Book Description
Fascinating and factual accounts of the world’s most recent and compelling crashes

Industry insiders James Walters and Robert Sumwalt, trained aviation accident investigators and commercial airline pilots, offer expert analyses of notable and recent aircraft accidents in this eye-opening, lesson-filled case file.Culled from final reports issued by military and foreign government investigations, as well as additional research and resources, Aircraft Accident Analysis tells the final and full tales of doomed flights that stopped the world cold in their wake.

Technical accuracy and details, presented in layman’s language, help to clarify:

• Major accidents from commercial, military, and general aviation flights
• Pilot backgrounds and flight histories
• Chronology of events leading to each accident
• Description of aviation investigation process
• Insight into NTSB, military, and foreign government findings
• Resulting recommendations, requirements, and policy changes
• Preview summaries of accidents too recent for final reports are also highlighted.

Readable, authoritative, and complete, Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports is at once an important reference tool and a riveting, what-went-wrong look at air safety for everyone who flies.

Featured final and preview reports include:

U.S. Air Force, U.S Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Jessica Dubroff, Cheyenne, Wyoming
Valujet Airlines 592, Everglades, Florida
American Airlines 955, Cali, Columbia
John Denver, Pacific Grove, California
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Carrollton, Georgia
US Air 427, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TWA 800, Long Island, New York
Delta Air Lines, LaGuardia Airport, New York
John F. Kennedy, Jr., Martha’s Vineyard, MassachusettsDownload Description
Industry insiders James Walters and Robert Sumwalt, trained aviation accident investigators and commercial airline pilots, offer expert analyses of notable and recent aircraft accidents in this eye-opening, lesson-filled case file.Culled from final reports issued by military and foreign government investigations, as well as additional research and resources, Aircraft Accident Analysis tells the final and full tales of doomed flights that stopped the world cold in their wake. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great reading
I really enjoyed reading this detailed account of aviation mishaps.As a former pilot, I am fascinated with the causes of aircraft accidents.It is amazing how even the most experienced pilots can make fatal mistakes.This book on aircraft mishaps gives a very detailed account of each accident and the investigation.The pictures and graphics let you see how the accident happened and how it sometimes could have been avoided.If you like CSI, you would love this book.

More descriptive than anything.
This is a great book, if you want to expand your knowledge on Air Accidents, being a novice or professional you will enjoy it.

Ane of my favorites book of this year.

Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports
It was exactly what it stated it would be.Perfect Service.Thank you!!

Bree Whittle

Aircraft Accident Analysis
A very interesting book providing a wealth of information on some well known aircraft accidents. I was especially interested in the commercial jet aircraft accident reports.

TRAPPED IN THE MIDDLE
It is very hard to get an interesting book about aircraft accidents without, at the same time, getting "yellow" in the analysis.

Clearly, the author tried to be serious but the final result is precisely what the title says: A lot of final reports...without further analysis. It should have been interesting having a more general analysis (similar to books by Perrow or Reason) instead of being satisfied with the analysis included in every report. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Aviation Safety, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1422 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Multi-tasking: stumbling around on a hot day in a single-engine twin that should be able to fly just fine on one.(ACCIDENT PROBE)
Author: Joseph E. Burnside
Publication: Aviation Safety (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 27Issue: 7Page: 24(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
Air Disaster 1 looks at the major aviation disasters of the jet age covering 1952 to 1977, from the early Comet, 707, Caravelle and Trident days through to the era of the widebody long range jetliner.

Each chapter on each accident is a highly involved detective story in itself, one the reader lives through as if you were intimately involved with the outcome.

Air Disaster 1 begins with the incredible story of the Comet mysteries where aeronautical engineers learnt that metal structures and pressurisation were indeed a new art, and follows on to investigate the TriStar which descended into the Everglades at night while its crew fumbled about on the cockpit floor, the early problems with the DC-10's cargo door, and the horrific 747 collision at Tenerife.

Some others may come as a surprise - the fate that awaited the Caravelle whose crew used its engines to clear fog from the runway for takeoff, and the DC-9 caught in the wake turbulence of a DC-10.

Each of the 18 accidents has been carefully selected to present a different facet of the problems facing the jet age, together with the answers that were found to them - different, rarely straightforward and uncovered only as a result of lengthy, dedicated, and painstaking investigation.

Of 186 pages, Air Disaster Vol 1 makes compelling reading and is backed up with the excellent descriptive artwork, diagrams and maps of Matthew Tesch. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Nice illustrations
There are many ways to test a new invention or a modification but sometimes things are missed or not even thought of until something fails. In the case of airplanes, a failure often times results in loss of life. Air Disaster Volume 1 follows the lessons learned from various jet airplane crashes. The stories aren't overly technical but their presentation in the form of an oversized book and three column layout with a tiny font makes for difficult reading. I also found the presentation of the stories rather dry and in the process noticed a number of typographical errors.

The best and most informative part of Air Disaster is how it is illustrated. Each chapter has many charts, diagrams and photographs from the crash being discussed. There are at least three volumes in this this series but I'm not inspired enough to read further.

The bestand most riveting aircraft accident analysis series on the market!
The entire series of aircraft analysis books by Macarthur Job is the most complete and riveting account of aircraft accidents you will find anywhere. He takes you inside the cockpit and inside the minds of the pilots during some of the most harrowing circumstances imaginable. Once you start reading the books in this series, there is simply no way to put them down. If you're planning on purchasing volume 1, then go right ahead and purchase the remaining 3 volumes. They are that good. Really! Through detailed analysis of what is taking place in the cockpit, the reader feels as though he or she is actually on the flight deck, immersed in a real life or death situation. Unfortunately, the majority of incidences end in disaster, with no lives saved. This series is perfect for the professional pilot, those casually interested in aviation, or those who enjoy a good detective story. When all is said and done, Macarthur Job writes and illustrates each disaster in such incredible detail, that even the best fiction or non-fiction detective crime writers are left well behind. These are real stories about real people and real events. Nothing could surpass the suspense the reader will feel while reading these amazing books. While several of the real life stories involve mechanical problems with the aircraft, a good number involve errors made by the flight crew. Many of the flight crew errors start out as minor, insignificant incidents that snowball into terrifying scenarios that soon spiral out of control. Even pilots with tens of thousands of hours of flying time, including flight training instructors are not immune to the domino effect that can take place when a seemingly simple situation quickly turns into a Mayday doomsday scenario. These books are of great educational value to pilots, as they display in real time how important the communication is between all members of the flight crew. If all members don't work together as one complete unit, and something should go wrong, it is imperative that all members of the flight crew quickly get on the same wavelength, otherwise disaster is a real possibility. Of course, the flight crew should be working as a team at the get-go, not when disaster looms. The series includes a story of an aircraft flight crew, fatigued by being held on the ground for an extended period of time, failing to go through their pre-flight checklist. The unlucky flight-crew, failed to lower the flaps and adjust the slats for takeoff, the warning system failed, the flight attained only 37 feet of altitude, crashed and killed all those on board. This accident was due to a miscommunication between the pilot and copilot, both highly experienced, but both making a fatal mistake that should never have occurred.The added consequence of a malfunctioning warning system, sealed the fate of the crew and passengers. My only regret about the series is that it seems as though Mr. Job has retired from writing any more books in this series, but if by chance he does, I'll be the first to purchase a copy on Amazon.com.

Excellent Book, Excellent Series
It's hard to imagine that training manuals for crew members or crash investigators could be much more thorough.This book is must-reading for any serious student of airline safety.The illustrations are numerous and extremely detailed.The photographs give the reader an appropriate sense of the scale of each disaster.As someone else mentioned here, a few photos may be distressing to the unprepared, but are never distasteful.

The final chapter, covering the Tenerife 747 collision in 1977, is by far the most detailed coverage I've seen of history's worst air diaster.Job covers all the bases, ultimately attributing the disaster to a combination of independent incidents (terrorist bomb, fog, communications, etc.) and not soley to KLM captain Van Zanten's impatience to get underway.Very intelligent, even-handed coverage of each incident.

I recommend purchasing the entire series.I am not a pilot, engineer or mechanic, but I've learned an great deal about the design and operation of commercial airliners from these books.

Fascinating study of the dark side of flying
Being a flight simulator enthusiast I bought this book to improve my knowledge of jet airliners, after establishing from internet reviews that Mr Job's books on the subject of air disasters are considered to be brilliant. I was not disappointed, and have already ordered Volume 2.

I have always loved acquiring knowledge through case histories - in other words, not just reading the sometimes dry textbooks which provide general principles, but also studying specific cases that illustrate those principles graphically and dramatically, and in the wider context of real, fallible people experiencing those principles in a practical way.

Volume 1 covers the period from 1952 to 1977, the last case being the greatest air disaster in history (not counting the 9/11 tragedy) when two jumbo jets collided at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people.

Both the author and the illustrator are commercial pilots themselves, adding to the firm grasp they have on the subject and the insights they bring. However the text is never dull like some of the official disaster investigation reports on which Mr Job has drawn as sources. Being an excellent writer he is aware of the inherent drama and uses it to full effect without ever becoming sensationalist or disrespectful toward those who have lost their lives.

Nor is he vindictive or judgmental toward pilots who have shown errors in judgment. The author's approach is summarised in the introduction: "In identifying the pilots and other crew members unfortunate enough to be caught up in the outworking of these unhappy but immensely valuable learning experiences, the book seeks only to be authentic in `telling it as it was'. Indeed, in preparing the material for publication, the author and the illustrator were continually reminded that `there but for the grace of God go I'."

It is also good to see that Mr Job does not merely echo the findings of the boards of investigation, but critically evaluates those findings, as in the case of the disastrous landing of a Boeing 727 at the small Caribbean island airport of St Thomas in 1976.

The selection of accidents has been chosen carefully to highlight particular aspects of modern jet flying and its potential hazards. These are not just stupid accidents - in many cases one can understand why the crew acted the way they did and sympathise with them even though, with the easy wisdom of hindsight, they acted incorrectly. Consider, for instance, the case of the captain of the BEA Hawker Siddeley Trident who may have suffered a heart attack while ascending from London's Heathrow airport in 1972. The plane crashed soon after takeoff, killing the crew and its 112 passengers. The captain's illness probably set off a series of events resulting in the crew failing to control the plane. Like so many accidents this one, too, resulted from a combination of unfortunate factors rather than a single event.

Any criticisms? Not really. On occasion the technical detail is slightly overwhelming. Initially I was disappointed to find that the numerous and excellent illustrations and photographs are black and white, obviously to keep the price down, but I soon got used to it and the lack of colour does not really impact on one's understanding.

