The plot twists made me literally gasp while reading this on the plane

This is my first Crichton since the Andromeda Strain written so many years ago. Another reason to ignore the professional critics who have not been terribly kind to Crichton in the past few years. I really liked this book. It has a marvelous blend of science, information and a good plot that keeps the pages turning.

It’s interesting that many of the reviews I read focused on the aircraft industry. I think the book is more about the media and it’s relentless pursuit of the visual and the sound bite at the expense of truth and the whole picture more than about airplanes.

Enroute from Hong Kong to Denver, a brand new Norton-22, a plane clearly modeled on the Boeing 747, pitches and dives like a porpoise before being brought under control. The violent maneuvers kill three passengers and injures 56 others. . The airline's VP in charge of quality assurance — Casey Singleton — has to find out why, before more passengers and the airline's future go into a tailspin. As always in Crichton's expert hands, readers learn a lot about science while becoming enmeshed in the power-plays, office politics, and pressures of the global market and American jobs. Her job is complicated, because, as we gradually learn, powers within the company are trying to manipulate her and to embarrass the company so that the president of the company can be forced out in favor of another. Casey is saddled with a Norton family nephew who turns out to be a spy for one of the other company officers. We learn a great deal about aircraft manufacture and design — I must admit to really loving the technical detail — as Casey tries to figure out why the cockpit reports of turbulence differ from physical evidence of a “commanded slat deployment,” something, that even had it occurred at altitude and high speed should not have caused the plane to go out-of-control the way it appears to have done.

Crichton obviously doesn’t like lawyers, their stoolies (an ex-FAA employee who testifies for the plaintiffs in injury suits figures prominently in the media’s desire to create a nasty story) nor the media, and a character clearly modeled after Mike Wallace has few redeeming qualities. At one point Casey is to be interviewed by the Wallace character, Marty Reardon, and a company PR person comes by to help her prepare a little. “There’s only one more thing I can tell you, Katherine. You work in a complex business. If you try to explain that complexity to Marty, you’ll be frustrated. You’ll feel he isn’t interested. He’ll probably cut you off. Because he isn’t interested. A lot of people complain television lacks focus. But that’s the nature of the medium. Television’s not about information at all. Information is active, engaging. Television is passive. Information is disinterested, objective. Television is emotional. It’s entertainment. . . . [Marty’s:] paid to exercise his one reliable talent: provoking people, getting them to make an emotional outburst, to lose their temper, to say something outrageous. He doesn’t really want to know about airplanes. He wants a media moment.”

Casey’s father was a journalist and an old friend of his remarks at the end of the book, “Used to be — in the old days-- the media image roughly corresponded to reality. But now it’s all reversed. The media image is the reality, and by comparison day-to-day life seems to lack excitement. So now day-to-day life is false, and the media image is true. Sometimes I look around my living room, and the most real thing in the room is the television. It’s bright and vivid, and the rest of my life looks drab. So I turn the damn thing off. That does it every time. Get my life back.”

I am a big Michael Crighton fan, but this book did not appeal to me. It was very interesting--about a commercial airplane malfunctioning. It was neat to learn a bit about the functions of the plane. Especially since I was reading it on a flight over the Atlanic. From what I understand, Crighton always does really good research for his book, so technical things are believable. There was a lot of bad language in the book. It was really annoying and unneccesary. It was a big turn-off. It had a neat twist in the plot and not predictable, but I didn't really like the book all that much.

Crichton has a true best seller here that holds the attention all the way through the 400+ pages.

I like the fact that his protagonist is a gutsy lady who is working with a bunch of engineers in an aircraft plant. She knows how to hold her own and that takes a lot when you know how engineers manage their interpersonal relations and staff.

I like the portrayal of the television media for what many of them are; vampires for the latest blood and gore, willing to sacrifice the real explanation of a complex problem for the simple answer which brings off the instantaneous hype in 30 second bytes.

The story line is fleshed out with a few side trips to examine our heroine's family life and extra curricular bedtime, but not so much that it detracts from a really great story about how we view airplane disasters, how little we as the general public really know about keeping a million pounds of steel in the air for 12 hours at a time and how blase' we have become about safe comfortable aircraft travel.

The behind the scenes plant operations, the union actions and the administrative infighting for power are straight out of the jungle of human relations. I love the way Casey is finally able to turn the tables on the unscrupulous duo of Marder and Richman. We'll miss tha fact that Crichton is no longer with us and able to continue to stimulate our imaginations to such a high degree.

I didn't put the book down for the last 200 pages despite the dishes piling up and the dog scratching at the door. Read the first half in bits to absorb the data and then save the last half for when you have a real chance to break away and complete it in one marathon sitting!
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I enjoyed this book, but for me, it does follow what I find to be the usual Michael Crichton formula: really entertaining and suspenseful story with a lot of energy put into detail (in this case, he put in a lot of infomation about airplanes, which I found to be very interesting), but the end is weak and unbelievable. I have found this to be the case with several of his other novels - almost like he just didn't know how to end a book.

But, his stories are interesting enough that despite the weak endings, I will keep reading.

Mike gave me this book when we visited him, Anna, and Kaley at their Woodbridge apt--jesus it must be 3 or 4 (or 5?) years ago. I remember how funny he was about it. Convo went something like this:

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MS: Hey Jay - I got this book for you to have

me: Oh really? Well, what's it about?

MS: Pfft... fuck if I know. Anna tried it. I tried it. Too many goddamn acronyms in it.

me: (laughs)

MS: I'm serious, dude. It's all about an airliner crash. But the fuckin author uses every acronym under the sun. NTSB this.. FAA that.. The FBI, the CIA, the PIC, SIC, OR--I'm like Grrrr FUCK THIS BOOK. I tried several times. Can't do it.

me: (probably spitting my wine all over the balcony and choking on my laughter)

MS: Dude take it. I'm serious. You're a pilot. You can decipher all these fuckin codes. I'm giving it to you or we burn it here and now.

me: Okay, Mikey - I'll take it.

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And that's why it sits on my bookshelf today.

Was it good? I honestly don't remember every detail, but I enjoyed it. But mostly I enjoy thinking about that night. We were also visiting Mike n Anna at that apt when my dad called and told me my Nanny died.

3,5/5 sterren.

Airframe is verbazend spannend, en leest dan ook lekker weg. Je krijgt een mooi inkijkje in de wereld van de luchtvaart, met een flinke dosis toegevoegde intrige en politiek. De journalistiek komt er echter wel héél slecht vanaf, en het plot vertoont aan het einde wat gaten. Desalniettemin een mooi boek!

I remember reading this many years ago, but I don't remember much about it.

Couldn't get through the book. The story is just filled with acronyms and technical terms that will make you feel plain stupid. Also I didn't enjoy the character Rickman : he's a newbie to the company and therefore his only reason of existence on the first 50 pages is so that the main character can explain the plot and various acronyms. And of course he is the nephew of the big Boss, which is why the vice president of the quality control department has to look after him. Honestly the whole thing just appeared way to constructed.

Compré este libro en la Feria del Libro del Retiro, en Madrid, un lluvioso día de 1997. Lo compré a ciegas, nada más publicarse, tras haber leído otras obras del autor como Esfera, Jurassic Park y La amenaza de Andrómeda. Lo devoré en un par de días.

Es un thriller en torno a un accidente aéreo (aunque no llegan a estamparse, hay muertes en pleno vuelo). Del resultado de la investigación depende la reputación de la compañía aeronáutica Norton. A pesar de lo que dice la competencia, las cosas no están del todo claras. ¿Fue un error de la maquinaria del avión? ¿Una negligencia del piloto? La prensa, claro, también quiere su parte del pastel y también mete cizaña en el asunto. Es un tema jugoso y saben que vende.

Casey Singleton, Vicepresidenta del Departamento de Control de Calidad de la Norton Aircraft y portavoz del CC en relaciones con la prensa (sí, este tipo de verborrea le encanta a Crichton, y lo hace como nadie), intentará llegar al fondo del asunto para salvar a la compañía.

Un thriller apasionante, de no soltar el libro. Lástima que el señor Crichton ya pasara a mejor vida. Si te gusta el género, no lo dudes.

Notes:

This story would have made a good movie. While the overall plot progression was not that exciting and various elements were not believable, I really enjoyed the way Crichton presented the way airplanes are made and how news could tank a company with slanted views.

As someone who worked most of my life in Aerospace, on the supersonic B-1 bomber, and then on several Titan missile and launch vehicle programs, I found the book well researched. There were a few times when I said to myself, "In what manufacturing area would THAT occur?" But he's right on with the incessant use of acronyms, and the increasing prevalence of cost-cutting maneuvers that end up compromising flight safety.

And I believe he's right on about the maneuvers of the airline companies that buy the airframes and follow (or don't follow) the recommended maintenance procedures. However, never having worked for an airline or been familiar with their maintenance programs, I can't say that with certainty.

I liked the female aerospace manager, having been one myself, and while others on Goodreads have written here that Crichton tends to populate his books with stereotypical characters, I say hooray for acknowledging that there are now women in aerospace who (a) have engineering degrees and well-honed critical thinking skills, and (b) have drilled through the difficult-to-penetrate glass ceiling.