Quest for Flight

Quest for Flight
Author: Gary B. Fogel
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-10-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0806187816

The Wright brothers have long received the lion’s share of credit for inventing the airplane. But a California scientist succeeded in flying gliders twenty years before the Wright’s powered flights at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Quest for Flight reveals the amazing accomplishments of John J. Montgomery, a prolific inventor who piloted the glider he designed in 1883 in the first controlled flights of a heavier-than-air craft in the Western Hemisphere. Re-examining the history of American aviation, Craig S. Harwood and Gary B. Fogel present the story of human efforts to take to the skies. They show that history’s nearly exclusive focus on two brothers resulted from a lengthy public campaign the Wrights waged to profit from their aeroplane patent and create a monopoly in aviation. Countering the aspersions cast on Montgomery and his work, Harwood and Fogel build a solidly documented case for Montgomery’s pioneering role in aeronautical innovation. As a scientist researching the laws of flight, Montgomery invented basic methods of aircraft control and stability, refined his theories in aerodynamics over decades of research, and brought widespread attention to aviation by staging public demonstrations of his gliders. After his first flights near San Diego in the 1880s, his pursuit continued through a series of glider designs. These experiments culminated in 1905 with controlled flights in Northern California using tandem-wing Montgomery gliders launched from balloons. These flights reached the highest altitudes yet attained, demonstrated the effectiveness of Montgomery’s designs, and helped change society’s attitude toward what was considered “the impossible art” of aerial navigation. Inventors and aviators working west of the Mississippi at the turn of the twentieth century have not received the recognition they deserve. Harwood and Fogel place Montgomery’s story and his exploits in the broader context of western aviation and science, shedding new light on the reasons that California was the epicenter of the American aviation industry from the very beginning.

The Vanishing of Flight MH370

The Vanishing of Flight MH370
Author: Richard Quest
Publisher: Berkley Books
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0425283011

CNN Aviation Correspondent Richard Quest offers a gripping and definitive account of the disappearance of Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 in March 2014. On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared with barely a trace, carrying 239 people on board--seemingly vanishing into the dark night. The airplane's whereabouts and fate would quickly become one of the biggest aviation mysteries of our time... Richard Quest, CNN's Aviation Correspondent, was one of the leading journalists covering the story. In a coincidence, Quest had interviewed one of the two pilots a few weeks before the disappearance. It is here that he begins his gripping account of those tense weeks in March, presenting a fascinating chronicle of an international search effort, which despite years of searching and tens of millions of dollars spent has failed to find the plane. Quest dissects what happened in the hours following the plane's disappearance and chronicles the days and weeks of searching, which led to nothing but increasing despair. He takes apart the varying responses from authorities and the discrepancies in reports, the wide range of theories, the startling fact that the plane actually turned around and flew in the opposite direction, and what solutions the aviation industry must now implement to ensure it never happens again. What emerges is a riveting chronicle of a tragedy that continues to baffle everyone from aviation experts to satellite engineers to politicians--and which to this day worries the traveling public that it could happen again. INCLUDES PHOTOS

Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power

Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power
Author: James K. Libbey
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 545
Release: 2013-08-31
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1612341802

Today, air power is a vital component of the U.S. armed forces. James Libbey, in Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power, highlights the contributions of an aviation pioneer who made much of it possible. Graduating from the Imperial Russian Naval Academy at the start of World War I, de Seversky lost a leg in his first combat mission. He still shot down thirteen German planes and became the empire's most decorated combat naval pilot. While serving as a naval attache in the United States in 1918, de Seversky elected to escape the Bolshevik Revolution and offered his services as a pilot and consulting engineer to the U.S. War Department. He proved inventive both in the technology of advanced military aircraft and in the strategy of exercising air power. He worked for famed aviation advocate Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, who encouraged the naturalized citizen to patent his inventions, such as an in-flight refueling system and a gyroscopically synchronized bombsight. His creative spirit then spurred him to design and manufacture advanced military aircraft. When World War II broke out in Europe, de Seversky became America's best-known philosopher, prophet, and advocate for air power, even serving as an adviser to the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. The highlight of his life occurred in 1970 when the Aviation Hall of Fame enshrined de Seversky for "his achievements as a pilot, aeronautical engineer, inventor, industrialist, author, strategist, consultant, and scientific advances in aircraft design and aerospace technology." This book will appeal to readers with a special interest in military history and to anyone who wants to learn more about American air power's most important figures.

