Air Transportation Safety Resources Chapter 1

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EAL DC-8 photographed from a TWA Boeing 707-131B at PHL (photo by Ralph C. Madden, Jr.)

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1. Reference Works

1. Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents: Worldwide Operations, 1959-2005. Renton, WA: Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, 2006. 26 pages. Online at: http://www.boeing.com/news/techissues/

2. Bordoni, Antonio. Airlife’s Register of Aircraft Accidents: Facts, Statistics and Analysis of Civil Accidents Since 1951. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife, 1997. 256 pages.

3. Civil Aviation Authority (Great Britain). Wind Shear and Flight Safety: A Select Bibliography (CAA Paper 86003). London: Civil Aviation Authority, 1986. 36 pages. Lists sources concerning wind shear and its hazards to aviation.

4. Civil Aviation Authority (Great Britain). World Airline Accident Summary (CAP 479). 2 vols. London: Civil Aviation Authority, 1946-date. Currently published by Airclaims, Ltd. Comprehensive listing of airline accidents and incidents from 1946. Updated quarterly. Lists airline, aircraft type, date, place, brief summary, and probable cause for each accident or incident. These volumes are a necessity for any serious aviation safety researcher. Comprehensively indexed by accident/incident type and by type of aircraft involved. Not indexed by airline involved. In two binders. Volume I is not revised and contains the accidents which occurred from 1946 through 1975. Volume II is revised quarterly and it contains the accidents which occurred from 1976 to the present. Volume II also contains the World Helicopter Accident Summary. The chronology lists the particulars of each accident and its probable cause. A CD-ROM version was issued in 2002 that covers accidents occurring between 1990 and mid-2002. Most of the other chronologies that are as comprehensive in scope as the CAA’s contain much shorter descriptions. Several good chronologies have been published in addition to the aforementioned World Airline Accident Summary Boeing produces a regularly revised chronology Statistical summary of commercial jet airplane accidents: worldwide operations, 1959-2001 (Boeing, 2002) that is much more succinct than the WAAS, but Boeing’s chronology contains statistical analyses that are omitted from the WAAS.

5. Collins, William E., and Michael E. Wayda. Index to FAA Office of Aviation Medicine Reports: 1961 through 2004. Oklahoma City, OK: FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute, 2005. 85 pages. Report # DOT/FAA/AM-05/1. Lists over 700 reports by chronological index, author index, and subject index. Available online: http://www.faa.gov/library/reports/medical/oamtechreports/2000s/media/introduct.pdf

6. Denham, Terry. World Directory of Airliner Crashes: A Comprehensive Record of More Than 10,000 Passenger Aircraft Accidents. Somerset, England: Patrick Stephens, Ltd., 1996. 320 pages.

7. Ferry, Ted S., and Charles J. DuPont. Multidisciplinary References for Aircraft Accident Investigators. Arlington, VA: Flight Safety Foundation, 1975. 102 pages. This publication is still available in photocopied form from the Flight Safety Foundation. Un-annotated and dated bibliography concerning accident investigation and its peripheral fields. Includes extensive references to Flight Safety Foundation publications. No index. Entries are not numbered. Entries arranged by subject classification scheme.

8. Fordham Health Sciences Library, Wright State University. Ross A. McFarland Collection in Aerospace Medicine and Human Factors Engineering. 2 vols. Dayton, OH: Fordham Health Sciences Library, 1987. Ross A. McFarland authored two early and monumental books concerning human factors in aviation: Human Factors in Air Transport Design and Human Factors in Air Transportation.

9. Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Airliner Crashes since 1950. 4^th ed. UK: Sutton., 2006. 320 pages. A chronology of more than 230 major air disasters which occurred worldwide since 1950. It contains 16 color and 180 black and white photographs and illustrations It also is an excellent reference work containing many rare photographs. It includes only airline disasters which involved more than 50 fatalities. This is a shortcoming because many substantial lessons have been learned in accidents involving fewer fatalities. For example, only one of the two fatal Lockheed L-188 Electra crashes that were attributed to the “whirl-mode” phenomenon (see also: Robert Serling, The Electra Story ) made it into the book. Both of the early Comet disasters which were caused by fuselage skin fatigue and resulting explosive cabin decompression are omitted. Also, the Northwest B-720B which suffered a jet upset and resulting structural failure in an area of thunderstorm activity west of Miami, Florida in 1963 is also omitted. However, the book is well-worth its purchase price and it includes a summary of each accident, including the probable cause, a list of publications consulted, a brief glossary, and an index which the entries are by aircraft type.

