The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation

by Bill Adair

Book Overview

The immediate human toll of the 1994 Flight 427 disaster was staggering: all 132 people aboard died on a Pennsylvania hillside. The subsequent investigation was a maze of politics, bizarre theories,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1588340899
• ISBN13: 9781588340894
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

For anyone whom has interest in a commercial airline crash

As an avid reader of NTSB crash investigations I have always been fascinated by the forensic skills of the NTSB and the "party system". Although I have always been interested in these reports - they are quite voluminous - often 300 to 600 pages in length. I was very familiar with the investigation into the crash of USAir Flight 427 long before I read this book but I have to say that the author did an outstanding job of laying out the details of the crash and the ensuing investigation. His portrayal of the personalities involved (only names in an official NTSB report) gave me a great deal more insight into the investigation. If you are interested in what happens when a commercial aircraft crashes but do not have the time or interest to delve into a document that reads like a corporate tax return this book is your 'ticket'.

Adair Has a Good Grasp on a Tough Subject

I am generally skeptical of aviation accident books, but Adair's account of the USAir 427 accident is near the top of the heap. As an airline pilot who has flown (and generally disliked) the 737 among other airliners for a major US airline, I was pleased with the pains that Adair went through to be balanced in telling this story. It is generally a very accurate account of the accident sequence and investigation. Of particular note is the ability Adair has to tell the story from all points of view, particularly from the victim's family and NTSB's point of view, without giving short shrift to Boeing (despite their general arrogance). In fact, the book, if anything, goes too easy on Boeing. The mantra about how safe the plane is repeated frequently. The reader is constantly told how safe the plane is, and then is told that the NTSB says it is less safe than it's peers, which seems hard to swallow. That it has a low accident rate (but NOT the lowest, as some have incorrectly stated, by any accepted statistical methodology, i.e., accidents per departure, accidents per flight hour, etc.) seems to permeate the book without emphasizing that so do all western built airliners. At the end of the day when the NTSB does rule against the 737 rudder, it almost seems that Boeing is redesigning the rudder actuators out of the goodness of it's corporate conscience, rather than the FAA mandates, which doesn't really square with reality. (Bottom line, airlines have until 2007 to replace the faulty system with the new design, so basically you have 737s flying around with a known defect for upwards of 13 years, which is one reason I personally avoid flying on 737s unless there is absolutely no other choice available.)My hat is off to Mr. Adair. Though I may quibble with the tone of certain sections of his book, it is, nonetheless, a masterpiece. Enjoyable for professionals and laymen alike.

Very interesting study about crash investigations

It's ironic, but crashes are making flying safer, and this book again demonstrates Henry Petroski's (my favorite civil engineer) aphorism that we learn more from failure than we do from success. Adair has painstakingly reconstructed the investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737, one of the world's safest airplanes. It was Boeing engineers who discovered the peculiar flaw in the special and unique design of the power control unit (PCU) that caused the rudder to go into hardover - a full application of the rudder, the large moveable section in the plane's tail that in a 737 is used mostly during crosswind landings. The problem was rudder movement in the wrong direction, opposite to what was indicated by the rudder pedals. In the end, this investigation also resulted in computer data that lead to a determination that something similar happened in the crash of a United 737 over Colorado Springs. Crash investigations throw together a multitude of people, each with a particular agenda or point of view, and places them under extreme pressure. One of the criticisms of the NTSB had been the "party" system that permitted each agency or group its bias: Boeing (which had a desire to implicate the pilots and clear the airplane), ALPA (the Airline Pilots Association that had a special interest in clearing the pilots), USAir (that would have been happy to blame anyone other than itself), and the FAA (an agency often accused of having a contradictory role: promoting aviation yet making it as safe as possible). The NTSB is charged with overseeing investigations and making a final determination as to the cause of transportation accidents. It could be a demanding and uncomfortable job, but most investigators knew that the results of the investigation would make things safer, and they considered it a failure when they could not determine a cause, as in the case of the Colorado Springs 737 crash. There was a multitude of clues, but one of the key points that led to an ultimate resolution was a radar track that showed flight 427 crossing the wake of a 727 at the exact moment when things started to go wrong. The exact sequence was duplicated under similar weather conditions and the slight bounce was easily handled by the pilots, but they suspected some relationship. The other key finding came several years into the investigation. Several PCU units, including one from an Eastwind Airlines flight that had suffered a rudder hardover, and the one from flight 427, were sent to a lab to be tested. In the Eastwind Airlines flight, the pilot, who had many hours of experience in turboprops, was able to counteract the influence of the rudder forcing the plane in the wrong direction, by applying asymmetric thrust, i.e., speeding up the engine on the opposite side, counteracting the thrust of the rudder. Using the engines in this manner was common in small turboprops but would rarely be used in a jet. His quick thinking saved many lives. A misconnected yaw

The ideal crash investigation book

The idea of a book about an airline crash and the following investigation is not new. There have been plenty of books using this formula. But this one is special. Very readable. As an airline pilot who has taken (but thankfully never had to use) crash site courses the technical aspects are pitch perfect, and as a reader of tons of aviation books, the writing is engaging and accessible. Just about anybody could read, understand, and become involved in this text.The epic story of the world's most popular jet with an unknown fleeting flaw is the story. Adair avoids the clichés of the Airplane! genre, but the whole book smoothly reads like a novel. He seemed to have interviewed everybody involved in the 737 investigations. And as a professional journalist he knew how and what to ask. Balanced without preaching. It is clear the 737 was safe, but had a fatal flaw. Thanks to folks at the NTSB that never gave up, and people like Adair who track and report on the detective story, airline flying becomes even safer.If you want to know what it is really like inside a crash investigation, without the hyperbole, but with all the smells and politics, this is a super book to start with.

Outstanding recount of the accident and investigation

This book is a must read for any commercial aviation enthusiast. It details the investigation of USAir Flight 427 which crashed on approach into Pittsburgh in September 1994. The crash claimed the lives of 132 passengers and crew. The book humanizes the passengers and crew, the victim's families and the investigators themselves as they undertake the longest aviation investigation in aviation history. The book follows path of the investigation from the moment the passengers board the ill-fated 737-300 until the final report is released by the NTSB five years later. It documents what the victim's families went through dealing with USAir, the lawyers and the government. It reads more like a fiction novel rather than a non-fiction piece. I read the entire book in 6 hours and could not put it down. It is the best piece of work on the crash of Flight 427 I have seen, and I have read them all. I definitely recommend to anyone interested in air safety.