Customer Reviews

Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908

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Ever wonder about not wanting to fly because you're afraid of crashing into a mountain? After browsing "Military Aviation Disasters", you won't wonder any more. This book documents dozens and dozens of military planes crashing into mountains even in the "modern" age of flight technology. One can only imagine how many more civilian aviation planes have crashed into mountains during the history of flight.

David Gero defines a "Significant Loss" as those incidents where at least 20 people lost their lives, but also includes in this volume a few other incidents that were "particularly noteworthy." You'll find military accidents from countries all over the world included.

I bought this book because I'm a fan of the Lockheed Orion P-3 aircraft, and there are three P-3 incidents described here. I found it amazing how many years the military persued the use of blimps in the early 1900s despite horrific accidents occuring on a regular basis. Also included is the 1972 crash of the airplane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team over the Andes Mountains where the survivors committed canibalism (which has been made famous by a movie).

Each incident described has the date, approximate time, location, aircraft type, and the operator of the aircraft. The text of the incident describes the weather conditions and the apparent cause of the incident (when that information has been released). Almost every two-page spread has at least one photo or diagram.

--lynellen.com

Gero has done the aviation safety community a great service by putting out this book. Students of the subject would be well advised to read it cover to cover. The most noteworthy content is the peek behind the veil at former Soviet accidents (which may have been the impetus for the writing of the book in the first place).

Where Gero falls short is in his failure to mention a number of well-documented, high-profile accidents with significant implications to public safety. For example, the June 1995 crash of a B-52 at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington made international news, but is not discussed in this book. A 2002 update of both this book and his equally readable "Air Disasters", perhaps combined in a single volume, would be welcome to both add to the current content and bring attention to the final rulings on a number of high-profile accidents that occurred in the late 1990s.