MAYDAY is a unique and invaluable resource for Aviation Professionals. For each of the 57 accidents the author leads the reader through the aerial crisis, the crash, the “black box” transcript, the investigation, and the often-elusive Probable Cause.

Readers witness airline accidents caused by mechanical failure, fire, mid-air collision, terrorist hijacking, human error, and aerial suicide. Also, accidents caused by fuel exhaustion, mistaken identity shoot-down, spatial disorientation, hazardous weather, controlled flight into terrain, and other aerial perils.

The author is a former military and commercial pilot. Armed with meticulous research, he cuts through the fog of technical aviation jargon and describes each accident in easy-to-understand layman’s language. This is his seventh book.

Readers embark on a brutally accurate journey through Commercial Aviation History. They re-live the airline accidents which have marred man’s conquest of the skies. MAYDAY is a gut-wrenching and mesmerizing read for all Aviation Enthusiasts.

Prologue: Setting the Stage............................................................................. 1

The Zeppelin Airship Hindenburg.................................................................. 7
6 May 1937, at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey

TWA Flight 2 and United Airlines Flight 718................................................ 13
30 June 1956, mid-air collision over the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Braniff Airways Flight 542 (The Electra Story, Part 1).................................. 20
29 September 1959, near Buffalo, Texas

Northwest Airlines Flight 710 (The Electra Story, Part 2)............................. 25
17 March 1960, near Channelton, Indiana

United Airlines Flight 826 and TWA Flight 266............................................ 31
16 December 1960, mid-air collision over New York

Pan Am Flight 214....................................................................................... 39
8 December 1963, near Elkton, Maryland

Pacific Airlines Flight 773............................................................................. 45
7 May 1964, near San Ramon, California

Mohawk Airlines Flight 40........................................................................... 50
23 June 1967, near Blossburg, Pennsylvania

ALM Flight 980.......................................................................................... 56
2 May 1970, ditched in the Atlantic Ocean near St. Croix

Air Canada Flight 621................................................................................. 63
5 July 1970, near Toronto, Canada

Southern Airways Flight 932........................................................................ 70
14 November 1970, near Huntington, West Virgina

Allegheny Airlines Flight 485........................................................................ 78
7 June 1971, at New Haven, Connecticut

Delta Airlines Flight 9570............................................................................. 84
30 May 1972, near Fort Worth, Texas

Texas International Airlines Flight 655.......................................................... 89
27 September 1973, on Black Fork Mountain, Arkansas

Pan Am Flight 806....................................................................................... 96
30 January 1974, at Pago Pago, American Samoa

TWA Flight 514........................................................................................ 102
1 December 1974, near Berryville, Virginia

Pan Am Flight 1736 and KLM Flight 4805................................................ 108
27 March 1977, runway collision at Tenerife, Canary Islands

Southern Airways Flight 242...................................................................... 116
4 April 1977, at New Hope, Georgia

PSA Flight 182 and a General Aviation Aircraft.......................................... 124
25 September 1978, mid-air collision over San Diego, California

United Airlines Flight 173........................................................................... 132
28 December 1978, at Portland, Oregon

American Airlines Flight 191...................................................................... 140
25 May 1979, at Chicago, Illinois

Clandestine Marijuana Flight...................................................................... 146
19 November 1979, near McCormick, South Carolina

Air New Zealand Flight 901....................................................................... 152
28 November 1979, on Mt. Erebus, Antarctica

Air Florida Flight 90.................................................................................. 159
13 January 1982, at Washington, DC

Pan Am Flight 759..................................................................................... 167
9 July 1982, at New Orleans, Louisiana

Korean Airlines Flight 007......................................................................... 174
1 September 1983, shot down over Sakhalin Island, Russia

Delta Airlines Flight 191............................................................................. 182
2 August 1985, near Fort Worth, Texas

Arrow Air Flight 1285............................................................................... 189
12 December 1985, at Gander, Newfoundland, Canada

NASA Space Shuttle Challenger.............................................................. 194
28 January 1986, over the Atlantic Ocean, near Florida

AeroMexico Flight 498 and a General Aviation Aircraft.............................. 201
31 August 1986, mid-air collision over Cerritos, California

Southern Air Transport Flight 15................................................................ 207
4 October 1986, at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas

  -- Photographs and Illustrations (23 photos and 6 illustrations).............. 213

  -- Take a Break! Happy Hour for Aviators!............................................. 242

Northwest Airlines Flight 255..................................................................... 254
16 August 1987, near Detroit, Michigan

Iran Air Flight 655...................................................................................... 260
3 July 1988, shot down over the Strait of Hormuz

Pan Am Flight 103..................................................................................... 269
21 December 1988, over Lockerbie, Scotland

United Airlines Flight 811........................................................................... 274
24 February 1989, over the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii

Avianca Airlines Flight 052......................................................................... 281
25 January 1990, at Cove Neck, New York

Lauda Airlines Flight 004............................................................................ 291
26 May 1991, near Phu Toey, Suphan Buri Province, Thailand

USAir Flight 427....................................................................................... 296
8 September 1994, near Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

American Eagle Flight 4184....................................................................... 303
31 October 1994, near Roselawn, Indiana

ATI Flight 782........................................................................................... 309
16 February 1995, at Kansas City, Missouri

ASA Flight 529......................................................................................... 316
21 August 1995, near Carrollton, Georgia

American Airlines Flight 965...................................................................... 323
20 December 1995, near Cali, Colombia

ValuJet Airlines Flight 592......................................................................... 330
11 May 1996, in the Everglades, near Miami

TWA Flight 800........................................................................................ 337
17 July 1996, over the Atlantic Ocean, near New York

United Express Flight 5925 and a General Aviation Aircraft........................ 343
19 November 1996, runway collision at Quincy, Illinois

Korean Air Flight 801................................................................................ 350
6 August 1997, on Nimitz Hill, Guam, Mariana Archipelago

SwissAir Flight 111................................................................................... 357
2 September 1998, in the Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia

American Airlines Flight 1420.................................................................... 364
1 June 1999, at Little Rock, Arkansas

EgyptAir Flight 990................................................................................... 371
31 October 1999, in the Atlantic Ocean, near Massachusetts

Alaska Airlines Flight 261.......................................................................... 378
31 January 2000, in the Pacific Ocean near California

Emery Airlines Flight 17............................................................................. 386
16 February 2000, at Rancho Cordova, California

Air France Flight 4590............................................................................... 392
25 July 2000, at Paris, France

Gulf Air Flight 072..................................................................................... 399
23 August 2000, in the Arabian Gulf, near Muharraq, Bahrain

The ”9/11” Terrorist Attacks...................................................................... 407
  {American Airlines Flight 11
  {11 September 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York
  {United Airlines Flight 175
  {11 September 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York
  {American Airlines Flight 77
  {11 September 2001, at The Pentagon in Washington, DC
  {United Airlines Flight 93
  {11 September 2001, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

American Airlines Flight 587...................................................................... 424
12 November 2001, at Belle Harbor, New York

Air Midwest Flight 5481............................................................................ 431
8 January 2003, at Charlotte, North Carolina

NASA Space Shuttle Columbia................................................................ 437
1 February 2003, over the southern United States

Epilogue: Into the Future............................................................................ 445

  -- About the Author................................................................................ 450

  -- Glossary............................................................................................. 451