Would I recommend it to someone suffering from fear of flying? I'm not so sure. The 18 case histories described in the book make it clear that the airline industry in general has succeeded in achieving passenger transport safety standards unequalled in transport history. On the other hand, the subject is by its very nature rather grim. This is the dark side of flying, and I had to remind myself continually that the risk of air accidents, though always present and ready to confront the unwary pilot, is only a minute part of the immensely varied world of flying and should not be allowed to become a morbid obsessional fear.

Well-researched and well-presented; some graphic images
This volume of Air Disasters covers 18 significant jet airliner accidents that took place between 1954 and 1977. Each accident has been researched thoroughly, both by the author and the artist. Macarthur Job's descriptions of the accidents, the inquiries, and the findings are clear, while Matthew Tesch's illustrations are both technically accurate and easy to follow. I highly recommend this volume to any aviation enthusiast interested in learning more about aviation safety.

It should be noted that some of the chapters contain photographs of accident scenes. At least two photographs of the Turkish Airways accident outside of Paris are of the remains of those killed in the crash. Although these images are not at all sensational and in my opinion are totally appropriate given the horrific death toll (and the total avoidability) of this tragedy, they may not be appropriate for every reader. ... Read more

Book Description
The immediate human toll of this 1994 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Good Book, But...
The Book itself was very good and it kept my attention throughout.One of the main characters in the book, however, the husband of a victim, was made to be, in my opinion, too much a part of the story.The book often mentioned how he stayed away from the other grieving families, preferring to remain in the background, yet he seemed to have plenty to say when it came to getting his story told in this book.It was continually stated that he was not "in it for the money" (referring to the lawsuit he filed, etc), yet that seemed to be exactly what he was in it for.It was as if his wife's life was the most important one on the plane and none of the other victims mattered.There should have been other families stories in the book, along with his, or his should have been left out.His story was not really needed, and it didn't really add anything to the book.

Besides that, this was a great book and I would recommend it.It sheds a great deal of light on the complex job of the accident investigators and should give most readers a reason to doubt the so-called "cause of the day" that the news media puts out and changes with every new twist.

Well done
This is a wonderful book that reads like fiction, which is the ultimate sign of masterful non-fiction. Adair does a great job of weaving in the personalities and conflicting agendas involved in the crash investigation. The topic might sound a bit dry for the average reader, but Adair puts together an informative yet quick-paced account of what went on behind the scenes.

28 Seconds
I have always been interested in aircraft crashes, or more accurately the investigation into what caused them, thus I have read a number of books on the topic.This book is one of the better ones I have read.The author gives the reader a very enjoyable and interesting to read account of the accident and investigation.He also highlights one of the accident victims surviving spouse, which gives the reader an insight not normally covered in this type of book.I do not think the author could have covered the story in any other angel unless he would have been able to become a fly on the wall at either USAir or Boeing.

The book covers all the staples of this type of non fiction read, we have the pre-crash detail of the crew, aircraft and some passengers, the very compelling description of the crash its self and the post crash start to the investigation.No matter how many of these books I read I never get accustomed to the rather scary chance that everyday life can turn upside down in the blink of an eye.From the start of the incident to crash it took 28 seconds, the drama packed into those seconds is detailed in this book, at least from the perspective of the voice cockpit recordings.The author also does a good job of describing how a NTSB investigator conducts an investigation.The work that these people do is not well known which is too bad given the advances in safety they have been responsible for.

Probably the most under reported aspect of this crash investigation, and probably something that takes place with most accidents where the cause is not immediately known, is just how much lobbying the airline, aircraft manufacture and pilots union do to the NTSB.All three of these organizations were pushing for their versions of the story regardless of what the facts were showing them.As you can probably guess their versions of the cause all directed the blame for their respective companies or members.It left a rather bad taste in my mouth given that the goal of the NTSB is to find the cause of accidents so they can be eliminated. Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was very interesting and well written.If you enjoy this type of book then you will devour this one.It is just simply one of the best books of this type that I have ever read. If you are looking for other books of this type I would suggest "Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy & Triumph of ASA Flight 529".

A Real "What Done-It"
A detailed and inside look at the mysterious crash of a 737-300 airliner which killed everyone aboard.The investigation goes from crash day until the final report was issued about 4 years later.What is fascinating about this account is how much investigators can learn from the twisted wreakage of a major airplane crash.Each and every cause, including those which are far-fetched, are painstakingly reviewed and eliminated until there were no plausible explanation left.It was almost a fluke which finally solved the crash.The investigators themselves are interesting if not flawed characters who go about their job with different agendas.For example, the representative from the pilots union has a completely different take on the reasons for the accident than does the Boeing rep.How they finally come to the conclusion in spite of the acrimony and fighting is a testament to the truth.Airline crashes are investigated using the team method.This type of investigation is seriously questioned by the author, however, it has resulted in solving just about all (except 3 by books end), airline accidents since the NTSB was founded in the mid-60's.Be warned, however, don't read this book if you are at all squemish about flying.It is frightening indeed that so many things can happen in the air and you get a sense that most of them have yet to be discovered.A real page-turner.

