Airframe

Yes, a novel written by Michael Crichton sometime back. But I chose to read that only a few days back.

A flight from Hong Kong to Denver gets into trouble mid-air. The ensuing dives and climbs are so severe that it leaves 3 dead and 56 injured before the flight makes an emergency landing in LA. The quest to find out what actually went wrong during the flight forms the rest of the story.

In the meanwhile, one also gets to know that airframe builders are different from aircraft engine manufacturers, At least I did not know those till now. This, in effect means Airbus or Boeing will have engine from GE or Rolls Royce depending on the requirements of the customer, say KingFisher. I couldn’t help but wonder what Air Deccan would’ve preferred as their engine :D. We also get to understand something called ‘slats deploy’ and that black boxes work properly only in one out of six planes.

Throw in some additional constraints like the protagonist is a woman in late thirties, impending business disaster, corporate politics, and media madness and the reader is hooked till the last page.

Now, this is what I call a entertainer stuff.

How I wish some movie folks take a leaf out of or at least lift Crichton’s novels like these to come up with a half decent script. Sigh!

8 Responses to “Airframe”

  1. Deepak Says:

    Try to get hold of some novels by Arthur Hailey, such as, Airport, Overload, Hotel. These novels also provide interesting information about the respective industries.

  2. prabukarthik Says:

    me got to try that dude!
    innum padikalai :)

  3. Deepak Says:

    Try http://esnips.com, its got electronic versions of such books. You may not like to read them electronically, worth have a lookie.

  4. Deepak Says:

    http://esnips.com

  5. Sree Says:

    I liked Turbulence too !
    So what do u think Air Deccan uses ?
    ‘tulu’ motor ? ;-)

  6. prabukarthik Says:

    deepak,

    neeye sonna madhiri, electronic version laam kadi da, anyway will check it out, danks dude!

    sree,
    have u heard abt suguna motors? :D

  7. Pradeep Says:

    @PK,
    To add to Deepak’s list - try Strong Medicine, The Evening News, Wheels.
    Each Hailey book revolves around an industry.

  8. Ravi Says:

    PK, I think one of Crichton’s novels which was made to a movie was Jurassic Park. I think this is mentioned in later prints of AirFrame novel. Yes, more than a story, I loved the novel for the technicalities and the way the protagonist snubs the other girl in the end.

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