Second Wind of the Aerial Leviathans: Unravelling the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Most Perplexing Technological and Regulatory Transition in U.S. Commercial Airline History

Second Wind of the Aerial Leviathans is a series of true interlinking short stories and historical overviews focusing on a strange aeronautical era. They will help the reader unravel a confusing 30-year transitional time in U.S. airline history that started during the 1960s. This era was characterized by a glut of complicated, low-time, and cheap, large piston/propeller airliners (or “propliners”). These mechanical castoffs flooded the second-hand air transportation markets as the major airlines converted to jet technology almost overnight. The unintended consequence was a stampede of inexperienced wannabes that appeared out of the woodwork who were often willing to break the law for any opportunities to start their own airlines using these plentiful obsolete heavy aircraft for “no money down”. Unfortunately, this caused an unparalleled era of disastrous air transport crashes that is likely to never be repeated. Yes, several highly experienced, legitimate operators of these old propliners were also flying passengers and freight during that era. However, such by-the-book operators faced severe regulatory hurdles that made it nearly impossible to stay in business much less expand, and where federal regulatory loopholes allowed the less-than-legitimate air renegades—and their deplorable safety records—to thrive and grow virtually unregulated. These interlinking stories feature the author’s eyewitness accounts, focusing on the unending drama and legacies of legitimate St. Louis, Missouri-based operator Mark Aero, Inc. and its successor airlines—and the author’s exploits that resulted. The reader will witness the great successes and overwhelming frustrations borne by Mark Aero and its sometimes out-of-control proprietors, founder Joe Morris and son Mark, the latter of whom shares his side of the story in “living color”. Out of their frustrations, we will see the major contributions these two made to rebuild the entire airline industry for the better. Read more