Exceptionally well done. Adair covered it all!
As an avaition "fan" of more than 40-years, one of the things I've always had an interest in is why airplanes crash. Bill Adair does an admirable job of detailing all that goes into the behind the scenes "detective work" that brings the NTSB to it's "probable cause" findings. He also gives a compassionate glimpse into what friends and relatives go through after the loss of someone close in such a tragic event. The Mystery of Flight 427 is a "must read" that I could not put down. ... Read more

Book Description
How the Justice Department Framed a Journalist & His Wife. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Paranoid, moi?
The sheer size of the alleged conspiracy is what makes the author's thesis absurd and untenable. No leaks from any of the thousands that had to have been involved? Cover-ups and lies not only from bogeyman feds and Clinton admin, but lowly sailors, airport workers and public employees? I don't think so. And neither should you.

This febrile, demented garbage is all of a piece with the most paranoid conspiracy theories of the age, chiefly out of the so-called libertarian right, from Waco, to Mena airport, to Vince Foster's suicide, right through to the protocols of the elders of Zion. There is not one single solitary piece of hard evidence to back it up. All the discrepancies and confusions in the TWA 800 story resulted from the FBI and the NTSB having to share an investigation and not being used to it. And guess what. Some discrepancies might be the result of honest errors.

One irony is that, like these authors with the aluminum foil covers on their heads, the investigators originally thought it was a bomb or a missile. Only the evidence led them to realise it was not, and that the center tank exploded because it was full of inflammable vapors. It happened before, and unless the NTSB's recommendations are carried through, it will happen again.

Neither a bomb, nor an errant missile, nor angry aliens. This was an aviation industry standard crash.

I'm shocked at the media.
I felt very saddened by the state of the media in the USA. It confirmed my suspicion I had based on other news issues, that the minds of the media are owned by corporations. Any reader of this book will soon appreciate his/herlocal free press.

Altered Evidence - well worth reading
Compared to his "The Downing of TWA Flight 800", this new book by James Sanders,"Altered Evidence" provides a lot more information about the tragedy and its aftermath. There is much moreinformation concerning the "friendly fire" thesis, a considerablequantity of information concerning the legal case and trial of James andElizabeth Sanders, and relevant analysis of the author's concerns about thecurrent state of America's news media.

A reader may approach"Altered Evidence" with the question as to whether James Sandershas retreated from the "friendly fire" scenario he was advocatingin print almost three years ago. The answer to that question is clearly aloud and definitive "No!". In examining how "AlteredEvidence" approaches the "friendly fire" missile scenario,it immediately becomes apparent that the topic displays two majordivisions: evidence suggestive of an exterior hit upon TWA Flight 800 byone or more U.S. missiles, and efforts of the government to conceal thatpossibility.

In analyzing the federal reaction to the destruction of TWAflight 800, author Sanders discusses some of the strategic milestones inwhat he considers the government's concealment of the true nature of thetragedy. According to this view, the knowledge that TWA Flight 800 had beenstruck by one or more missiles was known by officials almost immediately.Another key development was the formation and execution of a investigativestrategy to allow the FBI to control the flow of TWA Flight 800-relatedinformation and to permit it to maintain a tightly controlledinvestigation. Sanders calls this technique the "crime scenescheme", and it results in a condition he calls the "sanctity ofthe crime scene facade"."Altered Evidence" explains howthose strategies were constructed and carried out.

The book examines agreat many other topics in addition to those referred to above. Forexample, there is more on the mysterious "red residue"subject...more on the dubious "canine explosives exercise"story...more on the Navy and its exotic CEC program...much more on theradar data...more on eyewitnesses to the disaster....and lots more onofficial behind-the-scenes conduct.

Chapters 17 through 41 tell the storyof the pursuit of James and Elizabeth Sanders by the FBI and theirprosecution by the Justice Department after it had become known that Jameshad acquired and tested residues which had been found by officialinvestigators in a small, well-defined, and crucial part of the TWA Flight800 reconstruction. The legal issues involved are important andinteresting, and from these pages it is not difficult to appreciate why theSanderses are appealing the convictions the government achieved againstthem. Persons who followed the trial in the media should read thesechapters carefully to survey the issues from the point of view of thedefendants before arriving at their own personal verdicts on the case.

Ithink one of the most interesting chapters in the entire book is Chapter42. It carries the title "Propaganda or Journalism?" In general,it is an energetic philippic against the American news media, which authorSanders believes has grown fat feeding at the trough of official sourcesand no longer has the ethics, heart or legs for energetic and independentinvestigative reporting. Dan Rather takes a hit as well...as does"Good Morning America"...."Dateline" (that's threenetworks already!)...the "New York Times"...and other journalistswho have echoed the official line on TWA Flight 800.

Each of theseinstances is interesting support for the Sanders view that the media is nota part of a vast and active government/communications conspiracy, but thatthe media has developed a world-view in which government spokespersons andtheir minions are given every benefit of the doubt while"outsiders" with contrary information and opinions are subjectedto mass media hostility, ridicule, or the cold shoulder.

I enjoyedreading "Altered Evidence" by James Sanders, and I think this isa very useful book. I recommend it to anyone who has any interest whateverin the TWA Flight 800 case, for the current status of the American legalsystem or of the American news media. There is disquieting information inthis book, and I am sure portions of it will spark debate among personshaving an interest in what happened on July 17, 1996.

Very important for history and free speech
I first picked up Sanders' Downing of TWAFlight 800 in 1997 in a grocery store and was astounded at the suggestion that a missile took down Flight 800 off Long Island in the summer of 1996. I then began to research theissue myself and discovered that there was classified military activity outthere, nitrates were found on debris, fist-sized holes were found in steelseat backs. The story that explosive residue found in the plane was from adog-training exercise was not true. Later, to my amazement I learned thatthe government had indicted Jim Sanders for conspiracy to remove evidencefrom a crash site. A TWA pilot, Terrell Stacey, who questioned theinvestigation and was a part of it, gave Sanders a worthless piece offabric from a seat back to have tested, since the FBI had refused to letthe investigators know the results of their test of the fabric.Sanders'testing showed chemicals which could have been from solid fuel missileexhaust, something certainly deserving of further inquiry by the NTSB. Instead the FBI indicted Sanders and his wife, who had trained most of theflight crew on the plane: they lost 18 friends.Sanders, a conservativeRepublican retired cop and accident investigator was demonized by the FBIand NTSB to the families of the victims and convicted last Spring. He wassentenced to 20 hours community service even though the Chairman of theNTSB, Jim Hall, had written a letter to Judge Seybert recommending she makean example of him. He was facing ten years in prison for essentiallyquestioning the government's version of the crash where the officialposition is that no missiles were involved. Sanders' new book, AlteredEvidence, is the story of this First Amendment case and presents muchevidence (including photos) to buttress the suggestion that a missile, andpossibly two, hit TWA Flight 800 during classified military maneuvers. Theevidence? New radar data showing a virtual flotilla of objects ten milessouth of the crash site heading into W105, a military restricted area,admission of classified activity by official documents and even former FBIhead Jim Kallstrom in a taped phone call, not to mention the 96eyewitnesses who the NTSB even admits saw something rise from the surfaceand go up toward the plane. These eyewitnesses were purposely left out,kept out, of the public NTSB hearings in Dec 1997. Many people thinkterrorists missiles were involved, but the overwhelming evidence pointstoward military activity beyond what a few terrorists in a speed boat couldpossibly do with small shoulder-fired missiles.This was a tragic accidentwhich we need to own up to and compensate the families accordingly ratherthan persecute the messengers and make a mockery of the Constitution.Everyone should read this book and decide for themselves.

This time, the Justice Department has gone too far.
A real-life X-files episode unfolds within the pages of Altered-Evidence. Investigative journalist James Sanders writes about how he AND his wife were targeted by the justice department for uncovering evidence of aseverely flawed investigation into the TWA Flight 800 tragedy. Those hecriticized reactedby prosecuting him, rather than cleaning up theiract.

The FBI illegally obtained his phone records and seized hiscomputer's hard drive. By intimidating friends and sources, while carefullymanipulating the press, the Justice Department successfully indicted ajournalist and his wife.

Altered Evidence tells this story in detail andpresents evidence the mainstream media chooses to ignore.Evidence: thenearest surface vessel to the tragedy remains "unidentified" bythe FBI; this ship did not assist in search and rescue, but steamed away at30 knots into an armada of similar targets; most (~30) of these weretraveling into a military warning zone; suspicious activity at the borderof the warning zone has not been explained by government investigators--infact it, the area was not included in the government exhibits.

This andmuch more can be found within the pages of Altered Evidence. Anyone whoenjoys and wishes to maintain the freedoms promised in the 1st Amendmentshould read this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A good answer that should continue
When someone reviews statistical information about human factors in air accidents, it is very easy to find that under the label "human factors" there are many different and heterogeneous things.

The real way to know what is the importance of human factors is an in-depth analysis of many accidents without accepting the generic "human factors" as an explanation. That is exactly what authors make with several accidents explaining beyond NTSB analysis why crew behaved in a way that, finally, drove to an accident.

The book shows a model of analysis and that is very useful for investigators or air safety experts in general. However, the application of that kind of analysis to many other accidents -all of them, if possible, instead of a few ones- should be extremely useful not only to avoid new accidents but to design new planes, new SOPs and new training models.

The conclusion we could extract is as follows: At this moment, we are not extracting all the possible knowledge from an accident. The book explains how to go further.

Breathes life into accident reports
The authors have applied insights from cognitive psychology to nineteen flight-crew-related accidents.In place of the dry narratives of accident reports, we are presented with compelling three-dimensional accounts in which pilots are routinely faced with time pressure, the need to make judgments under uncertainty, and rare but potentially lethal system failures. In examining each accident, the authors attempt to reconstruct the mindset of the pilots, and place the actions of the crew in the context of the flow of events. In contrast to other reviews of accidents, the authors avoid the phrase "the pilots should have...". Instead we are gently encouraged to understand how skilled and professional operators can come to make mistakes in circumstances that are unforgiving of error.

Through the lens of cognitive psychology, the aviation industry becomes a massive human performance laboratory, in which hapless operators are faced with situations and problems produced not by experimenters, but by the complexities of the system of which they are a part. The authors take pains to counter the common presumption that catastrophic accidents must somehow result from extreme acts of villainy or incompetence. In this book, we repeatedly see how accidents often arise from combinations of everyday problems and situations.

By the end of the book, some fascinating patterns begin to emerge. A surprising number of the accidents involved apparently simple slips and lapses. Additionally, the majority of accidents occurred on approach and landing, and most of the accident flights were running late. The failure to go-around from an un-stabilized approach is a common theme in the accident scenarios.

On a minor note, a few more illustrations and diagrams would have added some variety to the text, and more extensive quotations from cockpit voice recordings may have helped. Overall however, the book provides a useful compendium of case studies that will be of value to industry and academia.Airline training personnel in particular will find much that is useful in this book.

An excellent confluence of aviation and psychology
Out of approximately 10 million air carrier flights annually in the US, only about 50 involve a major accident. That may not sound like much, but those accidents consist of events like these: a Continental Airlines flight that landed without its landing gear deployed in Houston; an American Airlines flight that suffered loss of control at 16000 ft.; and another American Airlines flight that hit some trees while attempting to land, the culmination of a series of small, individually insignificant errors. These are some of the examples scrutinized in detail, drawn from a large population of accidents in which human error was a major factor. This book makes fascinating reading - providing pilots and aviation professionals with a new perspective on crew error, and the general public with a new way of looking at the whole aviation system and how safety issues are considered.

The authors dissect these accidents in a way that the airline industry has not attempted in great depth before. Rather than stopping at the facts and a conclusion of "crew error", they ask why highly skilled flight crews, with thousands of hours of flying experience, make mistakes and erroneous judgments with horrifying consequences. The common reaction after an accident is that the crew was not sufficiently skilled, otherwise they would not have made the error. The authors start with a different assumption: they assume that the crew was as good as any other crew that could have been chosen, and from that starting point, their illuminating analyses lead them to consider some very interesting psychological and operational factors that underlie these accidents.

To do this, the authors draw on their expertise on how the human brain works (memory systems and decision-making apparatus) and their complementary expertise on aviation and operations. The authors are all affiliated with NASA; two of the them are research psychologists, one of them was a major investigator with the primary transportation investigative arm of the government, the National Transportation & Safety Board, and all of them have extensive experience with aviation safety.

The book covers 19 accidents, devoting a chapter to each. Two additional chapters at the end provide statistics and a summary of the common themes and factors the authors uncover as contributing to these accidents, along with some prescription of possible countermeasures. When an airplane is involved in an accident, the National Transportation & Safety Board performs thorough investigations - these include interviews with the survivors, forensic evidence, the data from the black box, etc. The investigators produce a report that lays out the facts and their judgment of the causes of the accident.

The studies in this book take these reports as a starting point, and go down paths that the NTSB never ventures (their charter does not permit that). Each of the accident chapters is constructed to provide first a factual recount of the event and the NTSB conclusions. From here the authors identify the most significant events leading up to the accident, and for each event in turn, provide an analysis that mixes operational knowledge with cognitive functioning.

This is not a Michael Crichton thriller, but those familiar with aviation will easily be able to follow the details as they are stated in factual, non-judgmental manner, and will see into the deep causes of the events that led up to the final accident. Readers who are already familiar with aviation terminology will find the book easy to read (do you know what "LOFT" and "windshear" mean?). At the end, the very helpful glossary covers both aviation and cognitive psychology terms so that readers of all levels of industry expertise or interest can enjoy this useful study.

The Limits of Expertise: Rethinking Pilot Error and the Causes of Airline Accidents
It reads like a thesis but is full of great analyses beyond the "official" accident reports.Most aircraft accidents are attributed to "pilot error."Here, the authors dissect the human factors in several accidents and delve into human fallibilities and technical traps which make us all prone to error.

The value of rethinking
Air travel has become remarkably safe as a result of advances in equipment systems, operating procedures and training. Each year, flight crews deal skilfully with sub-optimal systems and unexpected situations during the course of around 17 million flights world-wide. Yet airlines operate in a highly competitive market with pressures to deliver unprecedented levels of efficiency, so it is now more important than ever to understand what makes the air transport system vulnerable to failure. Since most aviation accidents have been attributed to deficiencies in the performance of flight crews, it is particularly important to understand what makes pilots vulnerable to error.

In this outstanding and original book, the authors argue that human skill and vulnerability to error are closely linked: errors occur because flight crews are expected to perform tasks at which perfect reliability is not possible - either for humans or machines. The authors show that the presence and interaction of factors contributing to error is probabilistic rather than deterministic. Accidents are rarely caused by a single factor, but rather by the complex interaction of many factors that combine in ways driven largely by chance. The authors argue that small, random variations in the presence and timing of those factors can drastically increase the probability of pilots making errors leading to an accident.

Consequently, it is crucial to understand the nature of vulnerability to error in order to reduce that vulnerability. While it is not always possible to determine exactly why accident crews did what they did, the authors demonstrate that it is possible to understand the types of error to which pilots are vulnerable - and to understand the interplay of various factors contributing to that vulnerability. The central questions posed in this book are: why do highly skilled professional pilots make errors, with consequences that are sometimes fatal to themselves and to their passengers? And how should we understand the role of these errors in accidents in seeking to prevent future accidents? The authors apply scientific knowledge of the nature of skilled performance of humans performing complex tasks to address these questions.

The book reviews the 19 major accidents in US airline operations during the period 1991-2000 in which crew errors played a central role, as defined by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), based on the NTSB reports and associated documents. While the NTSB must determine the probable cause of each specific accident, the authors take a different approach: would other pilots be vulnerable to making the kinds of errors made by the accident crew and, if so, why? This original approach reveals factors that make all pilots vulnerable to specific types of error in certain situations. In adopting this approach, the authors challenge the assumption that, if expert pilots make errors, this is evidence of their lack of skill, vigilance or conscientiousness. Instead, the authors emphasise the interactions of subtle variations in task demands, incomplete information available to pilots, and the inherent nature of skilled performance. The authors go beyond accident investigation, therefore, to explore the common themes and `deep structure' underlying the accidents.

In addition to the stand-alone accident chapters, the authors provide a statistical summary chapter that extends an earlier study by the NTSB and that reviews accident data for a longer period (1978-2001). In the final chapter, the authors identify the main themes and implications of their study, suggesting specific ways to improve aviation safety. Many issues are raised, including the significance of crew familiarity, crew fatigue, first officer experience levels, unstabilized approaches, plan continuation bias, misleading or absent cues, and monitoring/challenging errors. The authors reframe these airline accidents as `system accidents' resulting from the lack of adequate information provided to crews, the inherent difficulties of assessing ambiguous situations, and the less than extremely conservative guidance given to pilots by the air transport industry.

Overall, this is an excellent and innovative text which reflects the authors' original approach to airline safety. The book is outstanding in its identification of common themes that run deeper than in previous analyses of aviation safety, and the final chapter contains clear, pragmatic guidance to the air transport industry and to researchers. In the final sections of the book, the authors sum up the central challenge faced by the industry in reducing vulnerability to error: pilots should be given more information, better interfaces and clearer decision-making guidance - backed up by prioritising adherence to that guidance over commercial pressures such as on-time performance.

The book will be informative for diverse readers in the air transport industry, including operational staff, researchers, safety analysts, accident investigators, designers of systems and procedures, training providers and students. Given the nature and scope of their study, the authors have focused on the US context, yet their approach could valuably be applied to other parts of the world: a comparable study for Europe, for instance, would be revealing. Their approach could also be extended to other parts of the air transport system, such as air traffic management, where the performance of skilled experts is also implicated in some airline accidents.

The main significance of this book is in its re-framing of the causes of airline accidents: the authors argue that, if we must continue to conceive of airline accidents in terms of deficiency, then that deficiency should be attributed to the overall air transport system. Such an approach can contribute to aviation safety by providing a foundation for improving equipment, training, procedures and organisational policy. In so doing, it is possible to reduce the frequency of `system accidents' and to devise adequate protection against the types of errors to which many, if not all, pilots - as well as many other experts - are vulnerable.
... Read more

Book Description
On Friday, October 9, 1998, Ron Sinzheimer left his downtown Albany law office and drove to the airport. Once there, he loaded a weekend bag, a few household items, and the family dog into the back of his single-engine Grumman Traveler airplane. He took off to join his wife for a weekend at the family vacation home on Cape Cod. The weather report had not been promising, but Sinzheimer, an experienced pilot, had flown this route many times and felt confident that he could make the two-hour flight to Provincetown despite the ominous forecast. He never arrived.

In Pilor Error, Phaedra Hise delivers a brilliant and lucid account of this true story. She follows the Coast Guards daring search-and-rescue attempt, draws insight from her own experience as a pilot, analyzes what was uncovered by the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, interviews other pilots who are all too familiar with the hazardous flying conditions off Cape Cod, and talks with friends and family members of the victim. This book reveals how even a well-trained pilot can easily slip into trouble, with one seemingly insignificant mistake leading to another and setting off a deadly chain of events. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Pretty Good
Pretty good book. The author really did a lot of research with the people who were personally involved with the accident. She also did a good job by not writing the book as a lengthend NTSB report but rather the whole process the FAA, Coast Guard, and NTSB have in place to react to a downed airplane. She gave a lot of background information also and sometimes even too much. I really didn't get why she would write about the Mayflower or the history of the Coast Guard but it was her book to write, not mine.

Did Phaedra get it wrong?
The author did a superb job in researching and documenting all the events leading up to this crash.However, as an instrument rated pilot familiar with the Provincetown approaches and similar small planes, it is apparent to me that Phaedra missed the root cause of this accident.Without revealing what Phaedra believes happened, I believe that she has overlooked the simplest explanation of all, which is that Sinzheimer never used his VOR-ILS instruments to fly the ILS-7 Provincetown approach, but instead used his much newer GPS (with moving map display) to fly an illegal "pilot improvised approach".I say this because the simplest explanation for why the primary VOR was not found tuned to the ILS-7 approach frequency is that he had never set it to that frequency in the first place.The GPS would not provide glideslope (vertical) guidance, so his logical work-around was to drop down to 100 feet and skim along the water inbound to the airport. Provincetown was a tempting spot to try this because it sits at an elevation of 8 feet above sea level and there aren't any tall obstructions anywhere near by.The problem with this technique (besides being illegal) is that flying at 100' above the water in poor visibility is very tricky.Under these weather conditions, there wouldn't be any visual references outside the cockpit with which to control the plane visually until he was less than a mile from the airport.Alternatively, flying on instruments at 100 feet above the water is theoretically possible, but I would not want to bet my life on my ability to do it.It appears to me that this is exactly what Sinzheimer did. Read the book and see what you think.

Cape Cod is not the most dangerous place to fly into
But sometimes it seems that way and for New York lawyer Ron Sinzheimer, on October 9, 1998, it was beyond dangerous, it was deadly. There aren't any more General Aviation accidents here than other parts of the country and there's nothing particularly stunning about this one so there's little reason to remember it. A man and the family dog in a single engine Grumman Traveler flying into the Cape to link up with his wife and son at their vacation home. Because I remember this accident, live nearby in Brewster, and it speaks to something of keen interest to me, my perception of the book may be quite colored and thus this "five-star" review. Nevertheless Phaedra Hise has written a compelling story that will be of interest to a much broader audience than GA pilots and people who live on the Cape.

