11 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
French author and aviator — author of The Little Prince and Night Flight — who disappeared on a reconnaissance mission in 1944 — the first major literary figure to be both an aviator and a philosophical novelist.
Christina Nolan is the American mother of Christopher Nolan, a former United Airlines flight attendant whose nationality gave her son a transatlantic identity and a lifelong familiarity with global displacement.
American test pilot and World War II flying ace who became the first person to officially break the sound barrier in 1947 — and whose combination of extraordinary skill, rural West Virginia origins, and studied cool under pressure made him the archetypal American test pilot.
Ernest K. Gann's 1961 memoir of his years as a commercial airline pilot — examining accidents, close calls, and the irreducible role of chance (fate) in aviation — considered the greatest aviation memoir ever written.
American business magnate, aviation pioneer, and film producer who set multiple world air speed records, designed and built revolutionary aircraft, produced Hollywood films, and built TWA into a major airline — before OCD and agoraphobia consumed his final decades in total isolation.
American airline founded in 1926 — which was one of the largest US carriers for 80 years — before merging with Delta Air Lines in 2010 as part of the airline industry consolidation.
American inventor, photographer, and investor who funded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 — being the largest individual shareholder of IBM (whose shares he inherited) — and whose willingness to fund the Traitorous Eight made the semiconductor revolution possible.
American low-cost airline founded by Herb Kelleher in 1971 — which built the point-to-point, no-frills model that disrupted the hub-and-spoke majors — and whose employee-first culture became the most studied example of culture as competitive strategy in business.
Orville and Wilbur Wright — American bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio — who achieved the first successful powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk (December 17, 1903) — without a university education, government funding, or the resources of their better-funded competitors.
American businessman who built Las Vegas's largest hotels, controlled MGM Studios multiple times, and gave over $1B to Armenia — a self-made billionaire who started as a charter pilot.
A tribute to Herb Kelleher's management philosophy through the stories of Southwest employees — documenting the culture he created through individual examples.