"A richly detailed story that is equal parts heartbreaking, inspiring…and full of fascinating science…masterful." —San Francisco Chronicle As hundreds of rescue workers waited on the ground, United Airlines Flight 232 wallowed drunkenly over the bluffs northwest of Sioux City. The plane slammed onto the runway and burst into a vast fireball. The rescuers didn't move at first: nobody could possibly survive that crash. And then people began emerging from the summer corn that lined the runways. Miraculously, 184 of 296 passengers lived. No one has ever attempted the complete reconstruction of a crash of this magnitude. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of survivors, crew, and airport and rescue personnel, Laurence Gonzales, a commercial pilot himself, captures, minute by minute, the harrowing journey of pilots flying a plane with no controls and flight attendants keeping their calm in the face of certain death. He plumbs the hearts and minds of passengers as they pray, bargain with God, plot their strategies for survival, and sacrifice themselves to save others. Ultimately he takes us, step by step, through the gripping scientific detective work in super-secret labs to dive into the heart of a flaw smaller than a grain of rice that shows what brought the aircraft down. An unforgettable drama of the triumph of heroism over tragedy and human ingenuity over technological breakdown, Flight 232 is a masterpiece in the tradition of the greatest aviation stories ever told.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 A woman named Martha Conant was on a plane when it exploded, killing all on board. She survived by chance, as did everyone else. The pilots and flight attendants were heroes. #2 A woman named Martha Conant was on a plane when it exploded, killing all on board. She survived by chance, as did everyone else. The pilots and flight attendants were heroes. #3 A woman named Martha Conant was on a plane when it exploded, killing all on board. She survived by chance, as did everyone else. The pilots and flight attendants were heroes. #4 A woman named Martha Conant was on a plane when it exploded, killing all on board. She survived by chance, as did everyone else. The pilots and flight attendants were heroes.

This is the story of the United Airlines Flight 232 disaster as told by Jerry Schemmel, including his struggle with the death of his best friend (in the crash) and with the rest of the aftermath of the tragedy, and the meaning he has found for his life as a survivor of the crash.

All technologies differ from one another. They are as varied as humanity's interaction with the physical world. Even people attempting to do the same thing produce multiple technologies. For example, John H. White discovered more than l 1000 patents in the 19th century for locomotive smokestacks. Yet all technologies are processes by which humans seek to control their physical environment and bend nature to their purposes. All technologies are alike. The tension between likeness and difference runs through this collection of papers. All focus on atmospheric flight, a twentieth-century phenomenon. But they approach the topic from different disciplinary perspectives. They ask disparate questions. And they work from distinct agendas. Collectively they help to explain what is different about aviation - how it differs from other technologies and how flight itself has varied from one time and place to another. The importance of this topic is manifest. Flight is one of the defining technologies of the twentieth century. Jay David Bolter argues in Turing's Man that certain technologies in certain ages have had the power not only to transform society but also to shape the way in which people understand their relationship with the physical world. "A defining technology," says Bolter, "resembles a magnifying glass, which collects and focuses seemingly disparate ideas in a culture into one bright, sometimes piercing ray." 2 Flight has done that for the twentieth century.

On July 19, 1989, an United Airlines' DC-10-10, on its way from Denver to Chicago, experienced a catastrophic failure of the No. 2 tail-mounted engine during cruise flight. The airplane subsequently crashed during an attempted landing at Sioux Gateway Airport, Iowa. Of the 296 people on board 111 were killed.

"When a pilots sends a "mayday" message, it means there is serious trouble. Discover the fascinating, true tales of Sully Sullenberger, the passengers of United Airlines Flight 232, and other survivors who experienced terrifying airplane disasters and made it out alive." --

Margo Siple was a passenger in seat 19C on the infamous flight of United Airlines Flight 232, flying from Denver to Chicago on July 19, 1989. One hour and seven minutes into the flight, the number 2 engine on the DC-10 exploded, causing complete hydraulic failure. Hydraulics in an aircraft is like the blood in your body--it is essential to have in order to stay alive and function. After forty minutes of trying to fly an uncontrollable jumbo jet, using just manual engine thrust, the cockpit crew maneuvered the aircraft to within inches of a possible landing in Sioux City, Iowa. It was not to be. At the last minute, the plane slammed into the runway, then cartwheeling, as it was engulfed in flames, it seemed to explode with large pieces of the aircraft breaking off and being strewn along the runway. The cockpit and the tail section of the aircraft had completely separated from the main fuselage, while part of the main fuselage continued to tumble and travel at least 3/4 mile before coming to a stop upside down in the cornfield. With 296 souls on board, which included the flight crew, Margo was one of a very few who survived the crash without a scratch on her, while others were horribly injured or perished. Passenger 19C is the story of Margo Siple's experience on the crippled aircraft, her survival, and the aftermath that changed her life, as well as other significant events that happened to her before and after the airline crash in which the adversity she faced challenged her and her faith numerous times. It is a book about surviving the multitude of adversities that we are all faced with during our lives so that we can apply our life lessons to each and every day that we are blessed with. There was no other person in Margo's shoes on Flight 232, in seat 19C, just as there is no other person in the world that can tell your personal story. We are all significant and unique. 158