Airframe (novel)
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Airframe is a novel by Michael Crichton, first published in hardback edition in 1996 and as a paperback edition in 1997 by Ballantine Books. The plot follows Casey Singleton, a quality assurance vice-president at the fictional aerospace manufacturer Norton Aircraft, as she investigates an in-flight accident aboard a Norton-manufactured airliner that leaves three passengers dead and fifty-six injured.
As is common in Crichton's novels, the author uses the false document literary device, presenting numerous technical documents to create a sense of authenticity. Several real-life incidents are also explored; the accident itself is closely modeled on a 1993 accident aboard a McDonnell-Douglas MD-11.[link]
Themes
Airline safety procedures are a central theme in the novel, and facts and statistics from real-world accidents are often used to flesh out the story. For example, the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 and its causes are accurately described in the novel. The book repeatedly stresses the safety and reliability of modern commercial passenger aircraft, and challenges the public perception of aircraft safety.Another central theme is investigative journalism, and the consequences when sensational media agencies distort the truth to produce a better-selling story.
Synopsis
Transpacific Airlines flight 545 encounters "severe turbulence" in midflight, and makes an emergency landing at Los Angeles with three dead passengers and many more wounded. The reason for the accident is a mystery: the airplane is a Norton Aircraft-manufactured N-22, a design with an excellent safety record, and the pilot is highly experienced and skilled, ruling out the possibility of human error. Passengers, flight crew and the pilot all give conflicting accounts of the reason for the disaster, and the most likely explanation turns out to be a technical problem that was fixed years ago.The accident takes place at the worst possible time: Norton Airlines is on the verge of concluding an eight-billion-dollar sale of N-22 aircraft to the Chinese government. Should the safety record of the N-22 be questioned, the Chinese government might cancel the sale, and Norton, already hit hard by the recession, desperately needs the deal to survive. With only a week left till the deal is signed, Casey Singleton is under immense pressure to discover the true reason for the accident and vindicate the N-22 design.
Trivia
In exploring the culpability of an airframe manufacturer in an engine mishap, Michael Crichton foreshadows the controversy that would occur in 2000 concerning the failure of Firestone tires on Ford Explorer SUVs.
A brief excerpt:
"We build the plane, and then install the brand of engine the customer selects. Just the way you can put any one of several brands of tires on your car. But if Michelin makes a batch of bad tires, and they blow out, that's not Ford's fault. If you let your tires go bald and get in an accident, that's not Ford's fault. And it's exactly the same with us."
External link
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