly talented and experienced pilots do really dumb things. Sometimes the aircraft that they are driving do incredibly bad things. This is fate. This is when the contents of the "little black bag" come into play.

The older that I get, the more I think that this may be true.

Hal Stoen

October, 2002

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