10. Gero, David. Flights of Terror: Aerial Hijack and Sabotage since 1930. London: Haynes, 1997. 240 pages.

11. Gesar, Aram, Ed. Air Safety World Review. New York: Pyramid Media, 2002. I have yet to see this volume.

12. Gesar, Aram, Ed. Commercial Aircraft: Encyclopedia and Fleets. New York: Pyramid Media, 2003. 304 pages. Have not seen this volume.

13. Groenewege, Adrianus D. Compendium of International Civil Aviation. 2^nd ed. International Air Transport Association, 1999. 1150 pages.

14. Gunderson, Nels L. Research Guide to Commercial Airline Safety in the United States, 1968-1980 (P-758). Monticello, IL: Vance Bibliographies, 1981. 16 pages. No longer in print. Unannotated and somewhat dated bibliography. Lists books, reports, Congressional Proceedings, and NTSB accident reports. Lists some of the journals that contain aviation safety articles. It contains 176 entries. Not really a research guide, just a bibliographical listing of sources.

15. Herring, Susan Davis. From the Titanic to the Challenger: An Annotated Bibliography on Technological Failures of the Twentieth Century (Vol. 881). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989. 459 pages. Out of print. One volume in the “Garland Reference Library of the Humanities.” Current bibliography containing 1354 references. Contains 225 references pertaining to Aircraft. Extensively annotated. Aircraft chapter has a general section and subsequent sections are classified by aircraft types and specific problems. Includes a chronological listing of events, a mode of failure index, an author index, and a title index. Excellent bibliography. Herring’s, Sterling’s, Smith’s, and Miletich’s bibliographies are all somewhat current and highly recommended works.

16. Janiak, Jane M. Sources of Information in Transportation: Part 2-Air Transportation (P-2879). 4^th ed. Monticello, IL: Vance Bibliographies, 1990. 78 pages. No longer in print. Contains 692 citations. “Safety and Accidents” (pages 76-77) contains 15 entries. One volume in a ten volume transportation set prepared by the Special Projects Committee of the Transportation Division of the Special Libraries Association.

17. Jarrett, Philip. Modern Air Transport: Worldwide Air Transport from 1945 to the Present. Brasseys, 2000. 264 pages.

18. Kimura, Chris Y. World Commercial Aircraft Accidents, 1946-1993 (UCRL-ID-117818). 3^rd ed. Livermore, CA: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 1994. 331 pages. Available through NTIS.

19. King, Frank H., and Viola W. King. Aviation Safety: Bibliography and Source Book. Basin, WY: Aviation Maintenance Publishers, 1980. 80 pages. No longer in print. Slanted towards general aviation.

20. Lewis Research Center. Aerospace Safety Research and Data Institute Reference Collection. Cleveland, Ohio: Lewis Research Center, 1970. 113 pages.

21. Madden, Kenneth G. Air Transportation Safety: A Brief Guide to Reference, Periodical, and Monographic Resources. 2^nd ed.: Kenneth G. Madden, 2007. Over 120 pages. Contains over 600 citations. Author/Title and Airline/Aircraft Type indexes. Online at: http://home.earthlink.net/~kgm0001/bibhome.htm and http://courses.unt.edu/madden/WWW/

22. Madden, Kenneth G. Air Transportation: A Guide to Reference and Monographic Sources, 1960-1995. Denton, TX: Kenneth G. Madden, 1995. 243 pages. Contains over 1,900 citations. Author/title index.

23. Madden, Kenneth G. Airlines and Airliners: A Bibliography of Books, 1960-1994. Torrance, CA: Kenneth G. Madden, 1994. 146 pages. This book was published as a preliminary edition of Air Transportation: A Guide to Reference and Monographic Sources, 1960-1995.

24. Madden, Kenneth G. Class Air Flight Safety Collection Development Manual: Managing Collection Development Including a Core List of Materials. Denton, TX: Kenneth G. Madden, 1995. 132 pages. Contains over 500 citations. Author/title index.

25. McIntyre. Geoffrey R. Patterns in Safety Thinking: A Literature Guide to Air Transportation Safety. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2000. 137 pages. Contains: Introduction; Transportation Tort law school; Reliability engineering school; System safety engineering school; Conclusion; Bibliography

26. Miletich, John J. Airline Safety: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990. 222 pages. Number seven in the series: “Bibliographies and Indexes in Psychology.” Current bibliography of books, reports, and articles organized by subject. Contains 650 citations under eleven broad topics. Citations are culled from the period between January, 1960 and May, 1990. Extensively annotated and well worth acquiring, this book is the only up to date bibliography on the exclusive topic of airline safety. Shortcomings include citations of many short newsy articles from Aviation Week & Space Technology, and it seems to neglect many in depth sources such as journals, NTIS reports, Congressional Proceedings, and the articles of prominent periodicals, such as Business and Commercial Aviation and Professional Pilot. It lists many short articles which announce preliminary findings in accident and incident investigations. More objectivity and comprehensiveness can be found in the official reports of those accidents and incidents which are available through the National Technical Information Service (the source for NTSB Accident Reports) or the International Civil Aviation Organization Aircraft Accident Digest series (a source for reports of accidents and incidents which occurred both inside and outside the United States). However, all in all, Mr. Miletich has done an outstanding job! This bibliography, along with Dr. Sterling’s, Commercial Air Transport Books: An Annotated Bibliography of Airlines, Airliners, and the Air Transport Industry, Ms. Herring’s, From the Titanic to the Challenger: An Annotated Bibliography on Technological Failures of the Twentieth Century, and Mr. Smith’s, The Airline Bibliography are three of the most worthwhile current bibliographies available which concern the problems of aviation safety.

27. Miller, E. Willard, and Ruby M. Miller. Air Transportation: Aircraft and Equipment, Services, Safety Measures, Air Freight: A Bibliography (P-2084). Vol. 5. Monticello, IL: Vance Bibliographies, 1987. 45 pages. No longer in print. Somewhat current bibliography that includes a total of 549 references. No books listed. Safety measures, security measures, accidents, and weather lists 164 citations to periodical articles and U.S. Congressional Hearings Proceedings. No annotations.

28. National Research Council. Transportation Research Board. Committee on Air Transportation Research Information Service. Air Transportation Bibliography (FAA-EM-78-21). Washington, DC: Federal Aviation Administration, 1978. 236 pages. Available from NTIS. Contains source, subject term, and author indexes. Covers the period from 1973 to 1978. Contains 1200 citations with excellent abstracts of most citations. The bibliography is organized as follows:

· Aircraft

· Airlines

· Airports

· Air Freight

· Air Traffic Control

· Economics

· Environment

· Facilitation

· Finance

· Forecasts

· Fuels

· General Aviation

· Government Policy, Planning, Regulation

· Marketing

· Meteorology

· Navigation

· Passenger Demand

· Personnel

· Safety (110 entries)

· Security

· Travel and Tourism

29. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Advisory Group for Research and Development. Aircraft Flight Safety: A Bibliography (AGARD Report 805). Neuilly sur Seine, France: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1993. 46 pages. Excellent and current bibliography but the entries are not numbered. The chapters concern the following topics:

A Human Errors Causing Accidents or Safety-related Incidents
B Reducing the Incidence of Human Errors or their Effects
C Injury Reduction or Analysis
D Other Aspects of Human Factors
E Engines
F Structures and Materials
G Aging of Aircraft
H Fire
I Adverse Weather
J Maintenance of Aircraft
K Future Requirements
M Miscellaneous (none of the other topics)
X General (more than one topic)

30. Pierson, William R. Biomedical References for Aviation Safety. Rev. ed. Arlington, VA: Flight Safety Foundation, 1976. 91 pages. Unannotated bibliography of 999 entries which cites articles concerning flight physiology and aviation medical factors. Still available from the Flight Safety Foundation by photocopy.

31. Ranter, Harro. Aviation Safety Network. Available online: http://aviation-safety.net/index.php

32. Rubenstein, Richard I., James J. Pinto, and Sanford Z. Meschkow. Directory of Aerospace Safety Specialized Information Sources. Vol. 2. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Lewis Research Center, 1976. Available from NTIS. Lists 159 organizations and 580 names.

33. Schlager, Neil, Ed. When Technology Fails: Significant Technological Disasters, Accidents, and Failures of the Twentieth Century. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc., 1994. 659 pages. This compendium of disasters is organized by type of disaster, e.g. aircraft, airships, automobiles, bridges, buildings and other structures, chemical and environmental disasters, dams, medicals disasters, nuclear plants, ships, spacecraft, and submarines. The aircraft section comprises the first 107 pages of the book and includes many of the major airline disasters which occurred from 1946 to 1992. Many of the accident summaries in this chapter were written by aviation safety and airline history expert Robert J. Serling. Although each accident article contains a bibliography entitled “Where to Learn More,” only some of these include citations to professional sources, such as the official CAB or NTSB accident report and Aviation Week & Space Technology, which is all too often referred to as “Aviation Weekly.” Most of the other citations refer to mass-market publications such as Business Week, Newsweek, and the New York Times. Also surprising was the bibliography of the chapter on the Lockheed Electra accidents written by Mr. Serling-no mention is made of his monograph on this subject: The Electra Story. The book also has a general bibliography and an index that could have been more comprehensive, but considering the scope and the depth of coverage of the selected disasters, When Technology Fails would be a worthwhile addition to all public, academic, and school libraries with collections covering technology. The aircraft accidents and incidents covered are:

· TWA L-049 July 11, 1946 (NC86513) Reading, PA

· Eastern DC-4 May 30, 1947 (N88814) Port Deposit, MD

· United DC-6 Oct. 24, 1947 (NC37510) Bryce Canyon, UT

· National DC-6 Feb. 11, 1952 (N90891) Elizabeth, NJ BOAC Comet crashes:

· BOAC Comet 1 Jan. 10, 1954 (G-ALYP) near Elba

· BOAC Comet 1 April 8, 1954 (G-ALYY) near Stromboli

· TWA L-1049C/United DC-7 June 30, 1956 (N6902C/(N6324C) Grand Canyon, AZ

· Braniff L-188 Sept. 29, 1959 (N9705C) Buffalo, TX

· Northwest L-188 March 17, 1960 (N121U) near Tell City, IN

· United DC-8/TWA L-1049C Dec. 16, 1960 (N8013U/N6907C) New York City, NY

· Turkish (THY) DC-10 March 3, 1974 (TC-JAV) Ermenonville, France

· American DC-10 May 25, 1979 (N110AA) Chicago, IL

· Air Canada DC-9 Sept. 17, 1979 (C-FTLU) near Boston, MA

· Japan Airlines B-747SR Aug. 12, 1985 (JA-8119) Mount Osutaka, Japan

· Midwest Express DC-9 Sept. 6, 1985 (N100ME) Milwaukee, WI

· United B-747 Feb. 24, 1989 (N4713U) near Honolulu, HI

· United DC-10 July 19, 1989 (N1819U) Sioux City, IA

· Lauda Air B-767 May 26, 1991 (OE-LAV) near Bangkok, Thailand

· El Al B-747 Oct. 4, 1992 (4X-AXG) Amsterdam, Netherlands

34. Sherman, Herold A. Aviation Safety: A Selected Bibliography. Arlington, VA: Flight Safety Foundation, 1978. 145 pages. Dated bibliography. Not annotated. Still available from the Flight Safety Foundation by photocopy. Subject organized compilation of aviation safety articles which are found in all of the Flight Safety Foundations publications including the Flight Safety Foundations Conference Proceedings (International Air Safety Seminars and Corporate Aircraft Safety Seminars) plus:

· Aerospace Safety

· Airline Pilot

· AOPA Pilot

· Approach

· FAA World

· Flight International

· Flight Safety Focus

· ICAO Bulletin

· Interavia

· MAC Flyer

· Managing Safety

· SAFE Journal

· SASI Forum

35. Smith, Myron J., Jr. The Airline Bibliography: The Salem College Guide to Sources on Commercial Aviation. 2 vols. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 1986 and 1988. Extensive reference work with a few brief annotations. Good introductions to the various sections. Includes subject and author indexes. Includes excellent chronological histories of each air carrier and the specifications of each aircraft covered. Also included are airline genealogy charts which trace the history of many of the major airlines. Contains some photographs.

Volume 1, The United States, contains 238 pages, over 6,100 citations, and it covers the many facets of the U.S. airline industry including a section entitled “Aerial Safety and Security” (pages 61-81). This section is organized as follows: General works, accidents and safety (180 citations). List of NTSB Accident Reports from 1967 to early 1985. Information about the following specific air tragedies (some of the dates are erroneously stated; the correct dates are listed below) arranged by date of occurrence (195 citations):

· Eastern DC-4 May 30, 1947 (N88814) Port Deposit, MD

· Eastern DC-4/ Bolivian P-38 Nov. 1, 1949 (N88727/NA) Washington, DC

· National DC-6 Feb. 11, 1952 (N90891) Elizabeth, NJ

· United DC-4 Oct. 6, 1955 (N30062) Medicine Bow Peak, WY

· United DC-6B Nov. 1, 1955 (N37559) near Longmont, CO

· TWA L-1049/United DC-7 June 30, 1956 (N6902C/N6324C) Grand Canyon, AZ

· Pan American B-377 Stratocruiser Oct. 16, 1956 (N90943) Pacific Ocean

Note: the author mistakenly identifies the foregoing aircraft as an L-1049G Constellation.

· Northeast DC-6A Feb. 1, 1957 (N34954) Rikers Island, NY

· American L-188 Electra Feb. 3, 1959 (N6101A) La Guardia, NY

· Eastern L-188 Electra Oct. 4, 1960 (N5533) Boston, MA

· United DC-8/TWA L-1049 Dec. 16, 1960 (N8013U/N6907C) Staten Island, NY

· American B-707-123B March 1, 1962 (N7506A) Jamaica Bay, NY

· Mohawk Martin 404 July 2, 1963 (N449A) Rochester, NY

· Eastern L-1049C/TWA B-707 Dec. 4, 1965 (N6218/N748TW) Carmel, NY

· Southern DC-9-31 Nov. 14, 1970 (N97S) Huntington, WV

· Eastern L-1011 Dec. 29, 1972 (N310EA) West of Miami, FL

· Delta DC-9-31 July 31, 1973 (N975NE) Boston, MA

· Pan American B-707-321B Jan. 30, 1974 (N454PA) Pago Pago, American Samoa

· TWA B-707-331B Sept. 8, 1974 (N8734) Ionian Sea (bomb)

· Eastern DC-9-31 Sept. 11, 1974 (N8984E) Charlotte, NC

· TWA B-727-231 Dec. 1, 1974 (N54328) Berryville, VA

· Eastern B-727-225 June 24, 1975 (N8845E) Jamaica, NY

· American B-727 April 27, 1976 (N1963) St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

· KLM B-747/Pan Am B-747 March 27, 1977 (PH-BUF/N736PA) Tenerife, Canary Islands

· PSA B-727-214/C-172 Sept. 25, 1978 (N533PS/N7711G) San Diego, CA

· American DC-10-10 May 25, 1979 (N110AA) Chicago, IL

· Western DC-10-10 Oct. 31, 1979 (N903WA) Mexico City, Mexico

· Air Florida B-737-222 Jan. 13, 1982 (N62AF) Washington, DC

· Pan Am B-727-235 July 9, 1982 (N4737) Kenner, LA

· Delta L-1011-1 Aug. 2, 1985 (N726DA) Dallas, Texas

· Arrow Air DC-8-63PF Dec. 12, 1985 (N950JW) Gander, Newfoundland

· Airline security and airplane hijacking (202 citations).

Volume 2, Airliners and Foreign Air Carriers, published in 1988, contains 464 pages, a total of over 13,700 citations, and is organized as follows: Reference Works (392 entries). Historic, Economic, and Operational Facets of Foreign Air Transport, including “Air Law and Safety” (pages 27-28 [73 citations]), “Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Skyjacking)” (pages 32-36 [207 citations]), and “Interception of Civil Aircraft and the Korean Airlines (Flight 007) Disaster” (pages 36-37 [85 citations]). International Associations Airliners (contains books and articles about 250 airliner types, organized alphabetically-many safety-related items are located under the specific airliner types and airlines). Airlines of the World Outside the United States, 1919-1986 (organized geographically).

36. Smith, Myron, J. The Airline Encyclopedia, 1909-2000. 3 vols. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002. 3,300 pages. A monumental work containing a chronological event summary for each airline, including accidents and major incidents. For example, 47 pages are dedicated to American Airlines, Inc. alone. The excellent index lists crashes by date and carrier from 1910 (pages 3048 to 3076) and incidents by date and carrier from 1919 (pages 3137 to 3165). The volumes can be used very effectively with Christopher Sterling’s Commercial Air Transport Books.

37. Sterling, Christopher. Commercial Air Transport Books: An Annotated Bibliography of Airlines, Airliners, and the Air Transport Industry. McLean, VA: Paladwr Press, 1996. 304 pages. With an update issued in 1998, this is the most current and comprehensive source extant. Over 2,700 entries. Available from:

Paladwr Press
1906 Wilson Lane, #101
McLean, VA 22102-1957
(703) 356-8352
(703) 356-3937 (fax)

38. Stout, Lois J. “Whatdunit”: Aircraft Accidents, Their Investigation and Prevention Practices-Selected References (Bibliographical List No. 1). Oklahoma City, OK: FAA Aeronautical Center Library, 1964. 76 pages. No longer in print. Contains 688 entries in four sections: periodical articles, books, reports, and miscellany.

Air Transportation Safety Resources E-Mail Author Rolls-Royce and Bentley Books Airlines and Airliners Book Store