Air Vagabonds

Air Vagabonds
Author: Anthony J. Vallone
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2015-05-26
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1588344657

Air Vagabonds is the story of the amazing, true (mis)adventures of a band of rogues piloting aircraft alone into exotic and deadly destinations. In the late 1970s and through the 1980s the demand for light aircraft eclipsed anything seen before or since. This created the need for a small air force of pilots—ferry pilots—willing to fly thousands of planes to clients in every corner of the globe. Long-range solo flying is not for everyone, and it attracted a cast of eccentric, unforgettable mavericks who flew from one misadventure to the next, battling storms, desert winds, aircraft malfunctions, primitive navigational aids, loneliness, chemical imbalances, and dangerous Third World politics. Some carried on international scams and love affairs, some were lost at sea, some imprisoned by African despots. They’re all here, described with humor and high drama by one of their own, a survivor with phenomenal recall, a knack for distinguishing character from bluster, and a great ear for dialogue and aviation lore.

Star Wars

Star Wars
Author: Timothy Zahn
Publisher: Lucas Books
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2004
Genre: Leia, Princess (Fictitious character)
ISBN: 0345459164

Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara Jade, journey to the planet of Nirauan to combat an insidious enemy and salvage a part of Jedi history.

The Crash of Flight 3804

The Crash of Flight 3804
Author: Charlotte Dennett
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2020-04-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1603588787

"Charlotte Dennett has written an excellent book summarizing the geopolitics of the Middle East historically through to current events. . . . This is an amazing piece of historical writing. . . . Students, foreign affairs ‘experts’ and officials should have this work as required reading."—Jim Miles, The Palestine Chronicle Unraveling the mystery of a master spy’s death by following pipelines and mapping wars in the Middle East In 1947, Daniel Dennett, America’s sole master spy in the Middle East, was dispatched to Saudi Arabia to study the route of the proposed Trans-Arabian Pipeline. It would be his last assignment. A plane carrying him to Ethiopia went down, killing everyone on board. Today, Dennett is recognized by the CIA as a “Fallen Star” and an important figure in US intelligence history. Yet the true cause of his death remains clouded in secrecy. In The Crash of Flight 3804, investigative journalist Charlotte Dennett digs into her father’s postwar counterintelligence work, which pitted him against America’s wartime allies—the British, French, and Russians—in a covert battle for geopolitical and economic influence in the Middle East. Through stories and maps, she reveals how feverish competition among superpower intelligence networks, military, and Big Oil interests have fueled indiscriminate attacks and targeted killings that continue to this day—from Jamal Khashoggi’s murder to drone strikes. The book delivers an irrefutable indictment of these devastating forces and how the brutal violence they incite has shaped the Middle East and birthed an era of endless wars. The Crash of Flight 3804 provides important context for understanding the region, while bringing new questions to the fore: To what lengths has the United States negotiated with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS to secure Big Oil’s holdings in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen? Was the Pentagon’s goal of defeating ISIS a fraudulent pretext for America’s occupation of Syrian eastern provinces and a land grab for oil? What part does Ukraine play in the energy-dominance struggle between the US and Russia? Did the infamous double agent Kim Philby, who worked for the British while secretly spying for the Russians, have anything to do with Dennett’s death? Why have the US and China made North Africa the next major battleground in the Great Game for Oil? Part personal pilgrimage, part deft critique, Dennett’s insightful reportage examines what happens to international relations when oil wealth hangs in the balance and shines a glaring light on what so many have actually been dying for.

Cleared for Takeoff

Cleared for Takeoff
Author: Rowland White
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2016-10-11
Genre:
ISBN: 145214348X

All of aviation's dangerous, exciting, and most courageous moments are featured within this stunning compendium on flight. Packed with stories of heroic and innovative pioneers, fascinating profiles of remarkable planes from Spitfires to space shuttles, and how-to instructions for making everything from origami helicopters to bottle rockets—all accompanied by sensational photographs, illustrations, and diagrams—Cleared for Takeoff promises to astonish, entertain, and fire the imaginations of everyone with their head in the clouds.

The Crash Detectives

The Crash Detectives
Author: Christine Negroni
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2016-09-27
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 178239642X

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 the reader 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 each accident, she explores the common themes and, most importantly, what has been learned from them to make planes safer. Indeed, as Negroni shows, virtually every aspect of modern pilot training, airline operation and aircraft 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.

Fatal Crossing

Fatal Crossing
Author: Valerie van Heest
Publisher: In-Depth Editions, LLC
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Aircraft accident victims' families
ISBN: 9780988977211

On June 23, 1950, a DC-4 with 58 souls on board flew from New York toward Minnesota. Minutes after midnight Captain Robert Lind requested a lower altitude as he began crossing the lake, but Air Traffic Control could not comply. That was the last communication with Northwest Airlines Flight 2501. The Navy and Coast Guard never located the wreck, rendering it impossible to determine a cause for this tragic accident.