David Beaty (1) (1919–1999)

The Atlantic had proved a graveyard for many ships, and when the first butterfly craft began to fly it after the First World War, all the omens warned that it would swallow up planes as well. Nonetheless, the pioneers - Read, Alcock and Brown, Lindbergh, as well as many who gambled and lost - continued to pit themselves against the odds. David Beaty involves us not only in the drama of man against the elements but in the increasingly vehement struggle of man against man: the race to be show more first, the race to beat the ships, the race to run a commercial airline, the race to be fastest. Opening with a passenger in the mid-70's who is taking off in a jumbo jet, he unfolds the tapestry of what went before: the vision and blindness, the guesses, mistakes and waste, the political interference and technical advances, the personalities, the tragedies, the commitment and the successes. show less

This book is an interesting look into human errors in airline aviation (it does NOT look at GA). There are good things about this book, and there are some very bad things about this book.

The good things: the author has a very prescient look at important topics. The paperback copy of the book I read was published in 1995. The topics he discusses are relevant to many incidents that occurred after publication, which I'll include in parenthesis. He discusses how airline safety is not being taken show more seriously in light of terror attacks (9/11), how fatigue is an issue (Colgan Air Flight 3407), how aviation safety administrations are in the pocket of airlines (737-MAX8), improper maintenance (TWA Flight 800), and how the oligopoly of airlines after deregulation led to low costs but not better safety (Allegiant Airlines). Thankfully a lot of those issues have now gotten attention, but only after lives were lost. The oligopoly problem was bad in 1995 and worse now. I appreciated that the author mentions that "pilot error" is real, but that the pilot is usually only the last and most direct link in a chain of many errors that are usually not adequately addressed in safety reports.

The very bad things: extremely sexist and dated material. The author uses the male pronoun and the term Man exclusively. The author calls "stewardesses" girls on more than one occasion. Literally the entire basis of the author's discussion is how "Man's" primeval ape-brain is not suited toward flying. Evo-psych arguments do not curry any favor with me. show less

The Temple Tree offers a mix of aviation drama, mystery, and cultural tension set in post-colonial Sri Lanka.

The start was slow, but once it picked up, the pace was great. The suspense and unique setting kept me wondering about the "how," "when," and "who."

This book is aimed mainly for people working in airline industry or (like me) interested in how people make decisions (and errors). We get to know various reasons why so many incidents happen during last 60 years. Author points that what we at the end see often as pilot error is just iceberg tip of all small errors and mistakes made hours, days or events weeks before. While describing how complex it all can be, David Beaty also tries to analyze each step with great details. He backs up his show more claims by a lot of actual incidents and research from air engineering, design and psychology.
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