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Crowded Sky
1st Pan G576 1962 edition paperback vg In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1977
About the author
Hank Searls
57 books22 followersBorn Henry Hunt Searls Jr. novelist and screenwriter Hank Searls, author of the best-selling Overboard, Jaws II (based on the movie), and Sounding, is creator of the New Breed TV series and writer for the 1960's classic television series The Fugitive . His novel Pilgrim Project became Robert Altman's film Countdown. He has lived most of his life on, under, or over the ocean, having been a world-cruising yachtsman, underwater photographer, and Navy flier.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 12, 2020
“Between the man on the ground and the man in the air, there’s only a thread of radio frequency. Sometimes the thread becomes knotted with too many transmissions. Sometimes distance strains it or thunderstorms snarl it with static.
Sometimes, as in simpler communications between human beings, the thread snaps…”
As I read this last paragraph of the prologue, I was struck by the poetic, yet accurate sentiment of this statement as it applied to the early days of commercial air transportation.
This book was published in 1960, therefore, we can deduce that a good number of the air traffic vulnerabilities of the era have been rectified by way of improvements in technology, advancements in industry safety practices and on the less positive side, the escalation of total monies paid out due to lawsuits.
But even as I reflected on all of our achievements, we are still far from out of the woods when it comes to vulnerability in commercial air flight, not to mention the incidents occurring with military and private sectors, both of whom have had their fair share of accidents. And to be fair, while our technology and practices have definitely improved, we are now faced with the challenge of millions of air travelers every week as opposed to the tens of thousands of during the early 1960’s. We have also, in some sectors, reduced the wages and benefits of pilots and air traffic controllers in the name of meeting the bottom line and in light of growing industry competition.
So, in some ways we are better off, and in others we would be wise to look back to the way we once practiced commercial air travel as a lesson for improvement.
All this said, this novel got me thinking about the things we often take for granted, things such as safety in mass transportation.
The story also got me thinking about other vulnerabilities, those of the human variety, affecting the people who fly, and those who direct the pilots as we travel from point “A” to “B” by way of the air. I also found myself reflecting on the experiences of the pilots who protect our nation from the skies high above.
Of course, these challenges can touch the lives of anyone, no matter what their occupation, but if this book awoke any realization in me, it was that those who choose these flying occupations were challenged in these ways to a heightened degree.
One of the first characters we meet is a U.S. Navy jet pilot named Dale Heath, a man deeply concerned about the “safety issues” in both his professional and personal lives.
On the professional front, he’s anxious about the practice of other pilots to underplay technical issues that affect the aircraft by omitting mention of such in their “gripe sheet” notations. Dale notices, for example, that the previous pilot of the T2V-1 jet has made no mention of the problems related to the ULF radio that he’s noticed is not working up to standard. Its cutting out on regular intervals. He’s mentioned this in his own sheet reports, but because others have not, his documentation of concern has become “buried” in a pile of “all’s fine” reports from other pilots.
He’s worried that one day he will find himself flying without a radio, a truly frightening and dangerous scenario for a pilot to find themselves in.
On the other hand, with regards to his personal life, he’s also concerned about the happenings in his own family. For example, he and his wife Cheryl are at the point of accepting that their marriage is coming to an end. Dale, for his part, is already seeing another woman, Jean, the widow of his best friend and the godmother to his daughter Anne. This move on Dale’s part was after his discovery of his wife’s infidelity sometime before.
Yet despite these obstacles to familial harmony, Dale and Cheryl have chosen to remain living together under one roof. As one reads on, it can be assumed that the reason for this ongoing cohabitation is due mainly because they are concerned about the needs of their teenage daughter. She’s just finishing Jr. High School and both parents agree that a boarding school would be a good High School option for their daughter. Anne, for her part, has expressed an interest in attending a school that is in close proximity to her father, a fact that secretly delights Dale, and amuses the blasé Cheryl, a mother who assumes that the “father/daughter” relationship between these two is so strong that she has no chance of stating her own view with respect to the boarding school arrangements.
By the end of the first “Dale Heath” segment, we see serious problems with the cohesiveness of this family, but interestingly, when the subject of Dale’s personal safety becomes a family discussion point, especially those related to the revelation of the ULF radio malfunctions, everyone seems to rally together in their apprehension about husband and dad and the potential peril he may face.
This reminded me that while families will experience disharmony, infighting and infidelity, it is often the prospect of one terrifying accident or impending peril in the makings that can remind everyone how much the other members of the family mean to them and what losing one would really feel like.
After reading the end of this segment, I definitely felt undertones of this theme in this story, and I was intrigued by the uniqueness of the perspective and story approach. I looked forward to reading the chapters ahead.
I read on with enthusiasm, meeting, through the story, many other people who had struggles in their careers and personal lives, often both occurring at the same time. There was: First Officer Mike Ruble, Captain Dick Barnett, and Controller Mike Coster to name a few.
As I read how author Hank Searls told the story, I was captivated by one story aspect after another, including: A public relations sensitive veteran pilot who secretly values career advancement over safety issues, a stray Cessna that flies in and out of the controller’s artificial horizon like a pesky fly in the kitchen that appears and disappears, the dirty trick a pilot can play on a rookie flight attendant, a career ambitious officer who conns his son into a date with the daughter of his superior, an artist turned commercial airline pilot who uses layovers to sketch and paint, the dilemma of an eminent physician and an “inside the cockpit” snow storm, to name just a few.
I also enjoyed learning more about the “inside world” of pilots and air traffic controllers. There were a few terms that made me smile, such as a “deadhead” being a airline pilot or co-pilot flying as a passenger and a “wheel” being an airline executive flying as a passenger on one of the airline’s scheduled flights. I thought it was humorous that it was considered a faux paus for a pilot to ask the control tower to repeat clearance instructions, and on a more serious note, if a pilot has lost all communication with the ground, they are to stick to their scheduled flight plan.
Searls also does a magnificent job with a few rather poetic vignettes that are scattered throughout the story, my favorite being one about the will of the natural world around us, related to widespread storms.
The drama gradually, but steadily rose in this story. The last ten chapters were incredibly gripping.
I finished this novel a entertained and informed reader.
Sometimes, as in simpler communications between human beings, the thread snaps…”
As I read this last paragraph of the prologue, I was struck by the poetic, yet accurate sentiment of this statement as it applied to the early days of commercial air transportation.
This book was published in 1960, therefore, we can deduce that a good number of the air traffic vulnerabilities of the era have been rectified by way of improvements in technology, advancements in industry safety practices and on the less positive side, the escalation of total monies paid out due to lawsuits.
But even as I reflected on all of our achievements, we are still far from out of the woods when it comes to vulnerability in commercial air flight, not to mention the incidents occurring with military and private sectors, both of whom have had their fair share of accidents. And to be fair, while our technology and practices have definitely improved, we are now faced with the challenge of millions of air travelers every week as opposed to the tens of thousands of during the early 1960’s. We have also, in some sectors, reduced the wages and benefits of pilots and air traffic controllers in the name of meeting the bottom line and in light of growing industry competition.
So, in some ways we are better off, and in others we would be wise to look back to the way we once practiced commercial air travel as a lesson for improvement.
All this said, this novel got me thinking about the things we often take for granted, things such as safety in mass transportation.
The story also got me thinking about other vulnerabilities, those of the human variety, affecting the people who fly, and those who direct the pilots as we travel from point “A” to “B” by way of the air. I also found myself reflecting on the experiences of the pilots who protect our nation from the skies high above.
Of course, these challenges can touch the lives of anyone, no matter what their occupation, but if this book awoke any realization in me, it was that those who choose these flying occupations were challenged in these ways to a heightened degree.
One of the first characters we meet is a U.S. Navy jet pilot named Dale Heath, a man deeply concerned about the “safety issues” in both his professional and personal lives.
On the professional front, he’s anxious about the practice of other pilots to underplay technical issues that affect the aircraft by omitting mention of such in their “gripe sheet” notations. Dale notices, for example, that the previous pilot of the T2V-1 jet has made no mention of the problems related to the ULF radio that he’s noticed is not working up to standard. Its cutting out on regular intervals. He’s mentioned this in his own sheet reports, but because others have not, his documentation of concern has become “buried” in a pile of “all’s fine” reports from other pilots.
He’s worried that one day he will find himself flying without a radio, a truly frightening and dangerous scenario for a pilot to find themselves in.
On the other hand, with regards to his personal life, he’s also concerned about the happenings in his own family. For example, he and his wife Cheryl are at the point of accepting that their marriage is coming to an end. Dale, for his part, is already seeing another woman, Jean, the widow of his best friend and the godmother to his daughter Anne. This move on Dale’s part was after his discovery of his wife’s infidelity sometime before.
