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Airframe by Michael Crichton
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Airframe

by Michael Crichton

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Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
This is one of my least favorite Michael Crichton novels. The story wasn't bad, just technical in a way that was less entertaining and interesting than most of his other novels. The mechanics of airplane design and engineering was informative but very much too confusing to follow. The character interaction in this novel was less compelling than in his other novels and was overshadowed by the mechanical description. I have yet to read a bad Michael Crichton novel. Airframe was just lesser than some of his better, more famous novels. ( )
1 vote JennSicu | Nov 4, 2009 |
This is an interesting look in how an airline must figure out why a plane crashed and keep the media from destroying their image. What I find very interesting is that this novel was written right when 24 hour news media was in its infancy. It seems almost prophetic of how news is presented today. ( )
  aharey | Oct 10, 2009 |
Based on the plot blurb on the jacket, this didn't sound like one of Crichton's best novels, so I put off reading it for years. Now I wish I hadn't. Airframe stands up with his best. A story of corporate politics, union violence, bureaucratic b.s., and media responsibility (or the lack thereof), Airframe weaves all of these elements into a seamless whole.

Casey Singleton is a single mom, and a vice-president of quality assurance at Norton, one of the world's top (and few remaining) manufacturers of airframes (i.e., the body of an airplane, but not the engines). With a terrible but inexplicable accident threatening to upset a vital deal, it's up to her to get to the bottom of what actually happened in order to prove that the model of the plane is safe and reliable. But the union, afraid that jobs are going to be outsourced, will go to any lengths to stop the deal, and that means derailing Casey's investigation. Plus, it seems like there may be someone in upper management working against her as well. On top of all this, Casey is appointed as the company's liaison with the media about the incident. Can she deal with a violent union, back-stabbing co-workers, irresponsible journalists, senseless bureaucracy, and still solve the mystery in time?

As usual, Crichton puts in enough technical detail to make the story seem hyper-real, but not quite enough to bore the reader with minutiae entirely irrelevant to the story. And unlike some of his more science-fictiony stuff, this novel is firmly in the realism camp, along with some of his other better novels (Disclosure and The Great Train Robbery come to mind).

A couple of minor drawbacks: Some of the characters are a bit thinly drawn, for instance the upper-level management of the company, whom Crichton portrays as very hard workers in a sort of vague way but who we otherwise have no idea how they got where they are. And he treats some of his subject matter a bit inconsistently, for instance having a character who appears to be speaking for the author insist that federal regulation is the only way to ensure that corporations make safe products, but then showing regulatory agencies basically just getting in the way with a bunch of useless red tape and showing very clearly that the company's real motivation to put out a safe product is so they can actually sell it and make money off of it and not go out of business and all be out of jobs.

But these are fairly minor issues in the novel. Overall, it's a great read, and I highly recommend it. ( )
1 vote AshRyan | Sep 30, 2009 |
I fell in love with this book when it was first published. Completely twisted since at the time I was a frequent traveler. Crichton's books rarely let me down when I want a read that makes me hold my breath and pray like crazy. I still read this book about once a year. ( )
1 vote VirginiaGill | Aug 18, 2009 |
After a mysterious airplane accident involving several injuries and even death occurs, Casey Singleton, divorced mother and rising star in the Norton Aircraft company, must head up the investigation of why this happened. In a field that is as complicated as the airframe industry, it can be a nightmare trying to deal with a press that just wants the "video at 11," and Casey is also given the unwelcome task of liaison with the media.

The story is typical Crichton: some technical details, but a relentlessly-paced story with lots of dialog and little character development. The mystery of what happened on Flight 545 and the troubles Casey has with the union over a possible China deal keep you on the edge of your seat. Personally, I would have liked getting to know the characters a little more, which is the main reason I didn't love it. Still, a solid thriller with a pacing that keeps you turning pages late at night. ( )
1 vote bell7 | Jun 19, 2009 |
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Airframe (novel)

Book description
wikipedia.com- The novel opens aboard Hong Kong based Transpacific Airlines flight 545, (a Norton Aircraft-manufactured N-22), inbound to Denver. An incident occurs about a half hour off the California coastline and the pilot requests an emergency landing at Los Angeles stating that the plane encountered "severe turbulence" in midflight. The pilot gives air traffic control conflicting information regarding the type and severity of injuries, but does inform them that crew members were hurt and "three passengers are dead".

The incident seems inexplicable. The N-22 is a plane with an excellent safety record, and the pilot is highly trained, ruling out the possibility of human error. Passengers and flight crew give concurring accounts of the circumstances of the disaster, and the most likely explanation turns out to be a technical problem that was fixed years ago.

The accident takes place at a bad time for Norton Aircraft. Norton is on the verge of concluding an eight-billion-dollar sale of N-22 aircraft to the Chinese government. Should the N-22's safety record be questioned, the Chinese government might cancel the sale. Norton, already hit hard by the economic recession, desperately needs the deal to go through so the company can survive. With only a week left until the deal is signed, Casey Singleton, a vice-president for Norton Aircraft in charge of the Quality Assurance Incident Review Team, must find out what happened on the plane while dealing with disgruntled union workers.

A videotape showing footage of the incident appears on CNN, where it is seen by the producer of Newsline, a television news magazine. Hoping for her own story, the producer attempts to discredit Casey and Norton Aircraft.

Eventually, after a test flight was done to prove Casey's theory, the cause of the disaster turns out to be a combination of faulty and counterfeit parts and human error. While in flight, the airplane's computer and safety systems worked perfectly, detected the fault, and attempted to automatically correct the plane to compensate. The pilot had let his son, also a pilot, take the controls. Just before the incident, while the father was out of the cockpit, an error was detected and the autopilot attempted to engage. The son, being less experienced and not certified for the N-22, panicked and tried repeatedly to fly against the autopilot, causing the catastrophic accident.

The airline attempts to cover up the story, but due to Casey's persistence the whole situation is brought to light. The sale to China goes through and the company remains in operation.

Amazon.com (ISBN 0345402871, Mass Market Paperback)

Cruising 35,000 feet above the earth, a twin-engine commercial jet encounters an accident that leaves 3 dead, 56 wounded, and the cabin in shambles. What happened? With a multi-billion-dollar company-saving deal on the line, Casey Singleton is sent by her hard-driving boss to uncover the mysterious circumstances that led to the disaster before more people die. But someone doesn't want her to find the truth. Airframe bristles with authentic information, technical jargon, and the command of detail Crichton's readers have come to expect. Check out Amazon.com's Airframe feature and read an excerpt from the book!

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:53 -0400)

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