Tracon

by Paul McElroy

** Winner of the 2001 Ippy Award ** ** Bronze medal for the 2001 Book of the Year Award ** ** 2001 Benjamin Franklin Award finalist ** “The air traffic control world is off-limits to most of you and, consequently, often misunderstood. This book accomplishes what many media accounts, newspaper articles, magazine treatments, and movies have tried and failed to get into the minds of the men and women who are responsible for more lives in an hour than most surgeons are in a lifetime. 'TRACON' is a fictionalized account so accurate and chilling in its realism that it strikes people in the aviation business as a narrative summary of actual events.” — JOHN S. CARR, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION

Genres: Aviation, Fiction

493 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 3, 2000

Reviews

[TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book it's hard to believe that it was a debut novel. It's well-written, has a number of fleshed-out characters, plus several interesting sidebars that keep the plot moving forward.
The book revolves around the life of air traffic controller, Ryan Kelly, and many of his colleagues. These are the people who have the lives of thousands of travelers in their hands every single day.
Kelly is an integral part of a mid-air disaster that kills hundreds over Chicago. Kelly and a fellow controller are blamed for the accident even though it's clear to the controllers that a faulty computer collision prevention program is to blame. The controllers fight an uphill battle to clear their names and get the computer program taken offline before future disasters occur.
Author Paul McElroy spins a memorable story that fully opens up the stressful world of air traffic controlling to readers.

[JansRoots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story, but very abridgeable.

Too much fluff and detailed built up characters on side angles.

The drunk in the bar (from which we heard about his life for way to many pages) who ended up relieved because he left 5 minutes before the plane destroyed the bar, who owned an rv and wanted to retire except for a no-good son... the guy who hijacked the black box..... presumably to give the motive... (See how painful this review is? My point exactly. )

A good 1/3 of the book had no real relevance, but was tightly embedded in relevant material, so you couldn't be sure what was OK to skim over.

But, an excellent story.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having never really given thought to the air traffic controllers before, this book amazed me. I’ll look at these people with a new found respect. Showing not only the physical burdens of Ryan Kelly but also the mental burden that he had to endure was very well put together. The descriptive writing almost made me feel as if I were Rain Man himself. The camaraderie shown was a very nice touch. Depicting how coworkers become more like family when working that close together for that long...and one doesn’t simply back a one person into corner without invoking the wrath of the rest of the family.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing

I had a first cousin that was unable to ever get acclimated after being fired by Reagan. This story seems to show that very little has changed with the politics of the FAA. I did not think that the sexual activity added to the story line.

[Danie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of all the pure thrillers I've read (i.e. with not too much, or no mystery) this one had very little thriller to it.

Honestly I wasn't sure what the plot was, even at the end of the book. But the main event of the story was a plane crash. But, that didn't take place until what felt like more than halfway into the book. Needless to say the beginning really dragged on.

The main character, Ryan Kelly, was okay-ly written. Wasn't perfect, but wasn't so flawed to be unbelievable. The other characters, such as Christy, JJ, Bear were also written fine, nothing special. The place that it broke down was in some of the descriptions. The ones that related to the romantic, thriller storyline were very trite and pedestrian. And the descriptions that were about the air traffic controlling, being in TRACON or in a plane or wherever, those seemed to be out of some sort of ATC manual or something.

Anyway, it wasn't really a surprising plot, and there wasn't much suspense. It wasn't horribly written, just not as well written as, say, [Crashers] by Dana Haynes which was the book that spurred LibraryThing to recommend Tracon to me. Guess I'll have to enter this two stars and the rec. algorithm will be enriched.

[Dana Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an airline pilot, I enjoyed reading this book. Mr. McElroy is not an air traffic controller, but it seems he did his research and got the details correct without taking the reader to air traffic controller school. I’ve often wondered what life on the other end of the two-way transmission I often take for granted is like and got a firsthand glimpse of that life.

As an author of airline thrillers, I loved the plot in this story, and a bit envious it has been used. It’ll make the reader feel the possibility of something similar having happened when the story takes place — more than a decade ago – might’ve happened.

But a great plot is no good without believable characters to carry the story, which was not a problem with this novel. I cared for the characters, hated a couple, and shook my head at a few.

The story moved forward at a moderate pace without lagging by stopping to tell backstory. What backstory is told is told in conversation which makes learning about the character more realistic. If I had a dislike it was the author’s choice to change character points of view within a chapter or section numerous times; a personal grip of mine

Overall, I recommend this story.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book! The author has a real knack for drawing you into a scene. When the characters adrenaline rises, the reader’s does too. The scene of newspaper staff trying to reach deadlines at the offices of the Chronicle was nearly as intense as rush hour in the TRACON. Great fun. The quality of these scenes made me feel like the author had a strong grasp on the subject matter and I loved it. Senator Master's ego and political gaming was also very well done and it brought about a very satisfying conclusion.

I would have enjoyed this book more if the extortion section would have been left out. It was too unbelievable that this character could have stolen items from a crash scene to begin with, but it was totally unnecessary and really a distraction from an otherwise perfectly exciting story. Overall a great book!

[Lauren Ukkerd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always been interested in aviation and ATC in particular. While this book had interesting parts on a whole it was a very slow read. There were times as I was reading where I would ask myself how many more pages to the end. I am the type of reader that will finish a book no matter what but I have to admit it really got tiring at times to continue reading to the end. I always finish a book before I start my next book. I am not really sure what the plot in this book was. I followed some of the story lines but that's about it. Out of five stars I rate this book two stars.

[Todd Wilhelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a nice job of giving people an inside look at what it is that air traffic controllers working in a TRACON actually do. That said, I found the story itself a bit lame.

The Afterword contained a valuable section titled "Troubled Union" The Pressures of PATCO: Strikes and Stress in the 1980's, A critical examination of the 1981 air traffic controller's strike by Rebecca Pels Lust.

[KennyO · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good thriller with an aviation backdrop. Here, though, it's not the pilots who are center stage but the air traffic controllers. The telling of the tale got a thumbs up from working controllers so silly errors in technology and job activity were excised and don't distract from the plot. I'm a pilot and I enjoyed Tracon a lot.

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good plot about the intricacies of Air Traffic Control in extremely busy airspace. Book was written pre 9/11 and is therefore outdated but it does give in-depth insight into the personalities and stress on air traffic controllers.

[Beth E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this vision of what life is like for air traffic controlers. What a powerful story!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly accurately portrays the pressures of Air Traffic Control. Also covers the theme of how much we humans should trust technology blindly.

[Christa Levko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great thrill ride!

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you confine your reading to the actual book and avoid reading the patronizing front and back matter, it's a good read.

[Nancy Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good edge-of-the seat thriller. If you are a nervous flyer then DON'T read this book about what it's like to work in air traffic control.

[Sue Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding! Complex, incredible attention to detail, great characters, soooo believable, could not put it down.
Hope this author does more in this genre.