Fiction 12 Jul 2004 10:47 pm
Airframe
Airframe
Michael Crichton
I think that it’s very clear, from this book, that Mr. Crichton doesn’t really like the press very much, especially TV. In fact, TV journalists are the real “villain” of this book.
The story is quite simple: a charter flight coming into the USA from Asia has an accident over the Pacific, and does an emergency landing in Los Angeles with several injured or dead passengers and crew members aboard. The books follows the investigation of what caused the incident, initially described as “severe turbulence” by the pilot, but clearly something else. The investigation is done by the manufacturer of the airplane (since it occurred over international waters, the FAA is not involved), which is, at the same time, trying to sell many planes of the same type to a Chinese airline. Because of this, the investigation has to be concluded within a week, and, well, some findings would be more useful than others.
It had been a while since I read a Crichton book, and I had forgotten what it feels like; it’s more or less like reading a movie. The pace is that of a movie, and so are the dialogues. Also, Crichton writes in a very “visual” way; after I read “Jurassic Park”, years ago, I mentioned to someone that the book is probably more visually-oriented than the movie. That is because you get to see lots of the “raw data” that the characters see: listings, graphs, computer screens etc. In a movie, that’s glossed over and, usually, very badly displayed. In this one there’s not much of that, but there is enough to give you a tasting.
Obviously, I don’t know how much of the background material mentioned in the book is real. Much of it looks plausible enough to be very real, though; one example is the reluctance of airplane manufacturers to blame airlines for accidents, even if this means that the manufacturer will take the heat for something the airline did. This is done because the airline is not just another party, but a “valued customer” who cannot be offended in any way. A happy airline will buy more planes.
The behaviour of TV journalists working on “exposé” reports also seems to be depicted in a plausible way, at least judging from what one sees in TV shows; complex information is hard to get across (and the public is not interested, anyway), so everything gets reduced to whatever will cause the most response from the audience. This is a point that Michael Moore does, as well, in “Bowling for Columbine”, and he provides several examples.
Worker unions also seem to be something Crichton is not very fond of; they are depicted as “mini-mobs”, with members not hesitating in using violence and sabotage to protect their interests, or what they see as their interests. Again, I don’t know if this is an accurate depiction or not.
In any case, a great Crichton book, worth reading if you’re a fan. On the other hand, if you are a fan, you probably already have.
