The immediate human toll of the 1994 Flight 427 disaster was staggering: all 132 people aboard died on a Pennsylvania hillside. The subsequent investigation was a maze of politics, bizarre theories, and shrouded answers. Bill Adair, an award-winning journalist, was granted special access to the five-year inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) while its investigators tried to determine if the world's most widely used commercial jet, the Boeing 737, was really safe. Their findings have had wide-ranging effects on the airline industry, pilots, and even passangers. Adair takes readers behind the scenes to show who makes decisions about airline safety—and why.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
In 1994, a Boeing 737 operated by USAir suddenly and inexplicably nosed over and went into an uncontrollable dive. In 28 seconds, some 132 people died. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators worked for five years to determine the cause. While NTSB, the FAA, Boeing, the pilots' union, and the airline pursued the engineering issues, survivors and lawyers pursued the personal need for closure, revenge, and compensation. Each party had its own agenda, and orchestrating the many voices over a lengthy and frustrating investigation was difficult. Adair, a writer for the St. Petersburg Times, closely follows the investigation as it creates and discards hundreds of theories, from bird impact to Mafia assassination. He dissects the enormously complicated investigation and ably explains the many competing issues that make aircraft disasters so difficult to bring to closure. His examination of the behind-the-scenes work that shapes airline safety policy is detailed and absorbing. Recommended for aeronautics, public policy, and journalism collections. Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Bill Adair has done it right.”—USA Today
“An informative and highly readable book, of interest to a wide public in an age when the safety of air travel is understandably on everyone’s mind.”—Wall Street Journal
“A compelling mystery in a book of first-rate journalism.”—Publishers Weekly
“Adair’s patient and sharp reporting has given birth to one of the best books in a highly sensitive category, flight safety.”—Aviation Week & Space Technology
“An informative and highly readable book, of interest to a wide public in an age when the safety of air travel is understandably on everyone’s mind.”—Wall Street Journal
“A compelling mystery in a book of first-rate journalism.”—Publishers Weekly
“Adair’s patient and sharp reporting has given birth to one of the best books in a highly sensitive category, flight safety.”—Aviation Week & Space Technology
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ideal crash investigation book,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation (Hardcover)
The idea of a book about an airline crash and the following investigation is not new. There have been plenty of books using this formula. But this one is special. Very readable. As an airline pilot who has taken (but thankfully never had to use) crash site courses the technical aspects are pitch perfect, and as a reader of tons of aviation books, the writing is engaging and accessible. Just about anybody could read, understand, and become involved in this text.The epic story of the world's most popular jet with an unknown fleeting flaw is the story. Adair avoids the clichés of the Airplane! genre, but the whole book smoothly reads like a novel. He seemed to have interviewed everybody involved in the 737 investigations. And as a professional journalist he knew how and what to ask. Balanced without preaching. It is clear the 737 was safe, but had a fatal flaw. Thanks to folks at the NTSB that never gave up, and people like Adair who track and report on the detective story, airline flying becomes even safer. If you want to know what it is really like inside a crash investigation, without the hyperbole, but with all the smells and politics, this is a super book to start with.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adair Has a Good Grasp on a Tough Subject,
This review is from: The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation (Hardcover)
I am generally skeptical of aviation accident books, but Adair's account of the USAir 427 accident is near the top of the heap. As an airline pilot who has flown (and generally disliked) the 737 among other airliners for a major US airline, I was pleased with the pains that Adair went through to be balanced in telling this story. It is generally a very accurate account of the accident sequence and investigation. Of particular note is the ability Adair has to tell the story from all points of view, particularly from the victim's family and NTSB's point of view, without giving short shrift to Boeing (despite their general arrogance). In fact, the book, if anything, goes too easy on Boeing. The mantra about how safe the plane is repeated frequently. The reader is constantly told how safe the plane is, and then is told that the NTSB says it is less safe than it's peers, which seems hard to swallow. That it has a low accident rate (but NOT the lowest, as some have incorrectly stated, by any accepted statistical methodology, i.e., accidents per departure, accidents per flight hour, etc.) seems to permeate the book without emphasizing that so do all western built airliners. At the end of the day when the NTSB does rule against the 737 rudder, it almost seems that Boeing is redesigning the rudder actuators out of the goodness of it's corporate conscience, rather than the FAA mandates, which doesn't really square with reality. (Bottom line, airlines have until 2007 to replace the faulty system with the new design, so basically you have 737s flying around with a known defect for upwards of 13 years, which is one reason I personally avoid flying on 737s unless there is absolutely no other choice available.) My hat is off to Mr. Adair. Though I may quibble with the tone of certain sections of his book, it is, nonetheless, a masterpiece. Enjoyable for professionals and laymen alike.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding recount of the accident and investigation,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation (Hardcover)
This book is a must read for any commercial aviation enthusiast. It details the investigation of USAir Flight 427 which crashed on approach into Pittsburgh in September 1994. The crash claimed the lives of 132 passengers and crew. The book humanizes the passengers and crew, the victim's families and the investigators themselves as they undertake the longest aviation investigation in aviation history. The book follows path of the investigation from the moment the passengers board the ill-fated 737-300 until the final report is released by the NTSB five years later. It documents what the victim's families went through dealing with USAir, the lawyers and the government. It reads more like a fiction novel rather than a non-fiction piece. I read the entire book in 6 hours and could not put it down. It is the best piece of work on the crash of Flight 427 I have seen, and I have read them all. I definitely recommend to anyone interested in air safety.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
