Air Transportation Safety Resources Chapter 6

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210. Adair, Bill. The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002. 256 pages. Concerns the crash of the US Air B-737-300 (N513AU) near Pittsburgh, PA on September 8, 1994. See also: Byrne, Flight 427.

211. Bailey, Francis Lee, with John Greenya. Cleared for the Approach: F. Lee Bailey in Defense of Flying. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977. 211 pages. Primarily concerns the TWA B-727-231 (N54328) accident at Berryville, VA while on approach to Dulles Airport on December 1, 1974. This accident was caused by a premature descent while on an unpublished segment of a VOR-DME approach in instrument meteorological conditions which resulted in controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Also covers the aircraft industry, the government’s involvement in accident investigation and regulation, human factors, environmental factors, an air crash case trial, and the love of flying. No bibliography. No index. See also: Shaw, Sound of Impact.

213. Blair, Clay Cowgill. Survive! New York: Berkley Publishing Co., 1973. 280 pages. Concerns the chartered Uraguayan Air Force FH-227 which crashed in the Chilean Andes on October 13, 1972 and the passengers’ struggle to survive. Of the 45 people aboard, only 16 survived. A good movie entitled “Alive” was made about this disaster and features one of the best crash scenes ever in a Hollywood production.

215. Breslau, Allen J. The Time of My Death. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1977. 301 pages. Concerns the memoirs of one of the survivors of the Mohawk Martin 404 (N449A) crash at the Rochester-Monroe County Airport in New York on July 2, 1963.

216. Byrne, Gerry. Flight 427: Anatomy of an Air Disaster. New York: Copernicus Books, 2002. 289 pages. Concerns the crash of the US Air B-737-300 (N513AU) near Pittsburgh, PA on September 8, 1994. See also: Adair, The Mystery of Flight 427.

217. Cashill, Jack, and James Sanders. First Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America. Grants Pass, OR: WND Books, 2003. 256 pages. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. See also: Milton, In the Blink of an Eye; Negroni, Deadly Departure; Ready and Parlier, TWA 800; Sanders, Altered Evidence; Sanders; The Downing of TWA Flight 800.

218. Chandler, Jerome G. Fire and Rain: A Tragedy in American Aviation. Austin, TX: Texas Monthly, 1986. 162 pages. Concerns the Delta L-1011 (N726DA) accident at Dallas-Fort Worth on August 2, 1985 due to wind shear. See also: Fujita, DFW Microburst on August 2, 1985.

219. Chapman, Robert P. Pilot Fatigue: A Deadly Cover-Up. Smithtown, NY: Exposition Press, 1982. 244 pages. Concerns the PSA B-727 (N533PS) and the C-172 that collided over San Diego, California on September 25, 1978.

220. Cunningham, Richard. The Place Where the World Ends: A Modern Story of Cannibalism and Human Courage! New York: Sheed and Ward, 1973. 208 pages. Concerns the chartered Uraguayan Air Force FH-227 which crashed in the Chilean Andes on October 13, 1972 and the passengers’ struggle to survive. Of the 45 people aboard, only 16 survived.

221. Dee, Emily. Souls on Board: Responses to the United 232 Tragedy. Sioux City, IA: Loess Hills Press, 1990. 173 pages. Concerns the United DC-10 (N1819U) uncontained engine failure, loss of hydraulics, and resulting crash at Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989. See also: Fielder and Birsch, The DC-10 Case.

222. Delong, Jodi. Swissair Flight 111. Canada: Altitude Publishing, 2006. 128 pages. Concerns the Swissair MD-11 (HB-IWF) that crashed due to an inflight fire off Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998.

223. Dempster, Derek D. The Tale of the Comet. New York: David McKay, 1958. 218 pages. Concerns the history, development, crashes, and fixes of the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet. Also includes the development of the highly redesigned Comet 4. Photographs. Brief bibliography.

224. Elder, Rob, and Sarah Elder. Crash. New York: Atheneum, 1977. 253 pages. Concerns the Eastern L-1011 (N310EA) crash in the Florida Everglades west of Miami on December 29, 1972. See also: Fuller, The Ghost of Flight 401.

