Ntsb Publications

The immediate human toll of the 1994 Flight 427 disaster was staggering: all 132 people aboard died on a Pennsylvania hillside. The subsequent investigation was a maze of politics, bizarre theories, and shrouded answers. Bill Adair, an award-winning journalist, was granted special access to the five-year inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) while its investigators tried to determine if the world's most widely used commercial jet, the Boeing 737, was really safe. Their findings have had wide-ranging effects on the airline industry, pilots, and even passangers. Adair takes readers behind the scenes to show who makes decisions about airline safety—and why.

On October 31, 1999, EgyptAir flight 990, a Boeing 767-366ER crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 60 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. All 217 people on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. According to the NTSB the impact with the Atlantic Ocean was a result of the relief first officer's flight control inputs. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the accident is a result of the relief first officer's flight control inputs. The reason for the relief first officer's actions was not determined.