This book offers a shocking perspective on the American aviation industry by a former United Airlines pilot. Weaving insider knowledge with hundreds of employee interviews, the book uncovers the story airline executives and government regulators would rather not tell. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claims that this is the “Golden Age of Safety,” and other aviation researchers assure us the chance of dying in an airline accident is infinitesimal, this book reports that seventy percent of commercial pilots believe a major airline accident will happen soon. Who should we believe? ... More

This book offers a shocking perspective on the American aviation industry by a former United Airlines pilot. Weaving insider knowledge with hundreds of employee interviews, the book uncovers the story airline executives and government regulators would rather not tell. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claims that this is the “Golden Age of Safety,” and other aviation researchers assure us the chance of dying in an airline accident is infinitesimal, this book reports that seventy percent of commercial pilots believe a major airline accident will happen soon. Who should we believe? As one captain explained, “Everybody wants their $99 ticket,” but “you don't get [Captain] Sully for ninety-nine bucks.” Drawing parallels between the 2008 financial industry implosion and the post-9/11 airline industry, the book explains how aviation industry risk management processes have not kept pace with a rapidly changing environment. To stay safe the system increasingly relies on the experience and professionalism of airline employees who are already stressed, fatigued, and working more while earning less. For reasons discussed in the book, employees' issues do not concern the right people—namely airline executives, aviation industry regulators, politicians, watchdog groups, or even the flying public—in the right way often enough. In contrast to popular notions that airline accidents are a thing of the past, the book makes clear that America is entering a period of unprecedented aviation risk.