glennklein.com

                 BOOK REVIEWS OF "LUCK & TIMING"

                     Book Review By Wayman Dunlap, Editor Of Pacific Flyer Aviation Newspaper

                      Try Navigating Cross Country With A Bad Compass And A Slow Watch

                                       What It Was Like Back In The Day
 

After reading Glenn Klein's hardback book we told him he could have subtitled it: "Or, 90% Luck & 10% Timing" because of the numerous hair-raising brushes with disaster he encountered during his 65 years of flying.

He began his official lessons on Feb. 27, 1945 (although he and his brother had been unofficially practicing in a J-3 Cub) and soloed on April 4, 1945 with less than eight hours logged.  Of course, there were no radios to worry about, no complicated navigation instruments, and weather forecasting in those days wasn't quite as complex as it is today.  This is the meat of the story.  What it was like to fly around the country in a variety of simple airplanes -- Cubs, Aeronca Champs, Ercoupes -- when the best you could hope for was a tailwind (he seldom got one, he said) and clear skies.  Klein went on to earn his Commercial license and CFI ratings before eventually getting his instrument rating and began teaching, then started flying in Alaska where it was really rugged.

He even has photos he's saved from those long-ago days when just getting the airplane to start was an accomplishment, as most had to be hand-propped.  He had his share of turbulence, bad weather, uncertain instruments, periods of lostness and some true aviation adventures.  He does a yeoman's job of bringing the reader along with him and doesn't worry if he doesn't remember someone's full name or even the airplane's.  Like most of us, he has some vivid memories and some not quite so clear, but he's in his 80's now although you'd never know it from talking to him, and we asked him his motivation in writing the book.  "The short version," he said, "would be that I came to realize that I had experienced many events that could have seriously hurt or killed me, and most of the events have been connected to airplanes or aviation in some way."  He's not exactly sure how he managed to survive this long, given the adventures he relates, but something was at work in his favor, either "good luck, good timing, or the will of God."

We asked him if he thought today's students with access to GPS navigation, real time weather, and much more reliable electric start airplanes -- plus the FAA's distaste for teaching spin training -- are better or worse than those of his early days.  "Today's pilots are good at doing what they have to be good at now," he said, but he doesn't think they are better.  "Many, if not most changes, seem to me to be changes for something worse than what was in place before."  "However, I would call the flying of years ago to be truly flying the airplane," he added.  "Today's pilots are more jugglers of gauges, radios, and indicators to be managed so that they indicate what flying is supposed to be."

Having owned or flown many of the same planes that Klein flew we can sympathize, particularly when planning a cross country in a J-3 Cub or Ercoupe.  Neither he nor us (many years ago) had VOR's, GPS's or radios and our only advantage was better sectional charts.  We learned to navigate by landmarks, watching which way the cows were standing (cows always stand upwind) and how the smoke was blowing.  The wet compass was more a trend indicator than a true navigation device.  If you happen to be a modern day pilot (say, someone who learned to fly in the last 15 years or so), "Luck & Timing" will give you a true appreciation of what it was like to aviate when there were very few rules, a lot more airports, and pilots were thought of as heroes.  In some ways they truly were, and this is one hero's story of surviving everything that primitive flying could throw at him.

               Author Klein Recounts Colorful Life in Aviation in Luck & Timing

                              By S. Mark Rhodes            In Flight USA --- Aviation Newspaper

Glenn Klein's new memoir, Luck and Timing is the chronicle of a life well-lived (much of it in the air).  Klein is a photographer, a gemologist, wood worker, ham radio aficionado, and interior decorator.  He is also a commercial pilot, and Luck and Timing revolves around his many eventful years in aviation.  In Flight spoke to Klein recently as he waxed about his life - past, present, and future.

In Flight USA :  What made you decide to write the book?  Was it something you thought about for a long time?  Why now?