Yet despite these obstacles to familial harmony, Dale and Cheryl have chosen to remain living together under one roof. As one reads on, it can be assumed that the reason for this ongoing cohabitation is due mainly because they are concerned about the needs of their teenage daughter. She’s just finishing Jr. High School and both parents agree that a boarding school would be a good High School option for their daughter. Anne, for her part, has expressed an interest in attending a school that is in close proximity to her father, a fact that secretly delights Dale, and amuses the blasé Cheryl, a mother who assumes that the “father/daughter” relationship between these two is so strong that she has no chance of stating her own view with respect to the boarding school arrangements.
By the end of the first “Dale Heath” segment, we see serious problems with the cohesiveness of this family, but interestingly, when the subject of Dale’s personal safety becomes a family discussion point, especially those related to the revelation of the ULF radio malfunctions, everyone seems to rally together in their apprehension about husband and dad and the potential peril he may face.
This reminded me that while families will experience disharmony, infighting and infidelity, it is often the prospect of one terrifying accident or impending peril in the makings that can remind everyone how much the other members of the family mean to them and what losing one would really feel like.
After reading the end of this segment, I definitely felt undertones of this theme in this story, and I was intrigued by the uniqueness of the perspective and story approach. I looked forward to reading the chapters ahead.
I read on with enthusiasm, meeting, through the story, many other people who had struggles in their careers and personal lives, often both occurring at the same time. There was: First Officer Mike Ruble, Captain Dick Barnett, and Controller Mike Coster to name a few.
As I read how author Hank Searls told the story, I was captivated by one story aspect after another, including: A public relations sensitive veteran pilot who secretly values career advancement over safety issues, a stray Cessna that flies in and out of the controller’s artificial horizon like a pesky fly in the kitchen that appears and disappears, the dirty trick a pilot can play on a rookie flight attendant, a career ambitious officer who conns his son into a date with the daughter of his superior, an artist turned commercial airline pilot who uses layovers to sketch and paint, the dilemma of an eminent physician and an “inside the cockpit” snow storm, to name just a few.
I also enjoyed learning more about the “inside world” of pilots and air traffic controllers. There were a few terms that made me smile, such as a “deadhead” being a airline pilot or co-pilot flying as a passenger and a “wheel” being an airline executive flying as a passenger on one of the airline’s scheduled flights. I thought it was humorous that it was considered a faux paus for a pilot to ask the control tower to repeat clearance instructions, and on a more serious note, if a pilot has lost all communication with the ground, they are to stick to their scheduled flight plan.
Searls also does a magnificent job with a few rather poetic vignettes that are scattered throughout the story, my favorite being one about the will of the natural world around us, related to widespread storms.
The drama gradually, but steadily rose in this story. The last ten chapters were incredibly gripping.
I finished this novel a entertained and informed reader.
March 3, 2024
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Written in 1960, The Crowded Sky is a novel of aviation, in the same style as Arthur Hailey's Airport, for those interested in the technicalities of air travel. "The airway is not a highway, but an invisible alley, sometimes of infinite height..."
"Cleared to Vector One-five-one-eight"
Commander Dale Heath is a Navy pilot eastbound to Washington, transporting a young Navy seaman in the two-seater jet. The radio has been causing trouble, but seems ok as he double checks altitude and flight vectors with ground control.
Mike Ruble is co-pilot to seasoned captain Dick Barnett on national airline Pacific Central. The DC-7 has full autopilot capabilities, but Barnett tends trust his instrument skills as they soar through stormy turbulence. Kitty is the reliable but lonely stewardess taking care of the passengers, which include a doctor and his wife - whom he agonizes telling her cancer has returned.
A network of ground air traffic control relay stations track the vertical and horizontal ballet of aircraft, maintaining their altitude and speed. Norm Coster at Amarillo Center keeps one distracted eye on the large wall board, covered in paper strips detailing the flight particulars - and one ear to the phone, his wife is due to have a baby that night.
Throughout one fateful night, the Navy jet with a faulty radio will fly blind, the traffic centre unaware and then powerless to control the outcome, and the passenger filled Pacific Central flight07 at the incorrect altitude, will cause tragedy and the radio to come alive with cries of Mayday! at 20,000 feet.
