[Audiobook] Why Planes Crash, An Accident Investigators Fight for Safe Skies by David Soucie and Ozzie Cheek.
This book follows the career of David Soucie from arrogant young executive confronting his own guilt about choices he made that lead to the death of one of his colleagues, through to his eventual leadership in the FAA accident investigation team.
This book keeps coming back to the theme, asking how could air travel be made safer. And each time he feels like he is getting close to an answer something happens to open his eyes to other problems stopping his quest.
His career involved a lot of sudden movement from one part of America to another, which didn’t go down well with his long suffering wife and family, and he made a habit of treading on various toes, which exacerbated the whirlwind of relocations. This also lead to a brush with witness protection and cards for mysterious helpers who turned out to no longer be available when the help was needed.
Nearly every air accident can be traced back to a single decision, indeed this is true for many defects in other fields too. And most of those errant decisions are made based on misunderstanding of risk. They are decisions that seem reasonable, on the face of it, but often don’t take full account of the cascade of consequences should the risk be realised.
Collecting and analysing information about crashes is only a part of the job, matching that information with service records, particularly holes in services records, or exemptions for unusual situations, is really where the power of the investigation lives. There is a reluctance to share this information, though, as it gives away operational details that could result in culpability in the case of an accident.
The twin goals of the FAA are at odds, encouraging flying and making flying safer. Making the sharing of information anonymous allowed the improvement of safety while stopping the discouragement that comes with blame.
This is more close to the book I have been looking for lately, actually touching on the processes for improving safety, a merger of this book with Bracing for Impact is really what I’m after, something that describes details of the investigations and the improvements that were made a result of their findings.