How to Hotwire an Airplane
Henry Rausch
Independently Published (2025)
ISBN: 979-8314353783
Reviewed by Jill Rey for Reader Views (10/2025)
How to Hotwire an Airplane begins by depicting a man struggling. Standing at the counter of a mechanical retailer, pilot Hiram Bleeker plucks the card of a budding entrepreneur who excels at the horizontal. With another night of contemplating using his firearm to end his life, he receives a call to transport a rescue dog in his airplane. That’s how we come to be intimately acquainted with Hiram, as his bloodied hand is in the jaws of Cujo, forcing him to attempt a one-handed landing.
As readers begin to understand Hiram’s motivations and Vietnam past, his PTSD and loss of purpose become evident. Yet, it’s an unlikely dog run that sets his life back on course in the most unexpected way possible. As the pages of this provocative read unfold, readers begin to see Hiram through a new lens. Using his plane to fly immigrants across the border, we are shown a humanizing view of the stereotypes placed upon many at border crossings. From humans in cages to children ripped from their families, what begins with Hiram transporting dogs soon gives him a greater purpose.
Transporting from Mexico to Southern California, Texas, and back, Hiram’s rickety plane is put to the test as he becomes acquainted with those he transports. Despite differing greatly from Hiram himself, many have a story, a hard work ethic, and a desire to be seen for the people they are.
In giving himself to others, Hiram sets himself free. How to Hotwire an Airplane shows an intimate portrait of daily life at the border, along the hostile plains of Texas geography, and the laboring hard work of feeding a family. This read spans pre- and post-9/11 air traffic as the country continues to grapple with immigration.
Author Henry Rausch paints a delicate portrait of life, and the power of redemption. Beginning as a man with a love for dogs, How to Hotwire an Airplane weaves this ordinary pilot into a life of doing the right thing. What starts off as a dusty, depressing, and aimless man is turned into a visionary work of fiction as Rausch places pen to the page and opens readers’ eyes to the realities of the border.