Not as exciting as it may sound, this novel is very heavy on flight plans, vector paths, and the technical aspects of flying, rather than emotion or heart. ("Maintain one-four-thousand via flight plan route. Marine Three-four-two-four three: Position report. Over). Each character has a back story: Mike was a pilot in Korea and left his family business to be a pilot, Norm is about to be a father, the doctor's wife wonders why her husband will not talk about her cancer, and most extensively, Dale's marriage has broken up over lies and cheating. They all take turns ruminating for about 240 pages, until there is some action in the last chapter.
You may have read this all before, and the only ground Searls adds is the mechanics of flying. This theme was more successful by Arthur Hailey, and Ernest K. Gann's The High and The Mighty, whereas this highlights the writer is a technical advisor. Hank Searls was a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, and technical editor for Hughes Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft. There are four pages of glossary at the end detailing terms used by the ATC and pilots.
Modern aircraft automation, I am sure, has made a lot of these flight skills redundant, but this was an interesting curio from 1960. Of interest to aviators or those who appreciate the technical side of flying machines.
The Crowded Sky was filmed in 1960 starring Dana Andrews, Anne Francis, and Rhonda Fleming.
Written in 1960, The Crowded Sky is a novel of aviation, in the same style as Arthur Hailey's Airport, for those interested in the technicalities of air travel. "The airway is not a highway, but an invisible alley, sometimes of infinite height..."
"Cleared to Vector One-five-one-eight"
Commander Dale Heath is a Navy pilot eastbound to Washington, transporting a young Navy seaman in the two-seater jet. The radio has been causing trouble, but seems ok as he double checks altitude and flight vectors with ground control.
Mike Ruble is co-pilot to seasoned captain Dick Barnett on national airline Pacific Central. The DC-7 has full autopilot capabilities, but Barnett tends trust his instrument skills as they soar through stormy turbulence. Kitty is the reliable but lonely stewardess taking care of the passengers, which include a doctor and his wife - whom he agonizes telling her cancer has returned.
A network of ground air traffic control relay stations track the vertical and horizontal ballet of aircraft, maintaining their altitude and speed. Norm Coster at Amarillo Center keeps one distracted eye on the large wall board, covered in paper strips detailing the flight particulars - and one ear to the phone, his wife is due to have a baby that night.
Throughout one fateful night, the Navy jet with a faulty radio will fly blind, the traffic centre unaware and then powerless to control the outcome, and the passenger filled Pacific Central flight07 at the incorrect altitude, will cause tragedy and the radio to come alive with cries of Mayday! at 20,000 feet.
Not as exciting as it may sound, this novel is very heavy on flight plans, vector paths, and the technical aspects of flying, rather than emotion or heart. ("Maintain one-four-thousand via flight plan route. Marine Three-four-two-four three: Position report. Over). Each character has a back story: Mike was a pilot in Korea and left his family business to be a pilot, Norm is about to be a father, the doctor's wife wonders why her husband will not talk about her cancer, and most extensively, Dale's marriage has broken up over lies and cheating. They all take turns ruminating for about 240 pages, until there is some action in the last chapter.
You may have read this all before, and the only ground Searls adds is the mechanics of flying. This theme was more successful by Arthur Hailey, and Ernest K. Gann's The High and The Mighty, whereas this highlights the writer is a technical advisor. Hank Searls was a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, and technical editor for Hughes Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft. There are four pages of glossary at the end detailing terms used by the ATC and pilots.
Modern aircraft automation, I am sure, has made a lot of these flight skills redundant, but this was an interesting curio from 1960. Of interest to aviators or those who appreciate the technical side of flying machines.
The Crowded Sky was filmed in 1960 starring Dana Andrews, Anne Francis, and Rhonda Fleming.
October 11, 2019
I'd seen the movie of "The Crowded Sky" several times & liked it very much. The book was even better!
April 29, 2009
Examines two men, both pilots, who will have a fateful meeting in the air. One is a Navy pilot with an unfaithful wife, flying a small aircraft to Washington to meet the new love of his life. The other is a commercial pilot riding in the co-pilot's seat, fretting over the fact that the chief pilot pays little attention to the instruments. Other characters include an air traffic controller whose wife is about to have a baby and a female passenger on the jet liner whose husband is keeping something from her. Unfortunately, the book leans towards the dry and dull as it takes its time getting to the part we're all waiting for and then that part isn't quite stirring or exciting enough to warrant having read the rest. Not bad, but also not that terrific.
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August 24, 2009The Crowded Sky by Hank Searls (1960)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews