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The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents – Gripping NTSB Stories of Famous Crashes and Pilot Courage
Readers join desperate pilots in the cockpit as they fight gravity and time in a plane that's falling out of the sky.Anyone who watches the news knows about the "black box." Officially called the cockpit voice recorder, the black box (which is actually Day-glo orange) records the final moments of any in-flight accident. Often it provides the only explanation of a crash -- inevitably, it provides a heart-breaking, second-by-second account of intense fear tempered by unyielding professionalism.This 1984 Quill title has been completely updated to include twenty-eight new incidents occurring between 1978 and 1996. Some are famous, like the 1996 Valujet crash in the Everglades and the ill-fated launch of the space shuttle Challenger; other disasters range from commuter prop aircraft to jumbo airliners and a pair of Air Force planes. Few have ever been revealed in their entirety, each, without exception, is absolutely gripping.In this new edition, editor Malcolm MacPherson has, wherever possible, added weather notes and descriptions of events in the cockpit and cabin, heightening our vivid sense of being there during the final moments. Provided by the National Transportation Safety Board and vetted by an experienced airline captain, these are unforgettable case studies in ultimate emergency -- authentic, immediate, filled with drama, terror, human frailty and error, and unquenchable courage.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Malcolm MacPherson
24 books17 followersMalcolm Cook MacPherson was an American national and foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine and the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 18, 2017
Music: LiLiPUT - "DC-10"
Cockpit: [Terrain warning: Whoop, whoop, terrain]
Co-pilot: Aw, shit.
Cockpit: [Sound of loud crunching]
This is a book of CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) material of several in-flight accidents, mostly from 1980s-1990s, but including one from 1978. Most are of US flights, but there is still many non-US ones too. Some are well known, like the Korean Airlines plane that was shot down during Soviet Russia times, the Challenger tape, the plane in Hawaii that had part of its roof ripped out, and also United Airlines flight 232 (Sioux City), that has it's own book out there (Gonzales - "Flight 232") which I plan to read at some point.
The CVR has been in use since 1966, first length at 30 mins, now can be 2 hours. The box is orange, not black, and can stand pretty well gravity, fire and water.
The stories here vary in length, some just two pages, some several (including the Sioux City one above, which is also the last story in the book). There is term glossary at the end. Not all stories end badly: about 4 stories end with no lives lost. It is strange to read this stuff and know that many here talking are going to end up dead.
There are many reasons why the accidents happened: ground crew mistakes, plane part failure, collisions with another plane (or in one case, a missile), fire in cargo (thrice), no fuel, bird strike, pilot error(s) (four times), differences of opinion, wind trouble, ice... I listed them all and was just like 0.0 Thank goodness for some successful landing stories in the book *lol*
This book is probably not for the most fearful of flying, but it is quite interesting. There's even a drink recipe I noticed in one of the texts (26th story): cranberry, orange and diet Sprite mix; sounds like something I'd want to try. So there was a sudden moments like this among all stresses and bad endings. Unique experience of a book, certainly, and I liked it :)
Cockpit: [Terrain warning: Whoop, whoop, terrain]
Co-pilot: Aw, shit.
Cockpit: [Sound of loud crunching]
This is a book of CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) material of several in-flight accidents, mostly from 1980s-1990s, but including one from 1978. Most are of US flights, but there is still many non-US ones too. Some are well known, like the Korean Airlines plane that was shot down during Soviet Russia times, the Challenger tape, the plane in Hawaii that had part of its roof ripped out, and also United Airlines flight 232 (Sioux City), that has it's own book out there (Gonzales - "Flight 232") which I plan to read at some point.
The CVR has been in use since 1966, first length at 30 mins, now can be 2 hours. The box is orange, not black, and can stand pretty well gravity, fire and water.
The stories here vary in length, some just two pages, some several (including the Sioux City one above, which is also the last story in the book). There is term glossary at the end. Not all stories end badly: about 4 stories end with no lives lost. It is strange to read this stuff and know that many here talking are going to end up dead.
There are many reasons why the accidents happened: ground crew mistakes, plane part failure, collisions with another plane (or in one case, a missile), fire in cargo (thrice), no fuel, bird strike, pilot error(s) (four times), differences of opinion, wind trouble, ice... I listed them all and was just like 0.0 Thank goodness for some successful landing stories in the book *lol*
This book is probably not for the most fearful of flying, but it is quite interesting. There's even a drink recipe I noticed in one of the texts (26th story): cranberry, orange and diet Sprite mix; sounds like something I'd want to try. So there was a sudden moments like this among all stresses and bad endings. Unique experience of a book, certainly, and I liked it :)
June 1, 2009
Originally I thought this was actual recordings of the conversations had in the cockpit before and during accidents. It was actually a reading from transcripts made from those recordings. These can still be disturbing to a certain degree. Hearing the final moments, reactions, panic, etc., was enlightening to say the least. How would I react, respond, behave, if I knew my life might be near its end, and I held the lives of multiple people in my hand? Each accident comprises a chapter. Not all chapters end in fatalities, but the majority do. It was interesting to see that some of the accidents were completely caused by poor decisions the crews made, and others were things that not even the best crew could have fixed (mechanical problems with the airplane). This book gives you an appreciation for every safe landing that you have experienced. All in all, the statistics still show that flying is safer than just about every other form of transportation. Good book.
July 10, 2021
Wish I could give this a more positive review, as I would like to respect that each author put their time and energy into their works, and especially so because Malcolm MacPherson is no longer with us. BUT, I can't review this positively. As a pilot, there were a LOT, a LOT, a LOT of mistakes. From providing incorrect interpretations/translations of crew/ATC language, to actually misstating what caused one of the crashes based on what I assume was his in-expert reading of the NTSB report (see pg. 127 about Delta 1141, where he says the crash was due to improper weight & balance of the fuel tanks whereas in truth, NTSB attributed the cause to that the pilots didn't have the frickin' flaps down, fuel tanks had nothing to do with it!). Why a non-pilot thought he could take this topic on without having multiple fine-tooth-comb reviews by an actual airline pilot is beyond me. What I liked about the book was his curation of the selected excerpts (some of these incidents/accidents I've never heard of and never would have) and actually reading the crew/ATC language myself.
September 10, 2007
There is nothing more chilling and realistic in airline disasters than The Black Box, in which the author presents transcriptions of black box recordings of ill-fated flights (coupled with his own technical explanations and indication of horrific sounds). Sometimes these are disasters are averted by the fantastic skill of the pilots- shining examples of grace under fire, but more often than not, we must read pilot's last words, sometimes very aware of their predicament (final declarations to loved ones), and sometimes just awfully surprised and afraid. Wow.
July 25, 2020
To be blunt, this has been neutered by the internet. MacPherson doesn't add much to the transcript, beyond a smidge of context, so it's easy to just look all of these accidents up on Wikipedia. I may have spent more time - and leaned more - reading those entries than I did from the book.
September 3, 2008
The only book you'll ever need for taking with you on the plane. Strangely comforting.
August 26, 2025
This book is a bit of a novelty, but other than that is a massive wasted opportunity. At first, I thought my negative impression of the book came from accident transcripts being fairly easy to acquire these days, so I tried to think of the books relevance when it came out... and it's still bad.
Each transcript is accompanied with so little relevant information that it's impossible for the reader to imagine the events like the author wants you to. For instance, there is a crash that occurred at night, and the fact that it was night was a massive factor in the crash, yet the author never mentions that this crash occurred at night.
What airplane is it on? The author may or may not tell you.
Time of day? Take a guess.
One chapter has just 14 very short sentences between the crew, and that's the entirety of what the reader gets to know. Often the transcriptions start after the major causative event, and end before the end of the flight, and all the reader is left with is a little snippet of cockpit conversation with minimal context, and with nothing interesting said by the crew.
Frequently I went to Wikipedia to find out vital relevant information about the crashes in the book, because the author didn't include it, I can't imagine how frustrating this book would have been to read when it first released.
If you can use a computer, then this book has been replaced by the Google term "[airline] [flight no.] cvr" and the search results you get will also include all of the relevant information!
Each transcript is accompanied with so little relevant information that it's impossible for the reader to imagine the events like the author wants you to. For instance, there is a crash that occurred at night, and the fact that it was night was a massive factor in the crash, yet the author never mentions that this crash occurred at night.
What airplane is it on? The author may or may not tell you.
Time of day? Take a guess.
One chapter has just 14 very short sentences between the crew, and that's the entirety of what the reader gets to know. Often the transcriptions start after the major causative event, and end before the end of the flight, and all the reader is left with is a little snippet of cockpit conversation with minimal context, and with nothing interesting said by the crew.
Frequently I went to Wikipedia to find out vital relevant information about the crashes in the book, because the author didn't include it, I can't imagine how frustrating this book would have been to read when it first released.
If you can use a computer, then this book has been replaced by the Google term "[airline] [flight no.] cvr" and the search results you get will also include all of the relevant information!
January 6, 2018
read in 1 day
September 2, 2019
Actually read the older edition, which contains different material. Checked out on archive.org.
October 3, 2008
Good book. Lot of technical talk, but that is helped by a glossary in the back of the book. I gave it 3 stars not because it wasn't worth the read, it was, but rather, the "technical" talk was a bit overwhelming (though, obviously, there is absolutely nothing they could do to remove it, otherwise you would be left with no book).
When you read stories that finish with "...struck the ground in a slight roll to the left at an 80 degree angle of descent, nearly perpendicular, going an estimated 299 mph" or "a fire inside the cargo hold...estimated at nearly 3000 degrees F...." or "...follow roughly seven minutes as the Boeing 747 plunged 35,000 feet into the sea." No thanks. I will drive. I will take a bus. I will bike. I will walk.
Fascinating look, however, at real-life events as they were happening.
When you read stories that finish with "...struck the ground in a slight roll to the left at an 80 degree angle of descent, nearly perpendicular, going an estimated 299 mph" or "a fire inside the cargo hold...estimated at nearly 3000 degrees F...." or "...follow roughly seven minutes as the Boeing 747 plunged 35,000 feet into the sea." No thanks. I will drive. I will take a bus. I will bike. I will walk.
Fascinating look, however, at real-life events as they were happening.
October 4, 2012
This is definitely NOT the book to read just before you're getting ready to take a flight somewhere--nonetheless, it was really interesting. Each chapter contains the dialogue from the black box recorder from a specific flight. Some of the flights are well known, others I'd never heard of. The brief chapter on the Challenger explosion from January 28th, 1986, was very sad. Some of the flights have good outcomes, some don't. Regardless, I'm sure the information obtained from the black box recordings can only serve to make flying safer for everyone from what was learned from them.
July 16, 2014
A gripping read! All sorts of aircraft accidents and incidents are outlined and the Black Box recordings provide an insight to flight crews behaviour in such situations. There are a few times though when editiorial comment would have provided greater insight into the cause of a crash. Also having time stamps on the recordings (which happened in McPherson's second book) would also have made things clearer.
Still a very interesting read.
Still a very interesting read.
October 12, 2015
Haunting, fascinating, impossible to put down. We all fly on airplanes, so this book is relevant to us all. These transcripts are not meant to frighten us away from flight, but to inform. I also gained a level of respect for the men and women who fly our aircraft - although now I know what could be happening in the cockpit while the passengers sit unknowing ... I will definitely complain less about delays in the future!
January 5, 2017
A thorough and detailed, if dark, secondhand view into the (typically) last moments of pilots, this book is gripping because it sharply reminds us of our mortality, and bests even the most popular Stephen King novel, because all of it is true! It also provides insight into what went wrong with various planes as routine flights go awry and end in disaster. Also, stay tuned at the end for a secondhand account of another flight - but not from a plane or helicopter!
January 6, 2012
Not for the faint of heart, but fascinating transcripts of the last moments of various air disasters. Loss of situational awareness is often a key factor, so has additional interest for students of Boyd's OODA Loop.
May 4, 2012
disturbing transcription of flights before a crash. aviation regulators edited out anything that did not relate to the operation of the aircraft, which provided a less upsetting, more technical read.
December 26, 2015
Good (quick) read. Interesting how the intersection of expertise and keeping your cool seemed to be a huge influence on what happened. I'm not a pilot, but one could pull out the patterns of where a rough situation became an absolutely terrible situation.
September 9, 2007
Very informative, scary book about aircraft accidents you've heard about. To read the CVR recordings was chilling.
October 29, 2007
One of the most chilling real-life books of tragedy that you'll ever come across.
February 8, 2008
I only read the introductions and conclusions, the rest of the dialog is to hard to follow.
February 8, 2009
A must for the curious.
March 31, 2010
Fascinating, if a little macabre.
August 2, 2010
DO NOT READ if you have any fear of flying.
August 7, 2011
I bought this at an airport, believe it or not. Excellent in-flight reading. Particularly if you read selected passages aloud to other passengers :)
August 22, 2012
A This American Life referral. Not as emotional as hearing the recordings on the radio. I know the NTSB cleanses the recordings of anything personal, but it's compelling stuff anyway.
April 7, 2013
This collection of short stories was scary, but a bit predictable after awhile. Every plane crashed.
July 5, 2013
The title is self-explanatory. About 60% was rather boring, and 40% grim and grisly. Not as interesting as I anticipated.
January 10, 2015
didn't think I'd read this. finished in two days. compelling.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews