BOOKS

MICHA[[
CRICHTON

AIRFRAME
Airframe

by Michael Crichton
Another blockbuster from the
writer who brought you Jurassic
Park and television's popular ER.
An entertaining novel which
will interest mechanically minded detectives, Airframe is a fictional exploration of an aircraft
incident investigation.
When the pilot on an
inbound twin jet requests 40
ambulances due to a "passenger
problem", a mystery is set up.
Casey Singleton is a vicepresident of the company which
manufactures the aircraft. Her
investigation into what happened on the fateful flight is
hampered by stalkers, journalists, union action, missing
equipment and the inability to
locate the flight crew for questioning.
Airframe delves into unapproved parts, nepotism, bureaucracy and tabloid treatment of
aviation disasters.
352 pages. Published by Century
Books, Random House UK Limited, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SWIV UK

Aviation safety
the human factor

by Robert A. Alkov
Written by an experienced military pilot and accident investigator, Aviation safety - the
human factor adds to the wide
collection of resources available
which discuss the role of human
factors in aircraft accidents and
incidents.
This text is designed for flight

safety officers and aviation accident investigators, although the

information has broader
appeal. The text is divided into
five segments: aviation physiology; aviation psychology;
human factors in the workplace;
accident investigation; and the
development of a human factors safety program.
While the material covered in
the first three segments can be
found in most human factorsrelated texts, Dr Alkov has gone
beyond previous resources by
providing some practical strategies on how to develop and
implement a human factors
training program.
The material provided is easy
to read, although there are relatively few examples which
might help make the link
between theory and practice.
182 pages. Published by Endeavour Books, 7307 6WN Road,
Casper, WY United States.

investigators who piece together

the evidence to discover the fatal
flaw.
185 pages. Boxtree, London.
Beyond aviation
human factors: safety in
high technology
systems

by D Maurino, J. Reason, N.
Johnston and R. Lee
This book is written by an
impressive international group
of scholars and practitioners.
The authors argue that the
traditional approach to the
analysis of safety in high-technology systems, which tends to
focus only on the individual
operator, should be replaced by
an approach which looks at the
whole organisation.
The emphasis is on the need
to extend the scope of accident
analysis from the individuals at
the "sharp end" (pilots, air traffic controllers, maintenance
engineers) to the top level of
management and even to the air
transportation system as a
whole.
The theory behind the organisational framework is explained
clearly and then applied, through
the use of case studies, to well
known accidents, such as the
Air New Zealand DC-10 crash
on Mount Erebus and the Dryden crash in Canada.
169 pages. Aldershot, UK.
Videos
Evacuation

Black box

ACA England

by Nicholas Faith

Evacuation gives an insight into

the behaviour of panicking passengers. The research used in the
video was commissioned by both
the US Federal Aviation Administration and the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
A total of 89 evacuations were
conducted during a six-month
period using a construction
similar to a portion of a 737
fuselage with 60 seats, three on
each side.
To simulate a sense of
urgency, the passengers were
given monetary rewards if they
were one of the first 20 off the
aircraft.

Based on the Channel 4 series of

the same name made by Darlow
Smithson and recently screened
in Australia, Black Box describes
12 airline accidents, and follows
investigations into their causes.
While the book argues that
flying is still safer than travelling
by car, it maintains that modern
flying systems, which are
designed to make flying safer,
are putting pilots under increasing pressure, "... at the crucial
moment, the pilot may have no
control at all".
A fascinating insight into the
world of the "tin kickers" the

36 FLIGHT SAFETY AUSTRALIA AUTUMN 1997

Flight attendants discussed

their experiences and concerns
following the testing and provided advice for flight attendants faced with evacuations.
15 minutes. ACA Film Television
Multi Media, Haslemere, Surrey,
UK. Ph. (UK) 01428 654044,
Fax (UK) 01428 656881.
The 17 most popular
ways to fall out of the
sky... and how to avoid
them

Flyright Productions
This video set is useful for private
and commercial pilot training. It
is broken into four parts: preflight preparation and take-off;
cruise and en-route; approach
and landing; and your body in
flight. It highlights common accidents in each phase of flight,
hence the title chosen.
A booklet comes with the
videos, which explains the theory associated with the accident
scenarios. The videos use realistic scenarios of accidents with
different performance aircraft
in each case.
The videos are an American
production, but are relevant in
any country because the
emphasis is on why these accidents occurred and not on
operational procedures (for
example, airspace).
Available from Pilot Shops and
AirservicesAustralia Publications
Centre, ph. 1800 331 676 (free
call). $149.95.

The 17
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Reviews prepared by Kylie Degeling.
CASA training, and the department
of aviation studies at the University
of Western Sydney, Macarthur.