Flight 427: Anatomy of an Air Disaster

by Gerry Byrne

Boeing's 737 is indisputably the most popular and arguably the safest commercial airliner in the world. But the plane had a lethal flaw, and only after several disastrous crashes and years of painstaking investigation was the mystery of its rudder failure solved. This book tells the story of how engineers and scientists finally uncovered the defect that had been engineered into the plane. One of its novel features is that it portrays the complex interaction of different experts and opposing interests in investigating and solving the mystery of this single crash.

Genres: Aviation, Nonfiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published July 10, 2002

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in aviation or engineering, then this book is a worthwhile read. Byrne provides a detailed examination of the crash investigation for flight 585 in Colorado Springs and flight 427 in Pittsburgh. Both Boeing 737s basically fell out of the sky. Flight 585 was blamed on mountain weather, but the flight 427 accident was similar...without the mountain weather.

This has a lot of technical information and no pictures or schematics to help the reader. (And my hardcover copy has small print on the pages.) But the story is worth the effort required.

[George Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An American tragedy part 2.