Crash Course

Accidents Don't Just Happen

By: Julie Whipple

Narrated by: Heather Henderson

Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

“Relive the story of an ill-fated commercial flight that was doomed before it was ever airborne; and find out how it may one day save your life - if it hasn’t already.” (Chris Mendenhall, air traffic controller, Tinker Air Force Base) 

On a cold winter night, a passenger jet with 189 aboard crash landed, out of fuel, in a suburban neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. Ten people died. The pilot was blamed and stripped of his career, and a sweeping transformation of flight-crew training took place that made United Flight 173 (in)famous worldwide as the model for failure and change. That was only the half of it. 

Hiding in plain sight for years in an attorney’s file boxes, the forgotten truths of the landmark air disaster reveal much more: an emotional journey tethered to the disgraced pilot and a three-year-old girl who survived the crash and became an unlikely hero for justice and public safety in the dramatic legal battle that followed. 

Crash Course, by award-winning journalist Julie Whipple, is the long-overdue, true story of a misunderstood airline tragedy that changed more about our daily lives than most people know. Here is why we’re safer today, how we’re not, and what we can do about it.

©2018 Julie Whipple (P)2018 Post Hypnotic Press Inc.

Interesting

This book is about air passenger jet number 189 that crashed into a Portland, Oregon neighborhood. The investigation’s findings led to major transformation changes in training. Then United Flight 173 crash also brought about sweeping changes in regulations.

This book is well written and researched. Whipple is a journalist and the book reveals her investigation and writing skills. The book is very easy to read and understand for the lay person. The author not only explains the investigations of the crashes but presents the exciting courtroom drama as well. This is an excellent read.

The book is eight hours and eight minutes. Heather Henderson does an good job narrating the book. Henderson is a voice actress and audiobook narrator. She has won several Earphone Awards as well as the 2013 Best Children’s Audiobook Narrator Award.

Be Afraid

Is anyone surprised that United Airlines would rank money above passenger safety? As demonstrated by Ford and General Motors back in the day when the Pinto would explode in flames and the Corvair suddenly roll off the highway, there is an acceptable level of maiming and death that industry will write off rather than correct design flaws. Safety measures such as the installation of seat belts were forced onto car manufacturers through the efforts of crusaders such as Ralph Nader.

The Canadian television series MAYDAY emphasizes the hard-won lessons that the National Transportation Safety Board has drawn from investigation into deadly crashes. Now, we learn that a loosening of NTSB regulations surrounding maintenance of aircraft is returning the flying public once again to the perilous skies of United. Human factors such as pilot fatigue are similarly swept under the carpet by airline corporations more concerned about shareholders than passengers.

Whipple's efforts are thorough and compelling; her writing, not so much. Investigative journalism by its very nature requires clean, precise writing. Literary devices such as metaphors and similes clutter the narrative and detract from the message. There is no place in expository writing for purple prose such as the following description of the shattered cabin: Great shards of shredded insulation hung like strips of whale blubber from the open gash ... as if bitten off by a monster. Gag.

Excellent

This was a great book, and an even more impressive true story. These pilots are nothing short of heroic.

Snoozer

I am surprised the narrator didn't fall asleep. She did her best, but my gosh, it was boring. I was expecting a dramatic account of the crash, but the majority of the book was made up of explaining the mechanics of the landing gear and detailing every single minute of the legal battle which followed. Not entertaining or interesting, at all, for me at least.

A Plaintiff Trial Attorney Story

The reader is excellent. The book is written by the daughter (Julie Whipple) of the attorney who sued United after the other legal actions resulting from the crash were nearly finished. As such the perspective is from an adversarial party in a court proceeding. The reader is thus warned that this is not a balanced account of a complex and tragic event whose immediate cause was established by the investigating governmental agencies to be clear cut fuel exhaustion.

The court room with biased information presented by adversarial parties to lay jurors is not an ideal way to establish truths.