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Crash Course
- Accidents Don't Just Happen
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
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Publisher's summary
“Relive the story of an ill-fated commercial flight that was doomed before it was ever airborne; and find out how it may one day save your life - if it hasn’t already.” (Chris Mendenhall, air traffic controller, Tinker Air Force Base)
On a cold winter night, a passenger jet with 189 aboard crash landed, out of fuel, in a suburban neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. Ten people died. The pilot was blamed and stripped of his career, and a sweeping transformation of flight-crew training took place that made United Flight 173 (in)famous worldwide as the model for failure and change. That was only the half of it.
Hiding in plain sight for years in an attorney’s file boxes, the forgotten truths of the landmark air disaster reveal much more: an emotional journey tethered to the disgraced pilot and a three-year-old girl who survived the crash and became an unlikely hero for justice and public safety in the dramatic legal battle that followed.
Crash Course, by award-winning journalist Julie Whipple, is the long-overdue, true story of a misunderstood airline tragedy that changed more about our daily lives than most people know. Here is why we’re safer today, how we’re not, and what we can do about it.
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Story
On the afternoon of April 4, 1977, Georgia housewife Sadie Burkhalter Hurst looked out her front door to see a frantic stranger running toward her, his clothes ablaze, and, behind him, the mangled fuselage of a passenger plane that had just crashed in her yard. The plane, a Southern Airways DC-9-31, had been carrying 81 passengers and four crew members en route to Atlanta when it entered a massive thunderstorm cell that turned into a dangerous cocktail of rain, hail, and lightning. Forced down onto a highway, the plane cut a swath of devastation through the small town of New Hope.
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Compelling read.
- By teri on 06-19-18
By: Samme Chittum
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35 Miles from Shore
- The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980
- By: Emilio Corsetti III
- Narrated by: Fred Filbrich
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 2, 1970, a DC-9 jet with 57 passengers and a crew of six departed from New York's JFK International Airport en route to the tropical island of St. Maarten, but four hours and 34 minutes later, the flight ended in the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean. It was, and remains, the only open-water ditching of a commercial jet. The subsequent rescue of survivors took nearly three hours and involved the coast guard, navy, and marines.
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a new perspective on air travel
- By Midwestbonsai on 03-30-17
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First Man
- The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
- By: James R. Hansen
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over 50 hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this "magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.
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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
By: James R. Hansen
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The Crash Detectives
- Investigating the World's Most Mysterious Air Disasters
- By: Christine Negroni
- Narrated by: Christine Negroni
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Crash Detectives, veteran aviation journalist and air safety investigator Christine Negroni takes us 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 what happened and why, she explores their common themes and, most important, what has been learned from them to make planes safer.
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MISSLEADING TITLE.
- By Daniel Schneider on 11-02-16
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Operation Overflight
- A Memoir of the U-2 Incident
- By: Francis Gary Powers, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is a central character in the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. In his classic 1970 memoir, Powers reveals the full story behind what happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960 and endured 61 days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a 10-year sentence.
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Astonding
- By JP on 07-12-17
By: Francis Gary Powers, and others
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The Coroner
- By: M. R. Hall
- Narrated by: Sian Thomas
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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When lawyer Jenny Cooper is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she's hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself?
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Best book of the year, so far.
- By karen on 05-11-13
By: M. R. Hall
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The Mercury 13
- The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight
- By: Martha Ackmann
- Narrated by: Julie Eickhoff
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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For fans of The Astronaut Wives Club, The Mercury 13 reveals the little-known true story of the remarkable women who trained for NASA space flight. In 1961, just as NASA launched its first man into space, a group of women underwent secret testing in the hopes of becoming America’s first female astronauts. They passed the same battery of tests at the legendary Lovelace Foundation as did the Mercury 7 astronauts, but they were summarily dismissed by the boys’ club at NASA and on Capitol Hill.
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Amazing story
- By Chilli Dog on 01-26-15
By: Martha Ackmann
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The Hunt for MH370
- By: Ean Higgins
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Somewhere deep beneath the wild seas of the southern Indian Ocean, perhaps in the eerie underwater canyons of Broken Ridge along the Seventh Arc satellite band, lies the answer to the world's greatest aviation mystery. Why, on the night of 8 March 2014, did Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 suddenly U-turn, zig-zag up the Straits of Malacca, then vanish with 239 souls on board? Was it an elaborate murder-suicide by a rogue pilot? A terrible accident such as onboard fire, rapid decompression or systems failure? A terrorist hijacking gone wrong? Or something else entirely?
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Very boring. Way too long.
- By SLN on 05-29-21
By: Ean Higgins
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Flying Drunk
- By: Joseph Balzer
- Narrated by: Joseph Balzer
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Since he was a young boy, Joe Balzer dreamed of flying. He pursued his goal with passion and earned his pilot licenses, piling up hours of flight time with a wide variety of planes and jets with one overarching goal: to one day fly for a major airline. But Joe had a problem. He was an alcoholic and refused to admit to himself that he had a problem. His alcoholism caught up with him in March 1990, when Joe was arrested with two other pilots for flying a commercial airliner while under the influence of alcohol.
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Surprisingly provocative...
- By William on 11-10-09
By: Joseph Balzer
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The Dream Machine
- The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey
- By: Richard Whittle
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Marines decided to buy a helicopter-airplane hybrid "tiltrotor" called the V-22 Osprey, they saw it as their dream machine. The tiltrotor was the aviation equivalent of finding the Northwest Passage: an aircraft able to take off, land, and hover with the agility of a helicopter yet fly as fast and as far as an airplane. Many predicted it would reshape civilian aviation. The Marines saw it as key to their very survival. Opponents called it one of the worst boondoggles in Pentagon history.
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Innovation runs into government
- By Cx30 on 09-25-10
By: Richard Whittle
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Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
- Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
- By: Allan J. McDonald, James R. Hansen - contributor
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 26 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center.
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Couldn’t finish...
- By J.Brock on 07-19-19
By: Allan J. McDonald, and others
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Class Action
- The Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law
- By: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler
- Narrated by: Gabrielle De Cuir
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When the local iron mine began hiring women in 1975, Lois Jenson, a single mother on welfare, didn't think twice about accepting the grueling but well-paid job. What she hadn't considered was that she was entering a male-dominated society that fiercely resisted the inclusion of women, a prejudice born out in the brutal harassment of every female miner.
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infuriating
- By Ron on 05-20-06
By: Clara Bingham, and others
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The Lost Pilots
- The Spectacular Rise and Scandalous Fall of Aviation's Golden Couple
- By: Corey Mead
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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During the height of the roaring '20s, Jessie Miller longs for adventure. Fleeing a passionless marriage in the backwaters of Australia, 23-year-old Jessie arrives in London and promptly falls in with the Bright Young Things, those gin-soaked boho-chic intellectuals draped in suits, flapper dresses, and pearls. At a party Jessie meets Captain William Lancaster, married himself and fresh from the Royal Air Force, with a scheme in his head to become as famous as Charles Lindbergh, who has just crossed the Atlantic. Lancaster will do Lindy one better: fly from London to Melbourne, and in Jessie Miller he’s found the perfect co-pilot.
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Boring narrative
- By M. Hoyt on 07-31-18
By: Corey Mead
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Five Days at Memorial
- Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
- By: Sheri Fink
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs.
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Five Days in Hell/Years in Purgatory
- By Cynthia on 09-15-13
By: Sheri Fink
What listeners say about Crash Course
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jean
- 12-21-18
Interesting
This book is about air passenger jet number 189 that crashed into a Portland, Oregon neighborhood. The investigation’s findings led to major transformation changes in training. Then United Flight 173 crash also brought about sweeping changes in regulations.
This book is well written and researched. Whipple is a journalist and the book reveals her investigation and writing skills. The book is very easy to read and understand for the lay person. The author not only explains the investigations of the crashes but presents the exciting courtroom drama as well. This is an excellent read.
The book is eight hours and eight minutes. Heather Henderson does an good job narrating the book. Henderson is a voice actress and audiobook narrator. She has won several Earphone Awards as well as the 2013 Best Children’s Audiobook Narrator Award.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Judy
- 11-18-18
Be Afraid
Is anyone surprised that United Airlines would rank money above passenger safety? As demonstrated by Ford and General Motors back in the day when the Pinto would explode in flames and the Corvair suddenly roll off the highway, there is an acceptable level of maiming and death that industry will write off rather than correct design flaws. Safety measures such as the installation of seat belts were forced onto car manufacturers through the efforts of crusaders such as Ralph Nader.
The Canadian television series MAYDAY emphasizes the hard-won lessons that the National Transportation Safety Board has drawn from investigation into deadly crashes. Now, we learn that a loosening of NTSB regulations surrounding maintenance of aircraft is returning the flying public once again to the perilous skies of United. Human factors such as pilot fatigue are similarly swept under the carpet by airline corporations more concerned about shareholders than passengers.
Whipple's efforts are thorough and compelling; her writing, not so much. Investigative journalism by its very nature requires clean, precise writing. Literary devices such as metaphors and similes clutter the narrative and detract from the message. There is no place in expository writing for purple prose such as the following description of the shattered cabin: Great shards of shredded insulation hung like strips of whale blubber from the open gash ... as if bitten off by a monster. Gag.
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4 people found this helpful
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- madameEmily
- 11-08-18
Excellent
This was a great book, and an even more impressive true story. These pilots are nothing short of heroic.
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4 people found this helpful
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- abricru
- 12-21-18
Snoozer
I am surprised the narrator didn't fall asleep. She did her best, but my gosh, it was boring. I was expecting a dramatic account of the crash, but the majority of the book was made up of explaining the mechanics of the landing gear and detailing every single minute of the legal battle which followed. Not entertaining or interesting, at all, for me at least.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Nibbana Graphics
- 12-18-18
A Plaintiff Trial Attorney Story
The reader is excellent. The book is written by the daughter (Julie Whipple) of the attorney who sued United after the other legal actions resulting from the crash were nearly finished. As such the perspective is from an adversarial party in a court proceeding. The reader is thus warned that this is not a balanced account of a complex and tragic event whose immediate cause was established by the investigating governmental agencies to be clear cut fuel exhaustion.
The court room with biased information presented by adversarial parties to lay jurors is not an ideal way to establish truths.
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2 people found this helpful