Prelude to Afghanistan

The Ontogenesis of an Airline Pilot

This story began long ago in the back seat of a Harvard WWII trainer, and ended years later in the cockpit of an Airbus A320. In between, the author flew World War II cargo airplanes in the Arctic, crop-dusted and crashed in Idaho, flew whore-house charters to Nevada in a DC-3, DC-6s and DC-7s across the Pacific and Atlantic. He had a closet full of uniforms when, in 1966, he was hired by Pan Am The Worlds Most Experienced Airline. Twenty-three years later, the once-proud airline was on its knees. Fortune blessed him again, and he took up residence in southern France, employed as an instructor and test pilot with Airbus Industrie. This is a fictional account of some of that journey the central player, Clay Hutchinson. We see Clay: Confronting inauspicious beginnings and frequent, humbling failures. We see him crawling out of a dark hole, and setting off on a long trip, learning along the way how to become a better human being. This is a recollection of an unfinished journey during which, Clay discovers Afghanistan. And there, he grows up a little. Not entirely. Never entirely.