Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am (Hardcover)

by Robert Gandt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Pan Am and its founder Juan Trippe were major players in the creation of the commercial airline industry. Pan Am, founded in 1927, was the first airline to fly across the Pacific, across the Atlantic and around the world. It was also the first U.S. airline to fly jets. Pan Am's early success in aviation allowed the company to expand into other areas such as ownership of the Intercontinental Hotel chain and the Pan Am Building in New York City. In the mid-1970s, however, Pan Am began to lose money and Trippe's successors were unable to turn the airline around. The company's last years were punctuated by attempts to find a buyer as well as the piecemeal divestiture of the company. Gandt peppers his recounting of the decline of Pan Am with anecdotes from former employees, mainly pilots. And while this is an involving account, Gandt, an aviation freelance journalist, does not provide much analysis of the root causes of Pan Am's failure, attributing its demise in 1991 to bad management and bad luck. At the end of this tale readers will likely ask themselves-as apparently did most Pan Am employees-why did Pan Am die?
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Aviation journalist and pilot Gandt interweaves the complex and interesting story of Pan Am's rise under founder and visionary Juan Trippe with American business and politics. Trippe molded Pan Am from the glory days of flying boats and the opening of Pacific routes to new piston-driven airliners and the transition to jets. In 1965 Pan Am was the world's preeminent airline, boasting 40,000 employees, 143 airliners, and over $1 billion in revenues; it was also the torchbearer for new aircraft designs. How Trippe achieved this and influenced Presidents Kennedy and Johnson reveal the workings of American business and politics. In 1968 foreign carriers increased, revenues declined, and Trippe resigned. In the Seventies a series of catastrophic accidents, increasing competition, rising fuel costs, and a strike started the downward spiral exacerbated by the 1988 Lockerbie tragedy and Chapter 11 proceedings. A fascinating commentary on aviation and American business; for public libraries.
William A. McIntyre, New Hampshire Technical Coll. Lib., Nashua
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688046150
• ISBN-13: 978-0688046156
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #359,771 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am, August 8, 2000

By	Matthias Kusch (Hamburg, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skygods, The Fall of Pan Am (Hardcover)

My Mom flew for Pan Am during the glorious 60's/beginning 70's and she was based in Berlin. As from my childhood on I was fascinated from Airlines/Aircrafts. So one day I thought that it would be nice to read more about 'the' american Airline my Mom worked for - and to learn a little bit more from the time which has passed. So I went into a bookstore and ordered this book. What shall I say - it was very impressive to read so many facts about the airline. I also questioned my mom and she told me that many things were the way as they are written in the book. The book is very easy to read (even for people that can't speak/read english that well) and written in a very interesting way. What I missed in the book is a map with all the destinations Pan Am was flying to on a regular base. It would also be interesting to know what happened to all the employees that stayed with Pan Am till the last day and so on. I can really recommend the book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-documented account of the tragic fall of Pan Am., March 24, 1999

By A Customer

Robert Gandt provides an insightful account of the fall from grace of Pan American, the 'Imperial Airline.'

The decline of Pan American Airways, from the mid-1960s to its demise in 1991, illustrates some of the best and worst elements of American capitalism, in particular, the inherent tensions between private corporations and regulatory authorities.

Sadly, no heroes emerge from Gandt's account of the internal machinations of what was once the World's Greatest Airline. Instead, the romantic spirit of Juan Trippe's adventure into global aviation was lost amidst a torrent of managerial egotism, greed and poor judgement.

Nor is any sentimentality wasted on the 'Skygods' who constituted the captains of Pan Am's skies. If Gandt is to be believed, a more egregious bunch of aviation demons would be hard to find.

While Gandt peppers the unfolding tragedy with personal insights gleaned from 27 years service with Pan Am, some "poetic licence" appears in evidence; the apparent embellishment of several historical episodes to seduce the reader doesn't wash.

In some instances, names have been changed to mask the guilty. Frequent personal references to one Rob Martinside suggest this to be Gandt's own pseudonym.

Nevertheless, 'Skygods' serves as a vivid testimony to the fickle nature of corporate adventurism. A recommended read.

MARK B MALONEY, Sydney, Australia, 24 March, 1999.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for airline pilots, February 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Skygods, The Fall of Pan Am (Hardcover)

I am a pilot for American airlines and think this is a must read for anyone in the airline industry. If you think your company couldn't fold, you need to read what happened to Pan Am.

Its also an entertaining read. I highly recommend this book.