226. Fensch, Thomas. Associated Press Coverage of a Major Air Disaster: The Crash of Delta Flight 1141. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 1989. 431 pages. Extensively documented media coverage of the Delta B-727-232 (N473DA) crash at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on August 31, 1988. Highly illustrated. A must read for anyone involved in the media coverage of airline accidents. See also: Aviation/Space Writers Association, Air Accidents and the Newswriter; Vincent, When Technology Fails: The Drama of Airline Crashes in Network Television News.

227. Fielder, John H., and Douglas Birsch, Eds. The DC-10 Case: A Study in Applied Ethics, Technology, and Society. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992. 346 pages. Designed as a textbook for college courses in ethics, the book contains a bibliography and an index. Aside from ethics, the book is also instructive in the decision-making processes involved in aircraft design, manufacture, and accident investigation. Factual errors include the following: Concerning the de Havilland Comet on pages 18 and 271, “Unforeseen metal fatigue caused the wing to separate from the fuselage after several months of operation.” In actuality, the Comet disasters were caused by fuselage skin fatigue that resulted in explosive decompression at altitude (see 183, 194, and 196). Also, the definitions given of incidents versus accidents are in error on page 81, “... In the language of aircraft accident reporting, an ‘incident’ is a serious failure which does not result in a crash (an ‘accident’).” For the correct definitions of these terms, see this bibliography’s introduction. On page 71, the authors imply that the passenger and baggage compartments are sealed from each other and are separately pressurized and heated. In reality, most airplane’s baggage compartments are heated and pressurized from the main cabin’s air supply and are connected through vents just above the floor in the cabin’s side wall liners. The following quote is taken from a statement made by Richard E. Livingston of the International Airline Passengers Association on November 27, 1989:

“Since the DC-10 entered the commercial fleet in 1971, there have been multiple accidents and incidents, some with catastrophic consequences. Obviously, these events can be attributed to many factors. However, it is worth noting that at least seventeen of the 445 DC-10s delivered-or at least 3.8 percent of the fleet-have been wrecked. For purposes of comparison, this contrasts with 1.2 percent of the L-1011 fleet, and 1.5 percent of the B-747 fleet.”(309)

The major problem with the book is that it seems to hold the engineers directly responsible for the DC-10’s maladies. The engineers have an important responsibility to inform management about possible design flaws, but the managers and ultimately the manufacturers would have the final responsibility of delivering a safe airplane to their customer airlines. Even with its occasional errors in fact, this book is a highly worthwhile work in that it contributes to the integration of aviation-specific and liberal educational goals. It is also the only book so far exclusively concerning the DC-10 that covers all of its accidents due to design problems through the United crash at Sioux City. See also: Dee, Souls on Board; Eddy, Potter, and Page, Destination Disaster; Godson, The Rise and Fall of the DC-10; Johnston, The Last Nine Minutes. The DC-10 Case is organized in the following sections:

229. Fredrick, Stephen A. Unheeded Warning: The Inside Story of American Eagle Flight 4184. New York: McGraw-Hill (TAB), 1996. 326 pages. Concerns the crash of the American Eagle (Simmons) ATR-72-212 (N401AM) at Roselawn, Indiana due to structural icing.

230. Fuller, Elizabeth. My Search for the Ghost of Flight 401. New York: Berkley Publishing Co., 1978. 216 pages. Concerns the Eastern L-1011 (N310EA) crash in the Florida Everglades west of Miami on December 29, 1972. A continuation of the search for The Ghost of Flight 401 by John Fuller’s daughter. See 231.

231. Fuller, John Grant. The Ghost of Flight 401. New York: Berkley Publishing Corpage, 1976. 319 pages. Concerns the Eastern L-1011 (N310EA) crash in the Florida Everglades west of Miami on December 29, 1972. Some of the salvageable parts from Flight 401 were used on other Eastern L-1011s and those parts may have resulted in the ghostly apparitions of Flight 401’s captain and flight engineer on subsequent L-1011 flights. Good story, but the readers should decide whether this book is fact or fiction.

232. Godson, John. Clipper 806: The Anatomy of an Air Disaster. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1978. 213 pages. Concerns the Pan Am B-707-321B (N454PA) accident that occurred while the airplane approached Pago Pago Airport in American Samoa on January 30, 1974. Note that the NTSB has revised its probable cause in this crash to include the possibility that visual approach illusions and even a microburst might have caused this accident. Both Godson’s and Norris’ books were published before the new findings came to light. See also: Norris, Willful Misconduct.

