The Crash Detectives

Investigating the World's Most Mysterious Air Disasters

By: Christine Negroni

Narrated by: Christine Negroni

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“Negroni is a talented aviation journalist who clearly understands the critically important part the human factor plays in aviation safety.” —Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, pilot of US Airways 1549, the Miracle on the Hudson

A fascinating exploration of how humans and machines fail—leading to air disasters from Amelia Earhart to MH370—and how the lessons learned from these accidents have made flying safer.

In The Crash Detectives, veteran aviation journalist and air safety investigator Christine Negroni takes us inside crash investigations from the early days of the jet age to the present, including the search for answers about what happened to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As Negroni dissects what happened and why, she explores their common themes and, most important, what has been learned from them to make planes safer. Indeed, as Negroni shows, virtually every aspect of modern pilot training, airline operation, and airplane design has been shaped by lessons learned from disaster. Along the way, she also details some miraculous saves, when quick-thinking pilots averted catastrophe and kept hundreds of people alive.

Tying in aviation science, performance psychology, and extensive interviews with pilots, engineers, human factors specialists, crash survivors, and others involved in accidents all over the world, The Crash Detectives is an alternately terrifying and inspiring book that might just cure your fear of flying, and will definitely make you a more informed passenger.

“Christine Negroni combines her investigative reporting skills with an understanding of the complexities of air accident investigations to bring to life some of history’s most intriguing and heartbreaking cases.” —Bob Woodruff, ABC News

Love It!

Excellent subject matter covering a fascinating subject. Well, for me any way. After some 30 years in military aviation I have always been fascinated by the subject of air disasters. This book is a good start off point if you wish to learn more on the subject. There are even a few that I never knew about. Cool.

Insider's Account of Aircraft Investigating

Aviation mysteries are fascinating to me. Numbers-wise there may be few fatal crashes each year, but when they occur they impact many more lives than just the passengers and crew members involved.

The author does an excellent job drawing from her own experience as a crash scene Investigator and applying it to some of the most infamous disasters since the dawn of aviation. Tying many of those lessons to the unsolved Malaysian Air MH370 disappearance is quite fascinating.

It is rare to hear an author narrate their own book but she does and with great success. That personal touch added to the overall success of this book, which I am pleased to recommend.

The absolute best book I've heard on aviation crashes

This is the best book I've listened to on aviation. It's compelling and interesting and thrilling. You won't be disappointed

Good, but perhaps could be better.

The author is certainly a very competent aviation journalist, and this book is often quite interesting. She also does a pretty good job of narrating the audio version. But I wondered if some of the flight incidents in this book could have been told in a more artful and dramatic way. I also question her conclusions about what happened to the missing Malaysian airliner (MH380). Her theory makes some sense, but I found a competing theory in The Atlantic Magazine more persuasive, and much more gripping in the telling. I found this book a little bit difficult because of the structure. The author has a tendency to compare and contrast each emergency with other emergencies on other flights, which can sometimes make for a confusing story if you happen to lose track of which emergency she is talking about. There are also quite a few flight dramas here, and to some extent they all start to blur together a little bit after a while. Keeping track of the multitude of flight numbers, crew member names, names of investigators, etc. can be a challenge. Still, overall, a pretty interesting book if the subject matter is of interest to you. I would think pilots, flight investigators, flight instructors, air traffic controllers and people with connections to aviation would be the most interested, but even as a layperson, I found the book accessible and enjoyable.

Not in the industry

But my dad started flying aero planes in the 20s. After the war, my mom came home, got her pilot’s license and became a stew with American until she met and married my dad. Dad investigated crashes in the 60s and was a liaison with the pilot’s union and the FAA. His reason, he told his young daughter, was that so many crashes were blamed on ‘pilot error’ when, in fact, that might not have been the case at all. His passion was, whenever possible, clearing the names of his colleagues and finding the true cause of disasters. During his investigation of American flight 383 crash in northern KY, we children became fast friends of Toni Ketchell who was found wrapped around a tree. When a friend’s private plane went missing in Sault Saint Marie, dad taught me about EPIRB. I had his copy of Fate is the Hunter for many years, so many names underlined, so many notes in the margins. Like the author, dad always said the most dangerous part of flying is the drive to the airport.
I found this book riveting and fascinating, educational and enlightening, as a passenger and as the child of a crash detective. I will be listening again (and again and again)
The author’s recitation was compelling and so easy to listen to.
Thank you, Ms. Negroni.