Air Crashes and Miracle Landings: 60 Narratives: (How, When … and Most Importantly Why)
- ISBN13: 9780956072320
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Major update September 2012 with proofreader specializing in aviation.
The Colgan Air disaster was added and the Air France AF447 crash rewritten with a unique countdown timeline. These two accidents show how pilots, having become dependent on automation, may may not be able to cope with certain situations unless trained in a new way.
As before, includes Tenerife (the worst-ever multi-aircraft disaster), Japan Airlines JL123 (the worst single-aircraft disaster), the de Havilland Comet (the first jetliner), DC-10, supersonic Concorde, Kegworth air disaster (where pilots mistakenly shut down the good engine), Piché’s 80-mile glide to a safe landing on an island in the Atlantic after his fuel ran out, a mid-air collision where a father subsequently assassinated the air traffic controller he presumed was responsible, AA587 NYC, Avianca NYC, Sully’s Hudson River ditching …
The lessons from these and the other accidents narrated and analysed here helped make flying so safe today. Those lessons are applicable in medicine and many other fields.
List Price: $ 19.95
Price: $ 13.32
Find More Aviation Products
Aircraft disasters revealed,
For anyone who is interested in aircraft disasters (and who isn’t – go on admit it!) this book is a real treat. The technical level is just right, ie enough but not overwhelming. And the issue of blame is fairly and intelligently argued. It makes a fascinating read – as good as any novel! It ought to be compulsory reading for everyone in the industry! BTW, the companion volume “The Flying Dictionary” by the same author is equally good – one of the few dictionaries that make a good read in themselves!
Was this review helpful to you?
|this forest is worth a few missing trees,
When an engineered system fails, and lives are lost, it is an ethical imperative for engineers to study the causative chain of events, regardless of the type of engineering they do. In that regard, books such as Perrow’s Normal Accidents and Chiles’ Inviting Disaster are must-reads.
Despite the partially-deserved criticism from other reviewers that Air Crashes and Miracle Landings needed a closer encounter with a competent proofreader, I would include this book with the other two. It collects in one place a list of important aircraft crashes, and analyzes each one as to cause and effect. The background for each incident is faithfully recounted. While the author’s own opinion shines through in many places, in a few instances, he specifically refuses to elaborate (in my opinion, correctly) on an official air crash investigation in which the reviewers themselves were unwilling to specify cause, and provides links for the interested reader to get the full story.
Are there missing words, typos, and the occasional hideous sentence? Yes, and more than one might wish. But if your intent is to learn from air crashes and the causal sequences that inevitably precede them, then these minor annoyances will not stop you from absorbing a great deal about aircraft machinery, maintenance, metal fatigue, aerodynamics, and human-human and human-machine interactions. Fascinating stories, and well worth reading.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Flying the (Un)friendly Skies!,
If you’re thinking of flying anywhere in the near future, you probably shouldn’t pick up a copy of AIR CRASHES AND MIRACLE LANDINGS. Christopher Bartlett’s book examines and dissects 60 mid-airs, explosions, landing/take-off crashes, shootdowns, structural failures, near-misses and other mishaps that have occurred over the past 50 years.
Bartlett divides the accounts into chapters arranged by type of incident such as ‘Loss of Power Over Water,’ ‘Runway Overruns,’ ‘Ground Collisions,’ ‘Metal Fatigue & Structural Failure,’ ‘Invisible Danger – Turbulence’ and so on. Depending on the incident, Bartlett’s summaries range from two to ten pages in length. A few are illustrated with photographs, diagrams, maps, etc. I give Bartlett high marks for research, the book drawing upon official reports, books, magazine articles, newspaper articles, Internet sources and so on.
Aside from the occasional run-on sentence, I found AIR CRASHES AND MIRACLE LANDINGS an informative but ultimately saddening chronicle of aviation misadventures. I was a little surprised to see the Red Baron’s last flight included in a volume on commercial aviation but, what the heck, it’s Bartlett’s book.
Having read a number of books on aviation crashes and mishaps, I thought AIR CRASHES AND MIRACLE LANDINGS steered a pretty good course between general history and highly technical analysis. I can’t say it was entertaining but it was an interesting look at some horrendous disasters and miraculous escapes. Recommended.
*****
9/26/2012 Update.
Bartlett has published a revised, updated edition. The Colgan air crash was added and the 2009 Air France AF 447 crash rewritten. In comparing this edition to the 2010 version, it also looks like a better proofreader was employed.
Was this review helpful to you?
|