233. Godson, John. Papa India: The Trident Tragedy. London: Compton Press, 1974. 164 pages. Concerns the BEA Hawker-Siddeley Trident (G-ARPI) crash after it departed London’s Heathrow Airport on June 18, 1972. This airplane stalled after the wing’s leading edge devices were retracted prematurely after takeoff.

234. Godson, John. The Rise and Fall of the DC-10. New York: McKay, 1975. 351 pages. Good coverage of the DC-10’s problems through the Turk Hava Yollari (TC-JAV) crash outside Paris on March 3, 1974. Subsequent to the publication of this book, two related DC-10 accidents have occurred: an American DC-10 (N110AA) which crashed just after departing Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on June 6, 1979 and a United DC-10 (N1819U) which crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989. While the initiating circumstances were different in all three accidents, a common thread remains: all three airplanes suffered flight control problems which rendered them virtually unflyable. See also: Dee, Souls on Board; Eddy, Potter, and Page, Destination Disaster: From the Tri-Motor to the DC-10: The Risk of Flying; Fielder and Birsch, The DC-10 Case; Johnston, The Last Nine Minutes: The Story of Flight 981.

235. Godson, John. Runway. New York: Scribner, 1974. 192 pages. Concerns the Capitol DC-8-63F (N4909C), a MAT charter carrying U.S. troops to South Viet Nam, which crashed during takeoff at Anchorage, Alaska on November 27, 1970. The runway was ice-covered and the brakes on the DC-8 were locked during the takeoff roll, which resulted in the airplane’s not attaining flying speed on the runway available.

236. Great Britain. Royal Aircraft Establishment. Report on the Comet Investigation. London: Ministry of Supply, 1954. 48 pages. Concerns the history, development, crashes, and fixes of the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet.

237. Guerin, Michael. Dash 8 Down: The Inside Story of Ansett Flight 703. Auckland, NZ: Random House NZ, 2001. 186 pages. Concerns the crash of an Ansett New Zealand DHC-8 (ZK-NEY) in the Tararua Ranges In New Zealand on June 9, 1995

238. Guy, Michael. White Out!: A True Account of Air New Zealand’s DC-10 Crash on Mount Erebus. Auckland: A. Taylor, 1980. 254 pages. Concerns the Air New Zealand DC-10 (ZK-NZP) that crashed on Mt. Erebus in the Antarctic on November 28, 1979.

239. Hewat, Timothy, and W. A. Waterton. The Comet Riddle. London: Frederick Muller, 1955. 160 pages. Concerns the history, development, crashes, and fixes of the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet.

240. Hickson, Kenneth D. Flight 901 to Erebus. Christchurch: Whitcoulls, 1980. 278 pages. Concerns the Air New Zealand DC-10 (ZK-NZP) that crashed on Mt. Erebus in the Antarctic on November 28, 1979.

241. Hoffer, William, and Marilyn M. Hoffer. Freefall. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. 263 pages. Concerns the Air Canada B-767 (C-GAUN) that ran out of fuel and landed on an abandoned airfield in Gimli, Canada on July 23, 1983.

241a. Hubert, Ronan. Swissair's Drama: SR111. 80 pp. Concerns the Swissair MD-11 (HB-IWF) that crashed due to an inflight fire off Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998.

242. Johnston, Moira. The Last Nine Minutes: The Story of Flight 981. New York: William Morrow, 1976. 317 pages. Concerns the Turk Hava Yollari DC-10 (TC-JAV) which crashed outside of Paris due to a cargo door opening in flight on March 5, 1974. See also: Eddy, Paul, and Page, Destination Disaster: From the Tri-Motor to the DC-10: The Risk of Flying; Fielder and Birsch, The DC-10 Case; Godson, The Rise and Fall of the DC-10.

243. Kimber, Stephen. Flight 111: The Tragedy of the Swissair Crash. Toronto, Canada: Seal, 1999. 341 pages. Concerns the in-flight fire and subsequent crash of the Swissair MD-11 (HB-IWF) off of Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998.

244. Komons, Nick A. Cutting Air Crash: A Case Study in Early Federal Aviation Policy. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984. 104 pages. Analyzes the political repercussions that followed the death of Senator Bronson Cutting of New Mexico in an air crash in 1935. Index. Bibliography (pages 97-99).

