SAFETY LAST: The Dangers of Commercial Aviation

by Captain X ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1972

There have been other books charging the air industry with laxity over safety, the most recent being former FAA official Philip Ryther's vindictive Who's Watching the Airways? (p. 663), but this is the first anonymous cockpit confessional we've encountered. ""All airlines are guilty of some unsafe practices, but some airlines are guilty of them all,"" says our mystery Captain, who, according to publisher publicity, resides on Long Island with his ex-stewardess wife and four children and pursues such hobbies as sky diving, jogging, skiing, and tobogganing when not busy tearing the angel wings off aviation executives. Among his complaints -- none of them new -- are that management pressures pilots to put flight schedule maintenance ahead of on-ground safety inspections; that the Federal Aviation Administration, the regulatory agency, is an industry tool with minimal concern for improving safety; that most major airport facilities are dangerously inadequate; and that, although the large majority of pilots are safety conscious, a few ""company men"" would ""fly the crates the airplanes came in"" if so ordered. Case histories of crashes, a few solid recommendations, and spunky observations like ""Allegheny is a good line to fly for"" round out the book. You can safely X this one.

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION