This fascinating story explains how aviation crashes are investigated, and what goes on behind the scenes to improve safety. It is also the untold saga of how one maverick scientist battled the bureaucracy to save lives.Federal officials hired him to prevent an anticipated bloodbath from airline deregulation. He soon introduced innovations, such as Crew Resource Management training, which dramatically reduced airline accidents. However, when he dared expose lies to Congress, offici...

NOT THEORY—FACT!A MISSLE SHOT DOWN FLIGHT 800!On July 17, 1996, minutes after take-off, TWA Flight 800 was blown out of the sky, killing all 230 people on board.What happened?It took federal investigators nearly a year and millions of tax dollars to point to a fuel tank explosion. But the investigation was riddled with questionable procedures. Was the government hiding a huge military embarrassment? Was the plane shot down by a missile?

This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies.**"a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" —**New York Times Book ReviewFrom the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legen...

The Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of a GI who served as a translator/interrogator with Psychological Operations while in Vietnam during the war. The book tells of his experiences and his thoughts on the war.

Originally published by Wm. Morrow in 1995, SKYGODS is the story of Pan American World Airways from its meteoric ascent to its plunge to extinction. Pan Am blazed the way across the world's oceans with its magnificent Clipper ships, launched the first international jet service, was the first to fly the behemoth 747, was the lead customer for America's SST and the Concorde, and was even taking reservations for the first commercial flights to the moon.SKYGODS is the true story of an A...

Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed “Skunk Works” cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The smash-hit bestseller about the world's worst air crashes and the disaster detectives who pick through the wreckage to find out why they happened - now fully revised and updated, with 30% new material.From the early tragedies of the Comet and the DC10 to the modern-day horror of the Concorde catastrophe in Paris and the mysterious loss of an Air France Airbus over the Atlantic, Faith painstakingly recreates the accidents, explains what went wrong and discusses how they can be pre...

The former launch commentator "offers a personal—and sometimes painful—look back at one of the darkest chapters in US human spaceflight" (Space.com).On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Seventy-three seconds after launch, the fiery breach of a solid motor joint caused a rupture of the propellant tanks, and a stunned nation watched as flames engulfed the craft, killing all seven crew members on ...

As with the Air France Flight 447 tragedy, much of the time air crashes are a confluence of events; a cascade of bad luck, bad decisions, inappropriate airline company policy, the failure of aviation regulators, and sometimes insufficient training, or various combinations of all five.But why?Seconds to Disaster will demonstrate that part of that bad luck is often aided by the airline industry's own endless and aggressive pursuit of bottom-line profit. It contributes to a cre...

With Capt. Picard as the role model for effective leadership, this bestselling book uses Star Trek: The Next Generation as advice guide for successful business management.The fast-changing business world of today is far different from just a few years ago. Success in today's marketplace requires new leadership techniques, new thinking, and an eye on the future...In Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation®, Wess R...

It starts with an innocent, altogether reasonable worry: What if the plane has a mechanical defect? What if I have a panic attack? Then the anxious thoughts multiply. You may know that these fears are irrational, but that doesn't slow them down. And before you know it, the risks of flying seem so great, you can't even think about getting on a plane.It's easy to keep aerophobia at bay for years by simply avoiding air travel. But amid all the lost vacations, missed opportunities for ...

Why do planes disappear or fall out of the sky? Brace for Impact traces the evolution of accident investigation and explains why flying is the safest form of travel.The history of air accidents is a harrowing one. Yet today flying is the safest mode of transportation, thanks in no small part to the work of crash detectives. Whenever a plane falls from the sky, the investigators pick through the wreckage for the clues they need to decipher what happened to ...