Table of Contents
Chapter 1 LOSS OF POWER OVER WATER
The Amelia Earhart Mystery (Howland Island, 1937)
Captain Coolly Announces No Engines Working (Jakarta, 1982)
Pilot Struggling with Hijacker Ditches off Beach (Comoros, 1996)
A330 Glides Eighty Miles Over Atlantic to an Island (Azores, 2001)
Was There Really a Miracle on the Hudson? (NYC, 2009)
Chapter 2 LOSS OF POWER OVER LAND
Conscientious Crew Forget How Much Fuel Left (Portland, 1978)
Miscalculation Meant Only Half the Fuel Loaded (Gimli, 1983)
TACA Deadstick Landing on Grass Levee (New Orleans, 1988)
Avianca 52 Copilot Failed to Say “Emergency” (New York, 1990)
BA 777 from Beijing Loses Thrust on Late Final (Heathrow, 2008)
Chapter 3 RUNWAY OVERRUNS
“Safest Airline’s” 100 mph Overrun (Bangkok, 1999)
Air France A340 Overruns, Catches Fire in Gully (Toronto, 2005)
Chapter 4 MIDAIR COLLISIONS AND TCAS
Midair Collisions at Grand Canyon and New York City (1956, 1960)
PSA 182 727 Collides with Cessna (San Diego, 1978)
Worst-ever Midair Collision (New Delhi, 1996)
Two Japan Airlines Jumbos in Near Miss (Japan, 2001)
Distraught Father Assassinates Controller (Lake Constance, 2002)
Chapter 5 GROUND COLLISIONS
Worst-ever Multi-Aircraft Disaster (Tenerife, 1977)
747 Takes Off on Blocked Runway in Heavy Rain (Taipei, 2000)
UK Skyvan Pilots Unable to Follow French ATC (CDG, 2000)
Cessna Crosses Runway in Path of SAS MD-11 (Milan, 2001)
Chapter 6 CONTROL SYSTEMS COMPROMISED
DC-10 Cargo Door Opens Inflight (Windsor-Detroit, 1972)
DC-10 Cargo Door Again Opens Fatally Inflight (Paris, 1974)
DC-10’s Textbook Speed Seals Fate of AA191 (Chicago, 1979)
Worst-ever Single-aircraft Disaster (Japan, 1985)
737 Rudder Quirk Took Years to Demonstrate (1991/1994)
Northwest 747 Lower Rudder Hardover (Anchorage, 2002)
DHL Airbus Maneuvered by Engine Power Alone (Baghdad, 2003)
Chapter 7 FIRE AND SMOKE
Fire in Varig 707 Toilet on Approach to Orly (Paris, 1973)
Did Captain Fatally Delay Evacuation for King? (Riyadh, 1980)
737 Stops with Fire Upwind (Manchester, UK, 1985)
737 Pilots Shut Down Wrong Engine (Kegworth, UK, 1989)
Fierce Oxygen-fed Fire in ValuJet Cargo Hold (Everglades, 1996)
The TWA-800 Controversy (JFK Outbound, 1996)
Swissair 111 Cockpit Fire (JFK Outbound, 1998)
Fragmenting Tire Dooms Supersonic Concorde (Paris-CDG, 2000)
China Airlines 737 Catches Fire at Stand (Okinawa, 2007)
Index