245. Ledger, Don. Swissair Down: A Pilot’s View of the Crash at Peggy’s Cove. Halifax, NS, Canada: Nimbus Publishing, 2000. 174 pages. Concerns the Swissair MD-11 (HB-IWF) that crashed due to an inflight fire off Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998. The aircraft accident report states the accident was not survivable as the impact force with the water most likely exceeded 350 g.

246. Lopez, Enrique Hank. The Highest Hell: The First Full Account of the Andes Air Crash. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1973. 188 pages. Concerns the chartered Uraguayan Air Force FH-227 which crashed in the Chilean Andes on October 13, 1972 and the passengers’ struggle to survive. Of the 45 people aboard, only 16 survived.

247. Lowell, Vernon, and Jaci St. Aubrey. An Explosive Matter. Writer’s Showcase Press, 2000. 108 pages. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. Vernon Lowell has written other books, such as Airline Safety is a Myth.

248. MacFarlane, Stuart. The Erebus Papers: Edited Extracts from the Erebus Proceedings with Commentary. Avon Press, 1991. 736 pages. Concerns the Air New Zealand DC-10 (ZK-NZP) that crashed on Mt. Erebus in the Antarctic on November 28, 1979. Contents:

249. Mahon, Peter. Verdict on Erebus: An Airline’s Dilemma. Auckland: William Collins, 1984. 296 pages. Concerns the Air New Zealand DC-10 (ZK-NZP) that crashed on Mt. Erebus in the Antarctic on November 28, 1979. Reprinted by Fontana Paperbacks in 1985.

250. Milton, Pat. In the Blink of an Eye: The FBI Investigation of TWA Flight 800. New York: Random House, 1999. 320 pages. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. See also: Cashill and Sanders, First Strike; Negroni, Deadly Departure; Ready and Parlier, TWA 800; Sanders, Altered Evidence; Sanders; The Downing of TWA Flight 800.

251. Moorhouse, Earl. Wake Up, It’s a Crash! The Story of the First 747-Jet Disaster: A Survivor’s Account. London: Corgi, 1980. 166 pages. This book concerns the Lufthansa Boeing 747-130 (D-ABYB) accident at Nairobi, Kenya on November 20, 1974. The crew attempted a takeoff with the wing’s leading edge devices retracted.

252. Moscow, Alvin. Tiger on a Leash. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1961. 252 pages. Concerns the Northeast DC-6A (N34954) crash on Rikers Island after departing New York’s La Guardia Airport on February 1, 1957.

253. Negroni, Christine. Deadly Departure: Why the Experts Failed to Prevent the TWA Flight 800 Disaster and How It Could Happen Again. New York: Cliff Street Books, 2000. 256 pages Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. See also: Cashill and Sanders, First Strike; Milton, In the Blink of an Eye; Ready and Parlier, TWA 800; Sanders, Altered Evidence; Sanders; The Downing of TWA Flight 800.

254. Norris, William. Willful Misconduct: The Story of the Crash of Pan American Flight 806 and of What Happened Afterward. New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. 320 pages. Concerns the Pan Am B-707-321B (N454PA) accident that occurred while the airplane approached Pago Pago Airport in American Samoa on January 30, 1974. Note that the NTSB has revised its probable cause in this crash to include the possibility that visual approach illusions and even a microburst might have caused this accident. Both Godson’s and Norris’ books were published before the new findings came to light. See also: Godson, Clipper 806.

255. O’Keefe, Betty, and Ian MacDonald. Disaster on Mount Slesse: The Story of Western Canada’s Worst Air Crash. Prince George, BC: Caitlin Press, 2006. 250 pages. Concerns the crash of Trans Canada Airlines Flight 810 (DC-4M-2 CF-TFD) on Mount Slesse on December 9, 1956. See also: McClement, Anvil of the Gods.

256. Parrado, Nando, and Vince Rause. Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home. Crown, 2006. 304 pages. Concerns the chartered Uraguayan Air Force FH-227 which crashed in the Chilean Andes on October 13, 1972 and the passengers’ struggle to survive. Of the 45 people aboard, only 16 survived. A good movie entitled “Alive” was made about this disaster and features one of the best crash scenes ever in a Hollywood production.