Klein:  After experiencing so many self caused episodes and those that I was faced with by the conditions that were present as I flew, I came to realize that I was indeed lucky to still be alive.  I had experienced a lot of good luck and good timing of events.  I truly did not think I would live to the age of 25 because I had experienced Polio (called Infantile Paralysis in those days) at age nine, and my high school years were during the World War II years.  The year 1942 was a whole year of the public hearing nothing but retreat, giving up men, equipment, and bases in the Pacific.  Then the words from radio and magazines kept us informed that we had a determined enemy, and it would be a long fight for us to win.  Those in the military and the common citizens, everyone and I do mean everyone had to make lots of concessions.  They had their life drastically changed.  The last full year of the war was a very hard struggle between our military forces and the ready - to - die Japanese military and citizens.  I only weighed about 100-110 pounds and did not want to be fighting Japs with a rifle and bayonet.  After the war I got into more flying where we considered the airplanes to be expendable.  Just go get another one if you needed to!  And so, I did many reckless things with airplanes...just like the other pilots of the day.  We threw caution to the wind.  We felt we might as well live it up while we could.  So sickness, war conditions, my being drafted into service as soon as I reached the age of 18 (after I was turned down three times when I tried to enlist at age seventeen), and flying airplanes the way that I wanted to not necessarily the way I should have, all of this brought me to the conclusion that I would have a short life span.  But finally I reached the age of 25 and decided that I might as well forget all about my age and start working towards old age.  So I got Married.  All through life I thought about starting a book about my life-threatening experiences, which were usually connected to aviation in some way.  Over the past 10 years I have been writing about what is in the book and have been collecting the material.  Over the past two to three years I have been editing the events and arranging them in some sort of order.  I wanted to get the book out while I was still alive - I am in my 80's - so that I could hear what other people thought about my philosophy that all of the events in our life come about by our individual set of good luck and good timing.

IFUSA:  How did you come up with the title for the book?  Was it your only choice?

Klein:  Coming up with the title for my book was easy because my life has proved to me that I have had fantastic luck and the events were experienced at a good time.  I checked the Barnes & Noble, Borders Books, etc., to see if there already was a book with that title.  I could not find any.  I wanted the title to be short, not seven or eight words, etc.  I put the Navion with its nose in the dirt on the cover to further catch a reader's eye.  And also, that Navion story in the book truly shows that I was very lucky through too many dumb events that I myself caused.  Why did the nose gear decide to fall off when it did?  I did not think of other book titles because years ago I figured that if I was going to write a book it would have to have this title to express what I have experienced and what my conclusions were from it all.

IFUSA:  In reviewing the events of your life did you find yourself remembering things you had forgotten?  Was this a painful process?

Klein:  My mind seems to be working overtime all of the time.  Sometimes I say I wish it would shut up for awhile so that I could get a break.  I have many hobbies and am always ready for another one.  I throw my full attention to excel in each one;  I give it my all...just to prove to myself that I can do it if I really try.  I have a pretty good mind for remembering things from the age of five or so.  I operated a drapery interiors retail shop for most of my life.  I could give you details of the customer's room a year or more after the job was completed...but I would not know her name.  Names go in one ear and out the other with me.  Remembering things was not a painful process.  I am always thinking about events that happened years ago.

IFUSA:  What has flying meant to you?  Is it one of many passions you have?  Is it your main interest?

Klein:  My brother and I were always interested in airplanes since as far back as I can remember.  If I do not include my wife and two children, I can truthfully say that airplanes, flying them, and airports have always been my love...  I love airplanes and flying them.  That is the way it has always been.  Read again the last paragraph on the last page of chapter fifteen of my book to see how I feel about aviation and my life.  

IFUSA:  Is there any challenge in flying that you have not done?  If so, do you think you might still give this a shot?

Klein:  I always have wanted to make a parachute jump under good conditions.  I used to say that I was going to do that by the time I was 55.  That birthday came and went, so I said my goal is now 65.  And 65 came and went, so now I do not make the prediction anymore.  But I still would like to make a jump with one of the modern-day
controllable parachutes.