Our classic book retelling and explaining some ninety incidents that resulted in lessons being learned, making flying so safe today. See Table of Contents below.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 LOSS OF POWER OVER WATER  

The Amelia Earhart Mystery (Howland Island, 1937)

Captain Coolly Announces No Engines Working (Jakarta, 1982)

Pilot Struggling with Hijacker Ditches off Beach (Comoros, 1996)

A330 Glides Eighty Miles Over Atlantic to an Island (Azores, 2001)

Was There Really  a Miracle on The Hudson? (NYC, 2009) 

Chapter 2 LOSS OF POWER OVER LAND

Conscientious Crew Forget How Much Fuel Left (Portland, 1978)

Miscalculation Meant Only Half the Fuel Loaded (Gimli, 1983)

TACA Deadstick Landing on Grass Levee (New Orleans, 1988)

Avianca 52 Copilot Failed to Say “Emergency” (New York, 1990)

BA 777 from Beijing Loses Thrust on Late Final (Heathrow, 2008)

Chapter 3 RUNWAY OVERRUNS 

“Safest Airline’s” 100 mph Overrun (Bangkok, 1999)

Air France A340 Overruns, Catches Fire in Gully (Toronto, 2005)

Chapter 4 MIDAIR COLLISIONS AND TCAS

Midair Collisions at Grand Canyon and New York City (1956, 1960)

PSA 182 727 Collides with Cessna (San Diego, 1978)

Worst-ever Midair Collision (New Delhi, 1996)

Two Japan Airlines Jumbos in Near Miss (Japan, 2001)

Distraught Father Assassinates Controller (Lake Constance, 2002)

Chapter 5 GROUND COLLISIONS

Worst-ever Multi-Aircraft Disaster (Tenerife, 1977)

747 Takes Off on Blocked Runway in Heavy Rain (Taipei, 2000)

UK Skyvan Pilots Unable to Follow French ATC (CDG, 2000)

Cessna Crosses Runway in Path of SAS MD-11 (Milan, 2001)

Chapter 6 CONTROL SYSTEMS COMPROMISED

DC-10 Cargo Door Opens Inflight (Windsor-Detroit, 1972)

DC-10 Cargo Door Opens Fatally Inflight (Paris, 1974)

DC-10’s Textbook Speed Seals Fate of AA191 (Chicago, 1979)

Worst-ever Single-aircraft Disaster (Japan, 1985)

Boeing 737 Rudder Quirk Took Years to Demonstrate (1991/1994)

Northwest 747 Lower Rudder Hardover (Anchorage, 2002)

DHL Airbus Maneuvered by Engine Power Alone (Baghdad, 2003)

Chapter 7 FIRE AND SMOKE

Fire in Varig 707 Toilet on Approach to Orly (Paris, 1973)

Did Captain Fatally Delay Evacuation for King? (Riyadh, 1980)

737 Stops with Fire Upwind (Manchester, UK, 1985)

737 Pilots Shut Down Wrong Engine (Kegworth, UK, 1989)

Fierce O2-fed Fire in ValuJet Cargo Hold (Everglades, 1996)

The TWA-800 Controversy (JFK Outbound, 1996)

Swissair 111 Cockpit Fire (JFK Outbound, 1998)

Fragmenting Tire Dooms Supersonic Concorde (Paris-CDG, 2000)

China Airlines 737 Catches Fire at Stand (Okinawa, 2007)

Chapter 8 PILOT ISSUES

Uptight BEA Trident Captain’s Heart Attack (Staines, 1972)

Colonel on Korean Air Cargo Flight Banks Too Far (Gatwick, 1999)

Overcontrolling Copilot Swishes off Airbus Tail (NYC, 2001)

Weary Colgan Air Pilots Gossip Before Stall (Buffalo, NY, 2009)

Chapter 9 PILOT CRASHES AIRCRAFT INTENTIONALLY?