259. Purl, Sandy, and Gregg Lewis. Am I Alive? A Surviving Flight Attendant’s Struggle and Inspiring Triumph Over Tragedy. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1986. 185 pages. Concerns the Southern DC-9 (N1335U) accident near New Hope, Georgia on April 4, 1977. The aircraft lost power in both engines when flying through a thunderstorm due to enormous amounts of water and hail ingestion. Pilots attempted to make a “dead-stick” landing on a highway. Also concerns Ms. Purl’s troubled life after the crash.

260. Rayner, Jay. Stardust Falling. Toronto, Canada: Penguin, 2002. 261 pages. Concerns the British South American Airways (BSAA) Lancastrian that was lost while en route to Santiago, Chile in August of 1947. The wreckage was only recently discovered in the Andes in January of 2000. The airline also lost two Avro Tudors in the South Atlantic that resulted in the carrier’s demise.

261. Read, Piers Paul. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1974. 352 pages. Concerns the chartered Uraguayan Air Force FH-227 which crashed in the Chilean Andes on October 13, 1972 and the passengers’ struggle to survive. Of the 45 people aboard, only 16 survived. This book was made into a movie of the same title.

262. Ready, Kevin E., and Cap Parlier. TWA 800: Accident or Incident? Prescott, AZ: St. Gaudens Press, 1998. 414 pages. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. See also: Cashill and Sanders, First Strike; Milton, In the Blink of an Eye; Negroni, Deadly Departure; Sanders, Altered Evidence; Sanders, The Downing of TWA Flight 800.

262a. Reid, William. Echoes of Flight 67: The Rest of the Story. 92 pages. Concerns the Capital Airlines Viscount 745D (N7437) crash on April 6, 1958.

262b. Reid, William. Tragedy at Tri-City: The Story of Flight 67. High Flight Publications, 1998. 35 pages. Concerns the Capital Airlines Viscount 745D (N7437) crash on April 6, 1958.

263. Reynolds, Mike, and Fergal Tobin, Ed. Tragedy at Tuskar Rock. Gill and MacMillan, 2003. 192 pages. Concerns the crash of the Aer Lingus Viscount 803 (EI-AOM) in the sea near Tuskar Rock, Ireland on March 24, 1968. See also Walsh for a book of the same title.

264. Ryan, Cornelius. One Minute to Ditch! New York: Ballentine, 1957. 158 pages. Concerns the Pan American B-377 Stratocruiser (N1032V) which was ditched successfully in the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast on March 26, 1955.

265. Sanders, James D. Altered Evidence: How the Justice Department Framed a Journalist and His Wife. Published by the Author, 1999. 375 pages. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. See also: Cashill and Sanders, First Strike; Milton, In the Blink of an Eye; Negroni, Deadly Departure; Ready and Parlier, TWA 800; Sanders; The Downing of TWA Flight 800.

266. Sanders, James D. The Downing of TWA Flight 800. Zebra Book, 1997. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. See also: Cashill and Sanders, First Strike; Milton, In the Blink of an Eye; Negroni, Deadly Departure; Ready and Parlier, TWA 800; Sanders, Altered Evidence.

“Sanders’ book presents one cogent and logical explanation for the TWA Flight 800 explosion off Long Island, New York on July 17, 1996. To date, none of the three theories, a bomb, a missile, or a mechanical malfunction, have been eliminated from NTSB consideration. Evidence needs to be found to support any of these theories and no hard evidence has been found so far, only an abundance of speculation.

Sanders presents evidence of solid rocket fuel being deposited on seats only in a specific section of the cabin. If the substance was glue (as the Feds have called it), it would have been present in the seats throughout the cabin of the B-747.[1] Also, clear evidence (holes) made by an object entering and exiting the fuselage was found. This area coincides with the mysterious “glue” found on the seats (but see below).

Still, there were some inconsistencies in The Downing of TWA Flight 800. First, when looking at the wreckage distribution diagrams, the winds aloft from 15,000 feet to the surface should have been analyzed. The lighter debris would have been most affected by the winds and may have drifted horizontally somewhat before hitting the ocean. Also, more dredging of the ocean floor needs to be done in the debris field closest to JFK in order to determine the initial event that precipitated the explosion and break-up. Second, a drawing depicts the missile going through the cargo hold just under R2 (door); if it went through the cargo hold, and unless the floor collapsed due to decompression, why were the cabin seats above this area deposited with rocket fuel? Third, and the point is probably moot, is Sanders’ explanation for the wing fuel tank explosions. He states the aircraft turned on its side and since flames tend to rise, set the upward-pointing wing on fire.

The aircraft was trimmed for climb airspeed via the horizontal stabilizer position, which also keeps the nose up by downward-acting aerodynamic pressure. When the forward fuselage separated, two things happened:

1) the dynamic pressure due to the airflow at 300+ knots acting on the open-ended fuselage would have been tremendous and

2) when the weight of the forward fuselage was removed, the rest of the airplane would have pitched up instantly to seek the previously-set trimmed airspeed.

This may have over-stressed the wings due to excessive positive load factor (g) and the wings then failed, spilling, misting, and igniting the fuel in them. Only then did the second and most massive explosion occur.” (review first appeared in Airways magazine)

266a. Schemmel, Jerry, and Kevin Simpson. Chosen to Live: The Inspiring Story of Flight 232 Survivor Jerry Schemmel. Littleton, CO: Victory Publishing Co., 1996. 213 pages. Concerns the United DC-10’s (N1819U) complete loss of hydraulics and subsequent crash at Sioux City, IA on July 19, 1989.

267. Serling, Robert J. The Electra Story: Aviation’s Greatest Mystery. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. 154 pages. Excellent treatise on the early problems of the Lockheed Electra. Covers the crashes, the investigations, and the engineering fixes. The Electra disasters were due to a phenomenon known as “whirl-mode” which was caused by the flexing of the engine pylons/nacelles in turbulence. The frequency of this oscillation was sympathetic with that of the wing structure and, as the oscillation became unstable (increasing in magnitude), it resulted in structural failure and wing separation. No index. No bibliography. An unabridged paperback edition was republished as: The Electra Story: Aviation’s Greatest Mystery. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. 192 pages. Volume nine in “Bantam Air & Space Series.” See also: Job, Air Disaster Volume 4. The book includes in-depth coverage of the following accidents:

268. Shaw, Adam. Sound of Impact: The Legacy of TWA Flight 514. New York: Viking Press, 1977. 268 pages. Concerns the TWA B-727-231 (N54328) accident near Dulles Airport, Washington, DC on December 1, 1974. See also: Bailey, Cleared for the Approach.

269. Smallpiece, Basil. Of Comets and Queens. London: Airlife, 1981. 300 pages. Contains the memoirs of BOAC’s Chairman during the Comet disasters.

270. Stevens, Emerson W. TWA 800: A Diary of Deception. Bloomington, IN: 1^st Books Library, 2002. 240 pages. Concerns the TWA B-747-131 (N93119) that crashed off Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996.

271. Stockton, William. Final Approach: The Crash of Eastern 212. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977. 276 pages. Concerns the Eastern DC-9 (N8984E) crash at Charlotte, North Carolina on September 11, 1974.

272. Taylor, Frank. The Day a Team Died. New Rochelle, NY: Sport Shelf, 1983. 192 pages. Concerns the BEA Airspeed Ambassador (G-ALZU) accident at Munich, Germany on February 6, 1958. The accident was due to snow and slush on the runway causing a less than normal takeoff acceleration rate. “Slush-Drag” was heretofore an undocumented phenomenon. The Manchester United Football Team was aboard. Previous editions of this book include a 160 page edition by Sport Shelf in 1960 and another by the London firm of Souvenir in 1982. See also: Williamson, The Munich Air Disaster.

273. Tootell, Betty. “All Four Engines Have Failed”: The True and Triumphant Story of BA 009 and the “Jakarta Incident.” London: Andre Deutsch, 1985. 192 pages. Concerns the British Airways B-747 (G-BDXH) volcanic ash encounter which occurred southeast of Jakarta on June 24, 1982.

274. United States. National Transportation Safety Board Staff. How and Why Did Flight 514 Kill 92 People: An Accident Report. New York: Arno Press 1976. 112 pages. Concerns the TWA B-727-231 (N54328) accident near Dulles Airport, Washington, DC on December 1, 1974. Reprint of the NTSB accident report.

275. Vette, Gordon, with John MacDonald. Impact Erebus. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Sheridan House, 1984. 347 pages. Concerns the Air New Zealand DC-10 (ZK-NZP) that crashed on Mt. Erebus in the Antarctic on November 28, 1979. Also contains interesting photographs taken by the passengers on the ill-fated flight, including an accident sequence which was taken through a cabin window.

276. Walsh, Dermot. Tragedy at Tuskar Rock. Dublin, Ireland: Mercier Press, 1983. 89 pages. Concerns the crash of the Aer Lingus Viscount 803 (EI-AOM) in the sea near Tuskar Rock, Ireland on March 24, 1968. See also Reynolds for a book of the same title.

277. Waugh, Richard. Kaimai Crash: New Zealand’s Worst Internal Air Disaster. 2003. 64 pages. Concerns the New Zealand National Airways Corporation (NZNAC) DC-3 (ZK-AYZ) crash on July 3, 1963.

279. Weston, Richard C., and Ronald Hurst. Zagreb One-Four: Cleared to Collide? : A Study of Human and Technological Conflict in Aviation. London: Granada, 1982. 208 pages. Concerns the collision of an Inex Adria DC-9 (YU-AJR) and a British Airways Trident (G-AWZT) over Zagreb, Yugoslavia on September 10, 1976. Illustrations.

“This brief book resembles more a ‘sales brochure’ than a book. Only pages 11 and 12 discuss the authors’ theory that ‘oxygen in the tank’ caused the explosion. The others supply explanation of the workings and schematic diagrams of the 747’s fuel system. She seems to think that the fuel vents are manually opened and closed by the fuelers and/or maintenance personnel on the ground (p 12). “But if someone forgot to re-open the vents, then air would have been trapped in the tank’ (p 12). ‘Air trapped in the tank’ caused the explosion? How does the author think fuel is supplied to the engines? If the tanks aren’t vented to the atmosphere, there wouldn’t be anything to replace the fuel in the tank as it is consumed and one of two things would happen:

Either scenario is not normal. Venting also reduces fuel vapors in the tank by siphoning. When others discuss overheated fuel tanks and vapors as contributing to the center tank explosion, they miss the fact that as the aircraft climbed to 12,700 feet, the atmospheric pressure reduction in the tank would have caused a substantial decrease in the fuel vapor’s temperature. On page 13, she recommends the airlines “install oxygen detectors in the top of all fuel tanks . . ., connected to cockpit indicators” and to “keep a minimum of 2,000 gallons [13,400 lbs.] of fuel in all center main fuel tanks.” Notwithstanding that tinkering this extra fuel around would contribute to substantially higher aircraft operating costs, the reason for favoring the wing tanks at lighter gross weight conditions is “wing bending relief.” By placing more fuel (and weight) in the wing tanks, the stresses of flight are distributed more evenly over the wing’s span rather than concentrated at the wing roots.”

281. Williams, Brad. Flight 967. New York: William Morrow, 1963. 192 pages. Concerns the crash of a Delta DC-7B (N4891C) in the Gulf of Mexico on November 16, 1959 while flying between Tampa, FL and New Orleans, LA. Although the aircraft was owned by Delta, this portion of the transcontinental flight was being operated by National Airlines (with a National crew) as part of an interchange agreement between, Delta, National, and American Airlines.

282. Williams, Norman, with George Otis. Terror at Tenerife. Van Nuys, CA: Bible Voice, 1977. 161 pages. Concerns the Pan American and KLM B-747s (N736PA/PH-BUF) ground collision which occurred in foggy conditions at the Tenerife Airport in the Canary Islands on March 27, 1977. This collision has the distinction of being the world’s worst air disaster, claiming 583 lives.

283. Williamson, Stanley. The Munich Air Disaster. Plymouth, MA: Bowering Press, 1972. 272 pages. Concerns the BEA Airspeed Ambassador (G-ALZU) accident at Munich, Germany on February 6, 1958. The accident was due to snow and slush on the runway causing a less than normal takeoff acceleration rate. “Slush-Drag” was heretofore an undocumented phenomenon. See also: Taylor, The Day a Team Died.

[1] The author got two pairs of TWA B-747 first class seats of the type installed when the aircraft were first delivered to TWA in 1970 and the seats were being replaced with an updated design. Invisible to passengers as installed in the airplane, they did have a brownish-colored glue on certain upholstered pieces that held these items to the underlying aluminum sheet metal. Unfortunately, these seats were disposed of some time ago, or I would have offered Mr. Sanders a sample to have analyzed to see if the substance was consistent with that found on the sample seats of Flight 800.