The challenges associated with flying to and from the Cape are all to do with weather, specifically fog and haze. That means "instrument flight rules" and talking about flying as different from "visual flight rules" as night is from day. Besides the personal tragedy to the Sinzheimer family, the thrust of Hise's book is that once a pilot has lost visual reference to the horizon things very quickly begin to unwind. It takes a sharp pilot to sort out the conflict between what his senses say - "i'm turning" - and what the instruments read - wings are level. PILOTERROR is too innocuous a description for the multitude of things (mostly bad) that are taking place in such situations. Sometimes the various instruments seem to be contradicting each other and you must fight the panic that comes when your mind screams that it needs a visual reference in order to understand.

Hise could have used a famous case that everyone would have remembered in order to get across her message that instrument flight rules are a critical skill for any GA pilot. The struggle with understanding what his instruments were telling him was the same for John F Kennedy Jr when he was flying through haze on the way to Martha's Vineyard in 1999. Using his flight would have meant focusing on him rather than where the real story is - five small instrument dials, that GA pilots must be absolutely familiar with - lest we become an accident statistic or the subject of a powerfully descriptive and very well written book.

A smart read about a bad ride
In Pilot Error, Phaedra Hise masterfully recreates on the page the lone-pilot crash of Ron Sinzheimer, en route to Cape Cod from Albany on a cloud-bound Friday night. A pilot herself and a deft writer, Hise spins a taught story of the bad weather, bad luck, hubris and random events that ensnared the star lawyer in his tragic flight. At the same time she informs readers on the roles of the many professionals who make America's air traffic as remarkably safe as it is. Hise has created a moving and enlightening vignette that avoids melodrama even in the gut-wrenching scenes where Sinzheimer's wife, Marsha, slowly comes to grips with the fact that her husband is not coming home. The book ultimately makes his fate more than just another forgotten human tragedy. Hise should be commended. At the same time, Pilot Error is a read you put down only when you need to take a deep breath and whisper to yourself, "There but for the grace of God . . . ." After reading this book, those of us who ride behind the cockpit will never take our crew or air traffic controllers for granted again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Right Physics - Wrong Perp

Certainly the evidence trashes the government's "official" explanation of the cause.However, the leap to blame the US Navy is both wrong and blind to the realities of the world.

Osama binLanden declared war on the US within weeks of the downing of TWA-800.There were multiple strikes against America both before and after the loss of TWA-800.Remember the WTC first attack a few years earlier.

Back to the drawing board.

see twa800.com

Best of Its Kind
I've been aware of James Sanders for some years, but put off reading FIRST STRIKE, because the purported story of the downing of TWA 800 seemed to me too horrifying to face.Finally I began to read it -- warily at first -- butnow with something like enjoyment of its lucidity.Many books have been written about such problematic events as the JFK assassination, or whose agency, under whose administration, did more foot-dragging before 9/11, or whether the attacks on the WTC had state actors backing Al Qaeda.None of the books in that category that I have read are as comprehensive, as gap-free with regard to the data, or as careful and consistent in explaining the evidence.Another reviewer complains that the authors advance no theory to explain motivation of the people responsible.Precisely.The authors only talk about what they know.The book keeps speculation to a bare minimum.If one goes through it chapter by chapter, what is presented is courtroom-level probative.On the one side, hard data interpreted by a wide spectrum of experts.On the other side, a pattern of inconsistencies, illegalities, intimidation, confiscation of evidence, and alibis that can only convince those who are not paying attention.Sanders and his co-author have taken on the very big guns -- Sanders has suffered serious persecution though he is currently on the offense legally -- to defend the truth, to speak out for the victims, to keep their honor, to expose wrongdoing, and to defend our country's core principles.They are fighting a good fight.To read about it is both fascinating and heartening.

THE US NAVY DID IT
THE UNITED STATES NAVY DID IN FACT SHOOT DOWN TWA FLIGHT 800 BY A NAVY SHIP AND FIRED 2 MISSILES THEN THAT SHIP FLEED THE SCENE AT 30 KNOTS AND RADAR CAPTURED IT AND TO DATE THAT SHIP WAS NEVER FOUND

OVER THE DEAD THE WEB WE WEAVE...
WE WILL NEVER KNOW FULLY ,THE EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE DONE BY THE "CLINTONS" WHILE THEY WERE IN OFFICE ......THE COVER UPS ..LIES ..SCANDALS ..THE CONVENIENT DEATH'S (RON BROWN ,VINCE FOSTER)WERE JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!!! ...ALL THE INDITEMENTS THAT WERE HANDED DOWN ..THE SUBPOENA'S...HOW MANY PEOPLE FLED THE COUNTRY TO ESCAPE ANY IMPLICATION WITH THEM ..THE FORMER MEMBER OF THERE ADMINISTRATION WHO WAS CAUGHT RED HANDED STUFFING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS DOWN HIS TROUSERS IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES !!!!!..AND WHEN I READ THIS BOOK IT ALL BECOMES SO CLEAR ....WHAT A PRICE WE HAD TO PAY !!!!..THE BOOK IS A BRILLIANT ACCOUNT AND WELL WORTH THE READ ...BUT BE WARNED ....IT IS PAINFULL...

The Downing of TWA Flight 800
I found this to be a very intrigueing book, Mr. Sanders seems to have the evidence of a cover-up about Flight 800's tragic accident. If you are intrested in finding out about Flight 800 this is a very good book to read. ... Read more