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Equal Time Point
'There has never been a mid ocean ditching by an air carrier jet.' These are the words that haunt Captain Charlie Wells when he realizes that his jumbo jet has a problem over the Atlantic. None of the passengers or crew could know that a disgruntled airline mechanic has sentenced them to a night of terror. As the flight approaches the Equal Time Point and is the most distant from land, Captain Wells and his crew of pilots and flight attendants struggle to avoid making history. While airline personnel, the FAA, and the FBI try to solve the mystery of Tri Con Flight Eleven, a small U.S. Navy ship may be the only hope for the 208 souls on board. Ride along in the cockpit as this routine international flight becomes a nightmare that will require all the flight staff's training to survive. After reading Equal Time Point, frequent flyers and first-time passengers will find themselves studying the emergency procedure card in the seatback before their next flight.
- GenresAviation
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2009
126 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Harrison Jones
16 books12 followersAuthor Harrison Jones writes aviation fiction based on personal experience. Before becoming an airline pilot, his forty year career included stints as an aircraft mechanic, a pilot ground school instructor and a flight instructor. He recently retired as an international captain with more than 20,000 hours in the cockpit and extensive flying throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. His writing features realism and plausibility that is uncommon in aviation novels. His method has been described as separating fiction from fantasy by developing plot that is not only possible but indeed probable. Harrison says, "My career has blessed me with an endless supply of colorful characters and I allow them to dialogue freely. The narrative is there to simply keep them in scene and herd them all toward a final conclusion." Harrison is currently editing the manuscript for his second novel. He lives in his native Georgia with his wife, Diane.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
December 7, 2021
Fabulous Flight Fracas
I will start off by disclosing that I am morbidly obsessed with air disasters and a regular binger of the program, 'Mayday,' so as a bookworm I thought: why not combine my two passions?
I was thus in the market for a fictionalized air calamity, and boy did this deliver! It took maybe 5 chapters to get hooked and earn the appellation of unputdownable, but once it did, it indubitably was. There are a bunch of characters, but none are given too much depth nor too little, rather a perfect goldilocks balance for the extensive ensemble of cast, if that makes sense. Really the whole thing played like a great blockbuster movie in my head.
I love how the ordeal is broken down into different POVs: Pilots, Flight Attendants, Maintenance workers, Airline Corporate exes, a group of handicap passengers, FBI investigators, Navy men, concerned family members, etc, etc..
The whole work is riddled with wit and humor to allay the heaviness of the situation, but still there is a realism present, and you can be sure of a satisfactory ending, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the very end. I knocked this back in one evening that bled into the early morning. The real world expertise of the author translates on page and enriches the lot.
It features a criticism of airline's cost cutting practices. Airlines are increasingly being treated as a business with a focus on it's bottom line, disregarding their workers, and by extension it's passengers and their safety. As someone who has been frequent to air travel since 6 months old, to the extent that by 5 years of age I had a box under my bed full of credit cards mailed to me by airlines mistaking me for an adult- easy prey for the early 00's credit card fall trap- I have been witnesses to an extent of the degradation of the magic and class of air travel.
I say 'an extent' because I can only imagine how much cooler it was in it's classy heyday of the 60's, or at least what the 80's movie 'Airplane!'- which I must admit a partiality to- led me to understand it was.
And while this is not as ridiculous as that movie, it did feature the trademark pilot/ airline humor.
This made me laugh, it engrossed me, and it fostered within me a sense of optimism that where there is a disaster, there will also be unexpected heroes who rise to the occasion. If airplanes & human heroics be your cup of tea I can assure you this will not disappoint! Needless to say I recommend this highly and I plan to look into this authors other works.
Available on KU
I will start off by disclosing that I am morbidly obsessed with air disasters and a regular binger of the program, 'Mayday,' so as a bookworm I thought: why not combine my two passions?
I was thus in the market for a fictionalized air calamity, and boy did this deliver! It took maybe 5 chapters to get hooked and earn the appellation of unputdownable, but once it did, it indubitably was. There are a bunch of characters, but none are given too much depth nor too little, rather a perfect goldilocks balance for the extensive ensemble of cast, if that makes sense. Really the whole thing played like a great blockbuster movie in my head.
I love how the ordeal is broken down into different POVs: Pilots, Flight Attendants, Maintenance workers, Airline Corporate exes, a group of handicap passengers, FBI investigators, Navy men, concerned family members, etc, etc..
The whole work is riddled with wit and humor to allay the heaviness of the situation, but still there is a realism present, and you can be sure of a satisfactory ending, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the very end. I knocked this back in one evening that bled into the early morning. The real world expertise of the author translates on page and enriches the lot.
It features a criticism of airline's cost cutting practices. Airlines are increasingly being treated as a business with a focus on it's bottom line, disregarding their workers, and by extension it's passengers and their safety. As someone who has been frequent to air travel since 6 months old, to the extent that by 5 years of age I had a box under my bed full of credit cards mailed to me by airlines mistaking me for an adult- easy prey for the early 00's credit card fall trap- I have been witnesses to an extent of the degradation of the magic and class of air travel.
I say 'an extent' because I can only imagine how much cooler it was in it's classy heyday of the 60's, or at least what the 80's movie 'Airplane!'- which I must admit a partiality to- led me to understand it was.
And while this is not as ridiculous as that movie, it did feature the trademark pilot/ airline humor.
This made me laugh, it engrossed me, and it fostered within me a sense of optimism that where there is a disaster, there will also be unexpected heroes who rise to the occasion. If airplanes & human heroics be your cup of tea I can assure you this will not disappoint! Needless to say I recommend this highly and I plan to look into this authors other works.
Available on KU
October 18, 2021
This is the plane crash book I was looking for! It's like watching a dramatized version of Air Disasters. There were a ton of characters so I got mixed up a bit with them, especially when it came to the flight attendants, and having such a broad cast did mean that I didn't get particularly attached to anyone, but ultimately I didn't care. This was not a character-driven novel - it was all about the plane crash. There's no real mystery about who did it or anything like that, just going through the processes to see how everything will turn out. And I enjoyed every minute of it.
I don't think this book is for everyone. The writing is pretty straightforward and the plot isn't all that sensationalized (especially compared to my last plane crash book), so those that read the larger-than-life, would-be-a-great-movie type action/adventure books would likely find the plot a bit mundane. But I loved Hideo Yokoyama's Six Four and that was basically a police detective dealing with the press and sitting around thinking, so apparently I'm into books that give me a window into ordinary people in "common" emergency situations. ("Common" as in a plane crash, not being kidnapped by drug runners.)
So yeah, great fun, I really enjoyed it and the author has another book on Kindle Unlimited that I have already gotten. Hordes of thanks to Shifra for the suggestion!
I don't think this book is for everyone. The writing is pretty straightforward and the plot isn't all that sensationalized (especially compared to my last plane crash book), so those that read the larger-than-life, would-be-a-great-movie type action/adventure books would likely find the plot a bit mundane. But I loved Hideo Yokoyama's Six Four and that was basically a police detective dealing with the press and sitting around thinking, so apparently I'm into books that give me a window into ordinary people in "common" emergency situations. ("Common" as in a plane crash, not being kidnapped by drug runners.)
So yeah, great fun, I really enjoyed it and the author has another book on Kindle Unlimited that I have already gotten. Hordes of thanks to Shifra for the suggestion!
July 28, 2015
The details in this book are accurate and it is apparent the author is a retired airline pilot. The events that are depicted could also happen, something which makes this pilot shudder.
An airliner on an Atlantic Ocean crossing runs out of fuel and ditches miles from any land or boats. It is only a matter of time before the passengers and crew perish.
I thought the story started off slowly making it easy to put down. It reminded me of the Airport movies in the seventies. The author spent considerable chapters showing some of the recurrent training pilots receive leaving the reader with no doubt of the emergency they’ll face later in the story. The airline and its associated problems are described. We’re introduced to the crew which the author does a great job of depicting. Then finally, the villain is introduced. It was from this point the book held my interest.
The ending was dragged out and could have been summed up quicker. I would also have liked to have seen more emotional attachment to the main characters. This is a trait that’s difficult to write, but I feel the author will do a better job of this in later novels.
My gripes aside, once I was hooked, I sped through the remainder of the story. The crash and the events that follow kept me on edge and made this pilot think, “How would I handle that situation?”
The twist near the end was cleverly written and accurately depicted. The author gets a pat on the back for coming up with it.
This author has a couple of other books published which I will read. I recommend this book to lovers of mystery novels.
An airliner on an Atlantic Ocean crossing runs out of fuel and ditches miles from any land or boats. It is only a matter of time before the passengers and crew perish.
I thought the story started off slowly making it easy to put down. It reminded me of the Airport movies in the seventies. The author spent considerable chapters showing some of the recurrent training pilots receive leaving the reader with no doubt of the emergency they’ll face later in the story. The airline and its associated problems are described. We’re introduced to the crew which the author does a great job of depicting. Then finally, the villain is introduced. It was from this point the book held my interest.
The ending was dragged out and could have been summed up quicker. I would also have liked to have seen more emotional attachment to the main characters. This is a trait that’s difficult to write, but I feel the author will do a better job of this in later novels.
My gripes aside, once I was hooked, I sped through the remainder of the story. The crash and the events that follow kept me on edge and made this pilot think, “How would I handle that situation?”
The twist near the end was cleverly written and accurately depicted. The author gets a pat on the back for coming up with it.
This author has a couple of other books published which I will read. I recommend this book to lovers of mystery novels.
June 14, 2013
This book had a great story, good characters, and a wonderful combination of drama, suspense, and a little humor. What took the book from "really good" to "great" for me was the accuracy of the airline procedures and technical details. While the book doesn't dwell on technical details, so many aviation books get them wrong and that takes away from the story. Well, that doesn't happen in this book. The author has good subject knowledge and from properly describing aircraft systems to knowing about the static and characteristics of long range HF communications, it all has the feeling of reality. I'll be looking for other books from this author. I should say that non-aviators should not let me talk about technical details scare them away from this book. The technical stuff is the backdrop for the story. It's just that this author gets it right!
September 12, 2012
I loved reading Harrison Jones' novel Equal Time Point! This book has everything that a good action-adventure novel should have: an intensely dramatic yet 100% believable plot, vividly described action scenes, characters to whom the reader can easily relate, richly descriptive language, well-written dialogues (a rarity in most of today's literature), and a good amount of witty humor. And even though aviation is by definition a highly technical subject that is difficult for many people to understand, Jones somehow manages not only to explain the technical aspects in terms understandable to the average layman, but also to weave it almost seamlessly into the narrative without disrupting it -- a master feat, to say the least. A great read all around, for pilots and non-pilots alike.
September 15, 2014
Great plot about an airliner running out of fuel over the ocean. The book is filled with airline and sea vessel technical information. I've no doubt the writer knows his stuff and did his research on everything else. The writing is a bit unpolished. Jones seems to have a great time making his pilots trade jokes. Some of that came off as kind of weak rather than as the humor he seems to have intended. A few of the characters read as stereotypes rather than fully realized people, particularly the bad guy and the corporate CEO. Smallwood? Really? Could a name be a bigger dig? All that said, I found myself engaged and waiting to see what would happen next.
July 14, 2017
Absolutely great!!!
Not enough can be said about this book!! If you love-or even like-flying, this book is for you. I don't know why movie producers want to keep remaking the same sad old movies. If they could read books like this, they would have so much more material to go on. Just when you think there will be a happy ending, it starts again!! Surprise!!!!! Can't recommend this book enough.
Not enough can be said about this book!! If you love-or even like-flying, this book is for you. I don't know why movie producers want to keep remaking the same sad old movies. If they could read books like this, they would have so much more material to go on. Just when you think there will be a happy ending, it starts again!! Surprise!!!!! Can't recommend this book enough.
June 13, 2018
Skyward
The author did his research being a former air traffic controller he followed the system very well. The book was well written and kept my attention throughout i hated to put it down. Thank you for a story and entertaining read.
The author did his research being a former air traffic controller he followed the system very well. The book was well written and kept my attention throughout i hated to put it down. Thank you for a story and entertaining read.
November 21, 2019
A Page-turner, Start to Finish
This is a superb example of magnificent story telling. The principal characters are well developed and the plot moves smoothly to a moving climax. It is the best aviation disaster story I have read.
This is a superb example of magnificent story telling. The principal characters are well developed and the plot moves smoothly to a moving climax. It is the best aviation disaster story I have read.
November 2, 2015
Compelling plot and airplane/airline detail. Fair number of typos and usage errors in my version (Kindle) which was distracting. Some of the characters seem cliched and two dimensional.
September 16, 2017
A heartfelt story
Having flown internationally millions of miles in another profession, It was refreshing to read a novel that was quite accurate, the story line was exemplary
Having flown internationally millions of miles in another profession, It was refreshing to read a novel that was quite accurate, the story line was exemplary
August 29, 2022
I love aviation and plane crash novels, and accordingly enjoyed this one. I don't think it's as good as Hostage by Clare Mackintosh, Falling by T.J. Newman, and many John Nance novels. It's a bit on the predictable side and the plane crash part was not as beautifully, suspensefully stretched-out as John Nance did in Blackout. But it's still a great thrilling read with the feel-good factor thrown in.
January 1, 2025
This was a good yarn and the technical flying detail was excellent. Some of the authors prejudices, especially towards the press, the disabled and in his absurd characterization of the airline executive grated and detracted from the book. His constant outdated and derogatory references to “deck apes” was also unnecessary and detracting.
February 6, 2022
Decent read
I enjoyed the authors knowledge and understanding aircraft and procedures and his ability to communicate those things but some of the dialogue seemed a bit cheesy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book...
I enjoyed the authors knowledge and understanding aircraft and procedures and his ability to communicate those things but some of the dialogue seemed a bit cheesy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book...
August 24, 2023
“A Page Turner”
Outstanding story line. International flying has its own set of challenges and the story captures the thrill of those challenges. Thoroughly enjoyed the book from the first page to the last. Well done.
Outstanding story line. International flying has its own set of challenges and the story captures the thrill of those challenges. Thoroughly enjoyed the book from the first page to the last. Well done.
August 29, 2018
Action packed story
I liked the explanations of what the crew does and how the airplane works along with the mystery of what the bad guy does.
I liked the explanations of what the crew does and how the airplane works along with the mystery of what the bad guy does.
March 25, 2021
It is a yes from me
Enough technical stuff to make it interesting but not so much to spoil the narrative. Highly recommended,
A cracking adventure
Enough technical stuff to make it interesting but not so much to spoil the narrative. Highly recommended,
A cracking adventure
April 19, 2021
Super
Great Read I enjoyed every page of this book. I thought I was on the flight. I recommend this book for a fun read.
Great Read I enjoyed every page of this book. I thought I was on the flight. I recommend this book for a fun read.
March 18, 2023
ETP
Great read. As a pilot for 38 years I felt I was there. Look forward to more. My heart was in my throat most of the time I was reading
Great read. As a pilot for 38 years I felt I was there. Look forward to more. My heart was in my throat most of the time I was reading
January 20, 2024
Valid airline & rescue procedures. Good story
Page turner. Excellent read for those interested in airline and rescue operations . Media involvement & PR response seems valid. Tec
Page turner. Excellent read for those interested in airline and rescue operations . Media involvement & PR response seems valid. Tec
July 12, 2023
Kept my interest
Haven’t read a book this size in two days in years, but this one kept my interest to keep reading. Anyone interested in aviation or flying will enjoy it.
Haven’t read a book this size in two days in years, but this one kept my interest to keep reading. Anyone interested in aviation or flying will enjoy it.
January 4, 2016
Corporate cost reduction induces unforeseen costly risks
In the great tradition of airplane thrillers, “Equal Time Point” tells the story of the crew and passengers of a transatlantic airliner doomed to fall out of the sky by the nefarious machinations of a lowly villain. No sympathy is wasted on the dastardly criminal, although a measurable amount of antipathy is showered on the ruthless cost-reducing manager who does what his little cowardly brain can imagine in order to improve the financial position of the airline.
All the members of the crew are courageous, competent and nothing less than shining examples of professionalism, which is good, because otherwise the novel would fall from adventure into tragedy and we cannot have that. Passengers are passengers, as in all such thrillers, some with interesting back-stories, some with useful roles to play, and the vast majority with neither. In an interesting twist, there is a significant part for a likable rogue, the best friend forever of the high and mighty captain.
Overall I’d say that the novel is clearly better than the average airplane thriller. I enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it to those who like this genre.
(Scale: * - unreadable, couldn't finish; ** - bad or very bad, but readable; *** - good work, well worth the price; **** - very good in its genre; ***** - timeless masterpiece.)
In the great tradition of airplane thrillers, “Equal Time Point” tells the story of the crew and passengers of a transatlantic airliner doomed to fall out of the sky by the nefarious machinations of a lowly villain. No sympathy is wasted on the dastardly criminal, although a measurable amount of antipathy is showered on the ruthless cost-reducing manager who does what his little cowardly brain can imagine in order to improve the financial position of the airline.
All the members of the crew are courageous, competent and nothing less than shining examples of professionalism, which is good, because otherwise the novel would fall from adventure into tragedy and we cannot have that. Passengers are passengers, as in all such thrillers, some with interesting back-stories, some with useful roles to play, and the vast majority with neither. In an interesting twist, there is a significant part for a likable rogue, the best friend forever of the high and mighty captain.
Overall I’d say that the novel is clearly better than the average airplane thriller. I enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it to those who like this genre.
(Scale: * - unreadable, couldn't finish; ** - bad or very bad, but readable; *** - good work, well worth the price; **** - very good in its genre; ***** - timeless masterpiece.)
September 11, 2016
Outstanding disaster story - Loved it!
Incredible character development - story line was exciting, edge of your chair intense.
Super example of multiple agencies working together to make this happen.
First book by this author and can't wait to read more.
Incredible character development - story line was exciting, edge of your chair intense.
Super example of multiple agencies working together to make this happen.
First book by this author and can't wait to read more.
April 8, 2016
Great book.
There was a lot of aviation terminology, but a good book overall. Of course, there was a happy ending. I wou recommend.
There was a lot of aviation terminology, but a good book overall. Of course, there was a happy ending. I wou recommend.
August 1, 2012
Captivating story. Hard to put down once things get rolling.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews