Air Disasters: Dialogue from the Black Box

A thoroughly enjoyable book at the same time as being technical enough to explain in a clear manner the causes of so many seemingly incomprehensible tragedies. For myself, the chapter on the Trident crash at Staines helped lay a few ghosts to rest. I flew as a stewardess many times on Papa India and I needed to know what exactly happened. Carolyn Haward

Stewart's penchant for detail is evident throughout this seminal work. A compilation of airline accident investigation findings which run the gamut from design flaws and adverse weather, to impatient pilots, and distracted controllers. Superior in content to many books written by non-investigators, or "hired-guns" who work for lawyers, the book does not elaborate on the events which occurred after the cause was determined, or the disposition of recommendations forwarded from air safety investigators. Though this may seem an oversight, some of these recommendations are STILL being considered by-or are rejected in compliance with-the regulatory body (in the U.S., that is the FAA). Nevertheless, one can gain a valuable insight into the root causes of many air disasters.

Stewart's book looks at twelve of the most terrible and important accidents in aviation history. Chapters are included on the crash of the R-101 airship, the Trident crash of 1972, and the 1976 midair collision over Yougoslavia, among others. This book is excellent. Stewart's writing is both factually informative as well as psychologically thrilling. He takes us moment by moment through each crisis. While none of the chapters are poor by any means, I think the best covered the Trident crash of 72 and the Munich football accident of 58. Each is written in the style of great fiction, but both are wholly true! I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest remotely close to the subject. Too bad that the book is out of print.

When you read a horror novel or murder mystery, you know something horrible is going to happen. Yet you read on anyway, as it can be thrilling. Air Disasters reads easilly like a horror novel; and gives you the same thrills and chills. Stewart's intense detail and moment by moment desciption left me white knuckled and in a cold sweat at times. In addition to this it disabused me of many misconceptions that I had about the most famous crashes in the world. A great book for any aviation enthusiast!!!

Aircraft Disasters covers the major accidents in modern aviation history beginning with the R101 airship fire and ending with Boeing 747 disasters in 1985. I really appreciated the excellent balance maintained throughout the book between technical detail and readability. Each accident is expertly described with its unique features carefully brought out. The author takes pains to highlight all the relevent factors necessary to understand the reasons why a particular crash occured. An example would be the exhaustive water tank testing done at Farnborough in England on a DeHavilland Comet airframe to discover the cause (metal fatigue) of the Comet crashes in the early 1950's. Another example would be the detail description of the DC10 cargo door latching mechanism that failed and which resulted in the crash of a DC10 near Paris in 1974. I particularly appreciated the author's second by second recounting verbatim of aircraft-to-control tower communication - one really feels the situation in the cockpit in the vital seconds prior to impact. The only negative experience I had in reading this book is knowing it would end. I have read it twice and anticipate reading it again soon! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in reading about prominent air disasters in a way that extends beyond a superficial description and yet is more readable than say, an Aviation Week and Space Technology accident report.