( 6 reviews )
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Posted: May 27 2007
Stanley Stewart presents several stories from air incidents with a brilliantly narrative manner, keeping a fine balance between the technical and non-technical aspects of every case during each presentation. I truly enjoyed reading this book, and currently looking to order other titles by same author, simply because of the way he writes (which, to me, is compelling). Highly recommended.
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Posted: Apr 1 2007
This book is based on actual events and has a lot of details. It is very readable for an aviation fan working in non-aviation fields. That is, it has enough technical details to help understand the sequence of events, but not overly burden the reader with too much jargons. The stories are very well told, and each has a happy ending - not a single life was lost during the events described in the book.
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( 7 of 8 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 6 2005
A common cliché about flying is that "it's hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror". This book is a collection of moments of stark terror where disaster seemed inescapable. Yet, through the sheer ability, perseverance, bravery and resourcefulness of the crew, the worst was avoided and the aircraft was landed safely. Every single incident described in the book is remarkable in its own right. The viewpoint taken is that of the flight-crew, corroborated by CVR transcripts, accident reports, ground staff testimonials. Although it might seem that reading such a book would require prior knowledge on aircraft systems or aviation practices, this is not the case. Great care is taken so that the narrative is comprehensible; maps are used to show routings or the position of points of interest, be they radio beacons, waypoints or airfields; pictorials are used to aid with the comprehension of various aircraft operating systems or extreme attitudes. Read about a stewardess that survived a fall from 33,000 ft after being blown out of the aircraft following an explosive device detonation. Read about a first officer landing safely while the captain is half sucked out of the window after the windscreen shot out of its frame... Entertaining, informative, and written by an experienced airline pilot. This last bit says it all.