SilkAir Flight 185 in Near-Vertical Dive (Indonesia, 1997)

Was EgyptAir Flight 990 a Matter of Revenge? (JFK Outbound, 1999)

Suicidal Germanwings Pilot Locks Out Captain (French Alps, 2015)

Chapter 10 UNCONTAINED ENGINE DISINTEGRATION

“Uncontrollable” DC-10’s Miracle Landing (Sioux City, 1989)

Masterful Handling of Stricken A380 (Singapore, 2010)

Chapter 11 METAL FATIGUE

The Hidden Flaw of the World’s First Jetliner (1952 to 1954)

Flexing Aloha 737 Lands with Passengers Exposed (Hawaii, 1988)

Chapter 12 TURBULENCE, ICE, AND WIND SHEAR

Sightseeing BOAC 707 Breaks Up (Mount Fuji, Japan, 1966)

Wind Shear, Microbursts, and Wake Turbulence (1982 and 1985)

Ice Builds Up Behind De-Icing Boots of Turboprop (Chicago, 1994)

Moment of Turbulence Results in a Death (off Japan, 1997)

Chapter 13 CONTROLLED FLIGHT INTO TERRAIN (CFIT)

Autopilot Disengages as Pilots Fiddle with Bulb (Everglades, 1972)

Pre-programmed to Hit Mount Erebus (Antarctica, 1979)

Air Inter Airbus A320 Plows into Mountain (Sainte-Odile, 1992)

757 Captain Selects Wrong Beacon, Loses Way (Cali, 1995)

757 Hits Sea as ATC Confirms Altitude 9,700 Feet (Lima, 1996)

On Taking Over the Aircraft, Captain Forgets Timer (Busan, 2002)

Chapter 14 UNIQUE CASES

Pilots Experiment and Underinflated Tires

Taxiing with Brakes on to Clear Fog (Zurich, 1963)

Air Florida Flight 90 (Potomac River, Washington DC, 1982)

Nigeria Airways Flight 2120’s Underinflated Tires (Jeddah, July 1991)

Teen Survives Two-Mile Free Fall in Just Her Seat (Peru, 1971)

Rogue Controller Deletes Data (JFK, 1979 or 1980)

747’s Terrifying 30,000-Foot Plunge (Pacific, 1985)

747 Cargo Hold Door Opens Mid-flight (Honolulu, 1989)

China Airlines and El Al 747F Engine Mounts (1991 and 1992)

In-Flight Deployment of Thrust Reversers (Lauda Air and TAM)

Captain’s Son Disengages A310 Autopilot (Russia, 1994)

Autopilot Takes Unconscious Pilots to Destination (Greece, 2005)

Chapter 15 MILITARY ACTION

Korean Airlines Flight 902 Off Course (Kola, Russia, 1978)

Korean Airlines Flight 007 Off Course (Sakhalin Island, 1983)

US Warship Downs Iranian Airliner (Persian Gulf, 1988)

MH17 777 Shot Down by SAM Missile (Ukraine, 2014)

Chapter 16 TERRORISM

Air India 747—Deadliest Bomb on a Plane (North Atlantic, 1985)

Failed Precursor to 9/11 (Marseille, 1994)

Bomb under Seat Was Trial for Bojinka Plot (Okinawa, 1994)

9/11—World Trade Center and Pentagon (USA, 2001)

Liquid Bomb Plot Changed Flying Forever (UK to US, 2006)

Chapter 17 “COMPUTERS WORK IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS”

Preening A320 Crashes at Local Air Show (Habsheim, 1988)

Indian Airlines A320 in Wrong Descent Mode (Bangalore, 1990)

In-flight Upset of Qantas QF72 A330 (off North Australia, 2008)

AF447 Pilots Turned Glitch into Disaster (South Atlantic, 2009)

By “Pull Down!” Captain Did Not Mean Pull Stick (Java Sea, 2014)

Chapter 18 SINGULAR CASES

Plane Fell from the Sky, with Pilots’ Reputation (Saginaw, 1979)

Not All Pilots Can Conduct Air Tests (Off French Med. Coast, 2008)

Landing Without Monitoring Airspeed (San Francisco, 2013)

Was Disappearance of MH370 Almost the Perfect Crime? (2014)  395