Air Disasters: Dramatic black box flight recordings
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Compelling and dramatic insights into crucial moments inside the cockpit.
Discover the most sensational air disasters of recent years. Transcripts of actual black box recordings of conversations between captains, their crew, and air traffic control on the ground reveal the final moments during which life-and-death decisions were made.
In some cases, disaster is averted; in others, the results are fatal. Every one of these real-life stories contains heroism and terror, and shows the sheer professionalism of those involved when under extreme pressure. They enable the reader to get right inside the cockpit and relive what happened, minute-by-minute, second-by-second.
• Includes Air France Flight 4590, the famous Concorde disaster in July 2000
About the Author
Malcolm MacPherson is an American author who has published various works of non-fiction, as well as novels. He is also prolific as a magazine and newspaper journalist, having been published in, amongst others, ‘Newsweek’, ‘New York’ magazine and the ‘International Herald Tribune’.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's hard to know what to say about this. In many ways I still wonder why I bought it - being able to read exactly what happened just before a plane crashes isn't something you want generally wish for, and yet I couldn't leave the shop without it.
The CVR transcripts are usually upsetting and sometimes shocking - while there are examples of hijackers and major, long-winded faults, it's the shorter ones which prove most disturbing. Everything seems to be fine, then suddenly there's a cry of "Oh ****!" and the recording ends. Thankfully the incidents are very well-explained and there is generally enough background, although I couldn't give this five stars as a couple of the incidents could have done with a bit more write-up.
Interestingly, I feel BETTER about flying having read this book. The introduction proves that air travel is far and away the safest way from A to B, and it is very reassuring to see the number of checks the crew have to carry out before take-off. Admittedly there are some really stupid 'human error/foolishness' stories here, but not enough to outweight the clear picture of an industry which understands its responsibilities.
This isn't a light read, containing not only the disasters themselves but a lot of aviation jargon( I felt pretty glad to have logged some hours on Flight Simulator in the past, as it meant I could understand some of the technical aspects). The ethics of reading this kind of thing are probably questionable as well, but I am covertly quite glad that I did. 'Enjoyable' is completely the wrong word: it will powerfully affect you in a way that no other book could ever manage.
Cautiously recommended.
The CVR transcripts are usually upsetting and sometimes shocking - while there are examples of hijackers and major, long-winded faults, it's the shorter ones which prove most disturbing. Everything seems to be fine, then suddenly there's a cry of "Oh ****!" and the recording ends. Thankfully the incidents are very well-explained and there is generally enough background, although I couldn't give this five stars as a couple of the incidents could have done with a bit more write-up.
Interestingly, I feel BETTER about flying having read this book. The introduction proves that air travel is far and away the safest way from A to B, and it is very reassuring to see the number of checks the crew have to carry out before take-off. Admittedly there are some really stupid 'human error/foolishness' stories here, but not enough to outweight the clear picture of an industry which understands its responsibilities.
This isn't a light read, containing not only the disasters themselves but a lot of aviation jargon( I felt pretty glad to have logged some hours on Flight Simulator in the past, as it meant I could understand some of the technical aspects). The ethics of reading this kind of thing are probably questionable as well, but I am covertly quite glad that I did. 'Enjoyable' is completely the wrong word: it will powerfully affect you in a way that no other book could ever manage.
Cautiously recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is too easy to just cut together some transcripts and publish the result as a book. The shallow introductions with the too short summaries of NTSB's findings at the end leave a lot to be desired.
Still, the most disheartening with this book is all the documentation of disregard for the seriousness of a pilot's profession, when passengers have paid to trust them with their lives. With all the private chit-chat going on, one often feels that these pilots do not pay attention to their work at all.
FAR (Federal Aviation Regulations) 121.542 prohibits cockpit activities not related to safe flight operation during critical phases of flight. They include: all ground operations involving taxi, takeoff, and landing, and all other flight operations below 10,000 feet except cruise flight. Activities such as eating, nonessential conversation between crewmembers or other personnel, and reading the newspaper are forbidden.
A disregard for this rule may result in examples like the following: "...The NTSB determined that the probable cause was the captain's and first officer's inadequate cockpit discipline, which resulted in an attempt to take off without flaps and slats properly configured." These rules were made already in the years of Pan American's operations back in the 1960s.
As for the case of Egypt Air, this accident has been so widely discussed from so many angles that such an abbreviated presentation makes no sense at all. Several later issues are not mentioned, and the cockpit transcription (originally in Arabic) lacks cultural explanations. It even differs substantially from the transcription published by the NTSB.
Luckily, most major accident reports can be downloaded in full from NTSB's official website for free.
Still, the most disheartening with this book is all the documentation of disregard for the seriousness of a pilot's profession, when passengers have paid to trust them with their lives. With all the private chit-chat going on, one often feels that these pilots do not pay attention to their work at all.
FAR (Federal Aviation Regulations) 121.542 prohibits cockpit activities not related to safe flight operation during critical phases of flight. They include: all ground operations involving taxi, takeoff, and landing, and all other flight operations below 10,000 feet except cruise flight. Activities such as eating, nonessential conversation between crewmembers or other personnel, and reading the newspaper are forbidden.
A disregard for this rule may result in examples like the following: "...The NTSB determined that the probable cause was the captain's and first officer's inadequate cockpit discipline, which resulted in an attempt to take off without flaps and slats properly configured." These rules were made already in the years of Pan American's operations back in the 1960s.
As for the case of Egypt Air, this accident has been so widely discussed from so many angles that such an abbreviated presentation makes no sense at all. Several later issues are not mentioned, and the cockpit transcription (originally in Arabic) lacks cultural explanations. It even differs substantially from the transcription published by the NTSB.
Luckily, most major accident reports can be downloaded in full from NTSB's official website for free.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have many air disaster books. I already owned Black Box and thought this would be a good addition. It does make interesting reading for those interested in flight deck voice recording transcripts. However, I am often left wondering what words mean and why the aeroplane crashed. I would have liked the author to have expanded on this for most chapters. It is mentioned in some cases but still leaves you wondering...
Having said that, I read the book from cover to cover in a little time at all as it is interesting reading.
Having said that, I read the book from cover to cover in a little time at all as it is interesting reading.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
would notrecommend
The book contains the transcripts plus eyewhitness descriptions of the accident. I would expect some author analysis of the situations. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dominik
Air Disasters...
I'm the type of girl that logs on to you tube a few evenings a week to watch plane crashes....maybe I DO need to get out more, however, it's a hobby and I do enjoy it. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sita
This book doesn't crash.
This book is a good read. There are many different transcripts contained and they are written as they have been taken off the black box. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Pete B
Great Read!
Very good book, plenty of information, obviously very sad in a lot of places, including Pilots last words, etc so please be prepared for this. Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by B. Williams
air disasters
This book discusses the information gleaned from 21 black boxes recovered from plane crashes during the period 1991-2006. Read more
Published on 20 April 2010 by G. I. Forbes
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