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Airframe by Michael Crichton
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Airframe (edition 1997)

by Michael Crichton

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7,295961,245 (3.42)62
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:Three passengers are dead. Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin virtually destroyed. But the pilot manages to land the plane. . . .

At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal midair disaster aboard a commercial twin-jet airliner bound from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation.

AIRFRAME is nonstop reading: the extraordinary mixture of super suspense and authentic information on a subject of compelling interest that has been a Crichton landmark since The Andromeda Strain.
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Member:kornum
Title:Airframe
Authors:Michael Crichton
Info:Ballantine Books (1997), Mass Market Paperback
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Airframe by Michael Crichton

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English (87)  Spanish (3)  Italian (2)  Dutch (1)  Japanese (1)  German (1)  All languages (95)
Showing 1-5 of 87 (next | show all)
There are a lot of naysayers here, but I really liked this book. It's a thriller novel with suitably short chapters about the problems of an aircraft company, Norton, as it tries to deal with the media, business partners, engineering problems, the mysterious provenance of an accident, and many others. It doesn't sound immediately enticing, but I enjoyed this book more than Sphere - it felt somehow more tangible and the characters more convincing.

This was not actually my first read, but the last time was sufficiently long ago that I couldn't remember any plot details. The story is largely presented from the viewpoints of two characters - Casey Singleton, a press officer for Norton tasked along with others with finding out what happened on a flight incident which left many passengers injured and a few killed, and Jennifer Malone, reporter for Newsline, looking to tear apart Norton for a 15 minute story. Events unfold and Crichton is able to push his message that the media is getting too powerful, while maintaining tension and keeping me awake (I read this in one sitting!) ( )
  Zedseayou | Jan 30, 2024 |
new bestseller. Quick good read
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
Sample was interesting but reviews said it was boring and dry. Might come back to this one someday.
  kevindern | Oct 27, 2023 |
Nice book.Book where creative writing meets technical writing.It was on the slower side intially, but gradually picks up pace. Lot of aeronautical verbiage can be daunting. But Crichton did an admirable job. ( )
  harishwriter | Oct 12, 2023 |
This was a suspenseful, fast-paced page-turner. I haven't read anything by Michael Crichton for many years, but I really enjoyed this. There is lots of information and technical details about airplanes--how they're built, tested and maintained--and although this is about the investigation of a mid-air "incident" it made me a little less fearful of flying.

In the book, there is an incident of midair "turbulence" which results in several deaths and many injuries, as well as extensive damage to the plane. The plane's manufacturer must quickly investigate if it wants to save a large potential sale of its planes to China. There is also a subplot involving corporate intrigue and back-stabbing (not as interesting as main plot). And our main protagonist (who solves the whole thing and saves the company) is a female Quality Assurance executive.

The one jarring part for me was the subplot involving union unrest. The union is fearful that some of the manufacturing for the potential large sale would be sent overseas. This may be a reasonable fear, but would that lead the union to seen goons to brutally attack (in a way that could be charged as attempted murder) company management personnel, including our protagonist, and on top of that face little to no consequences for these actions? I don't think so, but maybe I'm naive.
With that caveat, this is a good read.

First line: "Emily Janson sighed in relief."

3 stars ( )
  arubabookwoman | May 13, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 87 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Crichton, Michaelprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bertante, P.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bertante, PaolaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brown, BlairReadersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carlsen, JorunnOvers.secondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ciocchini, M. EugeniaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kankaanpää, JaakkoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Messadié, GeraldTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
van Velzen, MarjoleinTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Crichton bevestigt definitief zijn briljante gevoel voor timing....de bittere overlevingsstrijd in de vliegtuigindustrie sluit naadloos aan op het voorpaginanieuws.
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For Sonny Mehta
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Emily Jansen sighed in relief.
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Die krengen wegen tweehonderdvijftig ton, vliegen in drie vluchten de wereld rond en vervoeren passagiers op een comfortabeler en veiliger manier dan welk voertuig dan ook in de geschiedenis der mensheid. En wilden jullie ons nou echt vertellen hoe we ons werk beter kunnen doen? Wilden jullie beweren dat jullie er ook maar iets van weten? Volgens mij willen jullie alleen maar onrust zaaien, om wat voor persoonlijke reden dan ook. (Luchtvaartlegende Charley Norton (78) tijdens een interview na een vliegtuigongeluk in 1970)
Het ironische van het informatietijdperk is dat het een nieuw soort aanzien verleend heeft aan ongefundeerde meningen. (Verslaggever John Lawton (68) in een toespraak tot de American Association of Broadcast Journalists in 1995.)
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Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:Three passengers are dead. Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin virtually destroyed. But the pilot manages to land the plane. . . .

At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal midair disaster aboard a commercial twin-jet airliner bound from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation.

AIRFRAME is nonstop reading: the extraordinary mixture of super suspense and authentic information on a subject of compelling interest that has been a Crichton landmark since The Andromeda Strain.

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CAUTION- SPOILER ALERT - 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.

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