Air Disasters

by Stanley Stewart

Reprint of a 1986 title in softback records twelve of the most significant air disasters during the last fifty years, from the crash of the R-101 airship in 1930 to the two 747 disasters of 1985 - the Japan Air Lines crash near Tokyo and the Air India flight disappearance off the Irish coast. Many maps and drawings.

Genres: Aviation, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Whstancil · Rating 2 out of 5]

The descriptions of the air crashes themselves are muddled, frequently including irrelevant detail and sometimes omitting relevant points. Also, the author sometimes gets caught in long tangents, waxing on in an uncomfortably imperial fashion about the glories of British aerospace (even when its planes break apart midflight) or defending airline pilots against well-justified criticism (i.e., when their errors are a significant contributing factor in mass-casualty disasters). The book as a whole doesn't live up to its promise; the search for the great modern air disaster compendium continues.