Fascinating book from an expert as to why planes crash, and why they don't. The author examines notable air accidents and then gives a detailed explanation of the science behind flight and the failure of aircraft to stay in the air. Be warned, there is some truly formidable math and hard science in this book, but its still absorbing, and I am appreciative of how the author does not talk down to his readers and assumes they are intelligent enough to grasp the basics of what he is saying. I particularly appreciated the chapter on metal fatigue, which is something I never really understood before but now have a much better grasp on. A great book for flight afficionados, techheads and people who just love to have difficult concepts explained to them. ( )

A very comprehensive examination of airplane crashes, their investigation and the advances that have been made in safety. The author is a mechanical engineering professor and wrote this book in an effort to connect scientific/engineering concepts to real-life situations and to bridge the gap between, in his words, "scientifically superficial newspaper articles and government crash reports filled with excess technical jargon" (Preface, ix). And for the most part he has done this job admirably well. I must admit my attention wandered during the chapter on metal fatigue, and at the beginning my math-phobic self was slightly intimidated by all of the equations (I did not take physics as a separate science in high school) but overall this book had a lot to offer, especially in the chapters on combustion and human tolerance to crash factors.

There are some amazing incidents in this book, such as a flight crew managing to land a plane despite having ALL the hydraulics fail -- this is supposed to NEVER happen (losing all hydraulics), but somehow they were able to pull it off. The book also discusses several notable air accidents, such as the Lockerbie bombing, the Swissair Flight 111 crash and the Air France crash on August 2, 2005, at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, where everyone was evacuated and then the plane caught fire. An image of this crash adorns the front cover of this book (you can see a similar image here).

And it is really quite perturbing what the human body goes through during excessive G forces -- you've heard of blackouts? Well, there are also "greyouts", where your vision goes cloudy (as a prelude to a blackout) and "redouts", where you're subjected to so many Gs that excessive amounts of blood rush into your eyeballs. Gross. Also the things people do for science: one type of drop test involves dropping "detached cadaver heads" with sensors in them. All of this is discussed in the chapter on human tolerance of crash forces.

But don't let this book make you think that flying is dangerous. Far from it. The author wanted to demonstrate that flying is actually pretty safe, considering all of the testing and paper trails and rigorous standards the planes have to comply with. Crashes are the result of a whole bunch of highly improbable events happening in a single incident. I think I'll still be nervous about flying, but then I am nervous about pretty much everything.

This is a very informative book that demands re-reading. Therefore I shall buy my own copy for future reference. Recommended for aviation enthusiasts, physics geeks and people who are mechanically minded in general. ( )