A former aircraft engineer exposes the dangerous breakdown in airline safety due to lapses in maintenance and quality control. This book chronicles maintenance-related accidents –including the recent Boeing 737 MAX accidents –caused by individual, corporate, or governmental negligence and brings the industry's current state of affairs into sharp focus.The author, a former aviation engineer specializing in aircraft fault diagnosis and maintenance planning, examines how failures of the smallest of parts have brought down airliners, explaining sometimes esoteric mechanical issues for readers with no technical background. Vividly describing the terror of accidents and close calls, the author then follows the painstaking investigations to determine causes. He focuses on maintenance errors, which rank as one of the top three causes of airline accidents, and points to the factors that have led to an alarming situation-- continued reduction of licensed mechanics, the shutting down of maintenance bases in the United States, and the outsourcing of maintenance to lowballing contractors. Outsourcing has forced thousands of licensed mechanics into retirement or different careers. For those mechanics still employed in the United States, the ever-present threat to their jobs does nothing to cultivate loyalty to an employer and devotion to a task. The Federal Aviation Administration, which should be overseeing quality control, is caught in a conflicted dual role--charged with regulating safety on the one hand and assuring the fiscal stability of airlines on the other. This disturbing wakeup call for improved airline safety standards highlights the critical importance of attention to detail. Porter recommends that the numbers and job security of airline mechanics be increased and that they be vested with an authority level akin to medical professionals.

On June 12, 1972, a powerful explosion rocked American Airlines Flight 96 a mere five minutes after its takeoff from Detroit. The explosion ripped a gaping hole in the bottom of the aircraft and jammed the hydraulic controls. Miraculously, despite the damage and ensuing chaos, the pilots were able to land the plane safely. Less than two years later, on March 3, 1974, a sudden, forceful blowout tore through Turk Hava Yollari (THY) Flight 981 from Paris to London. THY Flight 981 was not as lucky as Flight 96; it crashed in a forest in France, and none of the 346 people onboard survived. What caused the mysterious explosions? How were they linked? Could they have been prevented? The Flight 981 Disaster addresses these questions and many more, offering a fascinating insiders' look at two dramatic aviation disasters.

Twenty-five years after the catastrophe, a dramatic and extraordinarily rare 360-degree view of the crash of a fully loaded jumbo jet.

On August 12, 1985, a Japan Airlines B-747 aircraft lost, shortly after take-off, part of its tail and crashed in the mountains northwest of Tokyo. Of the 524 persons on board 520 were killed, 4 survived the accident. The accident was caused by a rupture of the aft pressure bulkhead of the aircraft, and the subsequent ruptures of a part of the fuselage tail, vertical fin and hydraulic flight control systems. The rupture happened as the result of an improper repair after an accident with the aircraft in Osaka, in June 1978.

This study of the Boeing 737 airliner focuses on US Airways Flight 427, which crashed in March 1994, near Pittsburgh, killing all 132 aboard. The author relates how that crash kicked off years of painstaking research by the NTSB, the FAA, and Boeing that finally uncovered a minor, yet lethal flaw that had been designed into the aircraft.

On June 1, 1999, at 2350:44 central daylight time, American Airlines flight 1420, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82, crashed after it overran the end of runway 4R during landing at Little Rock National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas. The flight originated from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas. There were 145 persons on board. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The captain and 10 passengers were killed; 120 crewmembers and passengers received serious or minor injuries; and 24 passengers were not injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable causes were the flight crew's failure to discontinue the approach when severe thunderstorms.

"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.

On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines, Flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, was on its way from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Seattle, Washington, when suddenly the horizontal stabilizer of the plane jammed. While passengers were praying for their life, Captain Thompson and First officer Tansky tried to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles. They did not make it, the plane suddenly crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 93 people aboard. The NTSB concluded that the failure of the horizontal stabilizer was caused by insufficient maintenance. In other words the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 could have been avoided.

At the height of the Watergate scandal, Delta Flight 723 crashed into a fog-shrouded seawall at the end of Runway 4R at Logan Airport in Boston. While this incident and Watergate seemed unrelated at first, President Richard Nixon and his subordinates' actions during Watergate interfered with the ability of the National Transportation Safety Board to properly investigate the crash. It wasn't until three court cases, a federal investigation, congressional hearings, as well as a state investigation, when the true cause of the accident was exposed ten years later. This is also the story of Air Force Sergeant Leopold Chouinard and his incredible fight for survival. Chouinard survived the initial impact of the crash, only to suffer third and fourth degree burns on the majority of his body. Doctors fought against incredible odds to try and save Chouinard's life. For 134 days, Leo Chouinard defied all expectations as his doctors and nurses applied the latest advancements in burn treatments to save him from a non-survivable accident. They nearly succeeded. Through interviews with Chouinard's family, his physicians, and the NTSB's investigation, comes a story of corruption, determination, and vindication as well as the answer to what really caused that crash at Logan airport.