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MWSA Review
Flight: An Air American Pilot’s Story is a rip-roaring tale of flying throughout Southeast Asia for the CIA's clandestine airline, Air America, during the Vietnam War. Practically the complete arc of the U.S. involvement in Indochina can be seen through the author's eyes during his time with Air America, from 1964 into the early 1970s.
The descriptions of harrowing flights though poor weather, small airfields, and often under enemy fire are fast paced and very detailed. Adjectives such as "earthy" or "gritty" are too pale to describe the voracious and chaotic non-flying activities of the author and some of his dysfunctional Air America comrades. Readers who do not care for strong language, graphic sex, and excessive alcohol use should be forewarned.
The author most likely suffered the same post traumatic stress that plagued Vietnam combat troops, and he suffered some of the same tragic post-war consequences as many of those veterans. His personal journey is both illustrative and inspiring in a low-key way.Readers with an interest in the Vietnam War, clandestine services, the history of southeast Asia in the 1960s and definitely flying will enjoy this book.
Review by Terry Lloyd (May 2023)
Author's Synopsis
Neil Hansen began his aviation career as a pilot for Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa. He spent more than a decade in Southeast Asia as a captain for Air America, the CIA's airline that operated there during the Vietnam era and the 'Secret War' in Laos. Neil reveled in the risky flying that fed his adrenaline addiction. Upon returning to the States, ultimately unable to find work and unable to let go of the Air America exhilaration rush, he saw the profession he loved come to an end when his trajectory veered off course.
This historical aviation narrative incorporates the pathos of a war zone, humor, and candid insight. Neil pulls the reader directly into the cockpit, onto dirt mountaintop landing strips, into the raunchy brothels of Laos, alongside his first toddling steps into Buddhism, aboard the plane he flew out of Cambodia hours before it fell to the Khmer Rouge, down the road of self-destruction and beside him as he regains a foothold on the path to integrity.
Format(s) for review: Paper or Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 329
Word Count: 114,000