Black Box

Flying is a remarkably safe way to travel. Statistically, every car journey you make puts you at a far higher risk. And yet every so often the news of an air crash shakes the world - each one adding weight to the old adage that we were never intended to fly.
This is the first serious study of why modern air accidents occur. Given unique access to 'the tin-kickers', picking their way through evidence on both sides of the Atlantic, Nicholas Faith makes sense of air disasters: categorising them by cause be it the fault of the plane, the weather, maintenance, the pilot or a combination of the four. Modern systems, designed to make planes safer, have caused their own problems, and put increasing pressure on the pilot. And yet, at the crucial moment, the pilot may have no control at all. As the air-crash investigators' methods become more sophisticated, so some problems are solved and planes become that much safer. But mysteries remain. For at least two recent major crashes there is no satisfactory explanation.
Black Box starts where previous works on the same subject have left off, giving us an unparalleled insight into the causes of apparently baffling tragedies. Frightening and comforting in turn, it is a book all air travellers should read.
(Black Box accompanied the Channel Four series 'Black Box' made by Darlow Smithson.)


by Nicholas Faith
Published by Boxtree 1996 1st edition. 185pp illustrated, index. 16x24 mint, including d/j.






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